The Linnaean Games are a lively question-and-answer, college bowl-style competition on entomological facts played between university-sponsored student teams.

The first Games at the national level occurred at the 1983 annual meeting of the Entomological Society of America in Detroit, so this year marks the 30th anniversary.

The Linnaean Games have become such an important part of ESA meetings that it is difficult to imagine a meeting without them, but in the beginning when Dr. Tom Turpin (Purdue University) tried to introduce them, there were a number of naysayers, as you can read about in this open-access article from American Entomologist.

This year, ten university teams are competing (two from each regional ESA Branch in North America), and you can see the teams in this video:

This short video from last year’s Games features interviews with members from teams that competed:

The ESA YouTube Channel also features footage of the teams in action, as well as interviews with some of the Games’ founders (click here for the videos).

This year’s finals will take place tomorrow at 5:30 PM. If you’re here in Austin, be sure to see them in Ballroom D of the Convention Center.