What type of questions are asked in Zain Africa Challenge?

Questions cover basic knowledge areas: science, literature, history, geography, religion, fine arts, social sciences, general knowledge as well as current events, popular culture and sports. African history, figures, works and topics figure prominently in all subject areas.

The level of difficulty is based on information accessible to all students in university.  The questions are short and require fast responses by the players.  Face-off questions are played by individual players and are therefore easier than bonus questions on which the team confers on its answer.  In each Face-off round, there are four categories of questions, with three to four questions available in each category.  The category title serves as a clue to the likely content of the questions.  Consult the sample questions page for examples of the Face-off, Bonus and UltimateChallenge questions.

Who writes the questions?

Zain Africa Challenge employs a team of question submitters from multiple continents.  In addition, a team of academic persons fully research and authenticate the questions.  The editorial staff is directed by the programme producers, who have 50 years of experience in producing academic games for university students around the world.   Persons interested in applying to submit questions are asked to email Mary Oberembt.

How is question security handled?

Question security is of the utmost importance.  No question submitter will know which of his or her questions are being used or in which programme.  Only the most senior editorial staff members know which questions are in each programme.   During the non-televised games, the questions will be distributed to the game play rooms via computer immediately before the beginning of the match.  The same stringent security measures are used during the knockout games taped for television broadcast.