The first rule of the quizshow is: the quizmaster decides. The second rule is: the rules may change as long as the quizmaster feels it's (still) fair to do so. When in doubt, see the first rule.
The quizshow happens on the second evening of Pixels Camp, at around 10pm on the main stage. There, 16 teams of two attendees will compete in 5 rounds of geek-related questions, 4 teams in each round.
The first four rounds have 10 questions each (plus an initial warmup question that scores no points). Round winners go on to the 5th round of 15 questions.
The winning team of this final round wins the quizshow and will be asked to come back on stage on the last day to get their well-deserved applause (and a prize).
The teams are assigned to the first four rounds at the quizmaster's discretion to ensure fairness. The questions are also selected using the same principles.
Qualifying
For a team to go on stage, at least one of its elements must have qualified. Qualifying means answering successfully to at least one of the qualifier challenges and scoring enough qualification points.
Qualified participants may choose to team up with any other Pixels Camp attendee, including other qualified participants, meaning it's not strictly necessary to end up in the top 16 scoreboard positions to get qualified (there's usually a few pair-ups).
Each qualifying challenge has its own way of scoring participants. When it closes, the quizmaster adds qualification points to each participant based on his/her position in that particular challenge.
The first three positions get 1000, 900, and 800 points. After that, points decrease by 50 down to the 10th position, then by 25 until the 100 point mark, then 99, 98, 97, and so on. No matter how far down the line, an accepted answer will score at least 1 point.
Game Mechanics
On stage the quizmaster asks the questions. Teams have 20 seconds to think and press their buzzer (red button). If a team buzzes, there's no time limit to speak up the answer (but the quizmaster has limited patience). Answering correctly earns the team 2 points.
If no one buzzes, teams get 4 possible answers to choose from and have 20 seconds to press the (colored) button matching their choice. Correct choices are worth 1 point.
If a team did press the buzzer, but gave an incorrect answer, then only the other three teams can choose from the four options and try to score in that question.
The point of the quizshow is to relax, enjoy the evening, and have fun. Fair-play matters. Don't feel pressured to win and don't fear getting answers wrong. You're awesome just from being there. We know this and the audience knows too.
The Quizmaster, 2020