I played Hi-Q in high school. I never realized that Alabama was only one of four states where this somewhat odd variant of a quiz game is played.

Differences (from memory) between Hi-Q and a normal "college bowl" type of game:

Matches involved *three* teams, not two.

Hi-Q matches were held at one of the schools competing, not at a neutral location like in some other academic competitions.

Hi-Q matches took place in front of the entire student body of the hosting school.

Hi-Q was played with microphones, like a real game show.

Team discussion was allowed on all questions (not just "bonus" questions, which I'm not sure Hi-Q even had).

The first thing spoken into the microphone by any player was considered the team's answer, so players put their hands over the mic while discussing the answer.

I can't even remember if Hi-Q teams had a "captain" or not.

Hi-Q's buzzers were big blocky things, like you may recall seeing on "Family Feud".

I don't think the buzzers were used the same way they are in college bowl. Each team was asked the same number of questions, without a contest to see who could buzz in first. The buzzers were used for *something*, but I can't remember what it was.

The matches were MC'd by local celebrities, not faculty or staff.

Hi-Q matches were televised. This is why my parents insisted that I play Hi-Q in addition to the several other academic teams I was on (yes, I was that sort of nerd): they thought that being on TV would increase my chances of getting a scholarship to college, or something.

The Delaware County site linked from Wikipedia says that a team's ranking is determined by their total score over the whole season, not by number of wins/losses. I don't remember anything quite this f***ed up, so it may be new since I played.