These competitions will feature buzzer-based preliminary rounds and finals at the 2026 International Geography Championships.
Competition Type: Individual, 1 multiple choice exam used solely for seeding with 15 questions, 1 preliminary round of 25 questions, 1 final round of 25 questions. The same number of questions are played in all divisions in this event.
- No Sample Questions Are Available
The Blitz was a new event for the 2022 International Geography Championships. The Blitz is a Bee event that will focus on a very specific topic in geography that no one is expected to have any prior knowledge of. The topic itself was announced at breakfast of the competition day. In 2022, the topic was the geography of the Comoros. In 2024, the topic was the geography of Franz Josef Land. Students are given approximately 30-50 pages of reference material on the topic; all clues and answerlines in the tossups will be contained within these pages. After 35 minutes of studying, students take a 15 question multiple choice exam to determine seeding. Immediately thereafter, one round of 25 tossup questions is played. The top players in each room in each division then are given an additional 15 minutes to study, and then they compete in a 25 question final.
To avoid random guessing, all questions in the Blitz will be played according to IAC Bee Championships Playoffs scoring (6, 5, 4, and 3 points for power depending on the buzz, -2 for an incorrect response during the question, -1 for an incorrect response at the end of the question). All age divisions play the same questions.
The East Asian Geography Bee made its debut at the 2022 International Geography Championships and will return for 2026. This bee covers the geography of China (including Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau), Korea, Japan, Mongolia, Asiatic Russia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, East Timor, Singapore, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, and Burma, and their predecessor states and political entities. There are three rounds of preliminaries and one round of finals. All age divisions play the same 30 question rounds in the preliminaries and the finals, though questions might be shorter for the Intermediate and Elementary School Divisions.
The 2026 International Geography Championships will see the debut of the Geopolitics Bee. This competition, featuring 2 30 question preliminary rounds and one final round, will feature questions on global conflicts, international relations, espionage, international trade, diplomacy, and world current events from the year 2000 onwards (i.e. where the Historical Geography Bee leaves off).
Competition Type: Individual, 3 preliminary rounds of 30 tossup questions + finals
Many students who enjoy studying geography also enjoy studying history. This tournament lies at the intersection of these two disciplines, as players will be challenged on their knowledge of historical geography. This includes bygone political configurations, as well as the role that geography has played in determining the outcome of historic events. All age divisions play the same 30 question rounds in the preliminaries and finals, though questions may be shorter for the Intermediate and Elementary School Divisions.
This event counts 1/4 towards the overall IGC Individual Title for All Age Divisions.
One of the showcase events of the IGC, the International Geography Bee World Championships is a rigorous buzzer-based quiz tournament featuring questions on all aspects of world geography. This is a required event for all competing students. 5 preliminary rounds and 2 playoff rounds will be contested (with 35 questions in each round for all age divisions), and the final placements of students will count 1/4 towards the overall IGC Individual Championship Title together with the Battery, the Written Exam, and the Theoretical and Applied Geography Exam for all age Divisions.
In the International Geography Bowl, teams who represent US states / territories and other countries at IGC compete against each other in six preliminary and three playoff rounds. Depending on the number of teams in a division, games may feature two or three teams. Note that the rules for this competition will follow standard Varsity and Junior Varsity National / International History Bowl rules for all age divisions (i.e. all divisions play 10 first quarter questions and have 8 questions in their 60 second rounds; though the Intermediate and Elementary School games will feature shorter and slightly easier questions). In games with 3 teams, the rules are the same, though in the 3rd quarter, the leading team picks first, then the second place team, and then the third place team. When the second place team picks their category, the third place team gets first shot at the bouncebacks, and then the first place team gets any that both of the first two teams missed. When the third place team gets their category, then the first place team gets the first chance at the bouncebacks, and then the second place team gets any the first two teams missed.
After being on hiatus for IGC 2024, the Melee returns for IGC 2026! This buzzer-based competition will feature up to 32 players competing on a single buzzer system. The questions are 12 lines long, and students score the number of points corresponding to which line their buzz was on. But an incorrect buzz loses that many points! In the preliminary round, if you reach just 20 points, you advance to the medal round. But if you reach 10 negative points, your time at the melee ends. In the medal round, 40 points are needed to secure a medal; if you hit 20 negative points, you are out. Two rounds of 30 questions each will be played for all age divisions.
AAAAAttention parents, siblings, and everyone accompanying Competing Students at IGC! This is your chance to get on the buzzer if you’d like to play some geography bee questions of your own! We’ll play a separate age division for adults (i.e. the Parents Bee though teachers, coaches, other family members and family friends are welcome to compete), and hold at least one age division for children 18 and younger (more than one if there’s sufficient interest). This Bee will feature 3 30 question preliminary rounds, and two 30 question playoff rounds for adults, and one 30 question final round for children. The adult finals will happen on stage during the Opening Night’s Gala Dinner! The preliminary rounds (and for accompanying students, the final round as well) will take place during mandatory events for Competing Students which are not open to spectators, so this is a perfect chance to get on the buzzer.
The Scramble is a Bee-style event unique to the International Geography Championships (and the International History Olympiad). While IAC quiz tournaments typically reward long-term knowledge of topics in geography, the Scramble is a tournament where the focus will only be announced shortly in advance of the start of IGC. Players who take the Scramble challenge will then have 1-2 weeks to cram on the topic. The Scramble will be played on the opening afternoon / evening of IGC so that players do not afterwards need to retain what they have studied for the Scramble while they are preparing for other events. Can you sCRAMble as well as you can study for the long-term? Good luck in this challenging tournament!
The Scramble topic for the 2022 International Geography Championships was the Geography of Saudi Arabia. The Scramble topic for the 2024 International Geography Championships was the Geography of Amusement Parks & Theme Parks.
The idea of the Scramble is primarily not to test students’ prior geography knowledge, but rather, who is most capable of learning the most about a very specific subject in a short amount of time. Remember that we have nearly 100 questions to ask, so the topics are going to get quite specific! Past Scrambles have shown that a little bit of extra effort in preparation can go a long way towards securing a medal.
The South Asian Geography Bee made its debut at the 2022 International Geography Bee World Championships and will return for 2026. This bee will cover the geography of India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives and their predecessor states and political entities. There will be three rounds of preliminaries and one round of finals. All age divisions will play the same 30 question rounds in the preliminaries and finals (though questions might be slightly shorter for the Intermediate and Elementary School Divisions).
The Visual Geography Bee competition deals entirely with geographic images of all sorts. Questions will include photographs; identifying people, places, and items from sight; maps; documents; graphs and charts; and more. Despite the visual focus, questions will still progress from harder clues and images to easier clues and images (i.e. multiple images will be shown within the same question). This Bee has 2 preliminary rounds of 30 questions and 1 final round of 30 questions for all age divisions.