Agonalia is a Certamen tournament (see the description below) meant to introduce Latin students to playing Certamen. The contents of each question will be similar to traditional Certamen, but there will be a higher proportion of questions that connect to pop culture or are pop culture-based.

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Agonalia will have three rounds with 15 tossups, 2 boni per tossup. There will be no semi-final or final rounds. The winner of the event will be determined by the total number of points scored from each round.

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This year, Agonalia will be incorporated in Middle School Forum, which will be held on February 24, 2024 at Marist School. Visit here for more information on the event.

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Certamen Basics

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Certamen is a quiz-bowl style game that tests teams of up to 4 players on classics-related topics such as Roman history, mythology, Latin literature, Latin grammar and vocabulary, Latin state mottos and abbreviations, etc. Certamen is the Latin word for "contest" or "struggle" which is a fitting name given the extremely competitive nature of the game. (from website)

 

A toss-up is a question that all players can buzz on. If the player that buzzes answers correctly, his/her team will be asked the two boni corresponding to the toss-up. If the player that buzzes answers incorrectly, the moderator will call on the players who buzz after. But, only one player from each team will be called on. If no players answer the toss-up correctly, the toss-up and its respective boni will be skipped. Toss-ups are worth 10 points each.

 

A bonus is a follow up question if a player answers a toss-up correctly. There are two boni for every toss-up. Contrary to toss-ups, every team member can collaborate together to answer a boni. Boni are worth 5 points each.