The Federation was launched in the summer of 1997 upon the dissolution of a previous organization with the same initials, the Academic Competition Foundation, which also sponsored a national championship tournament and a nationwide set of regional tournaments between 1991 and 1997.
In contrast with College Bowl, ACF emphasizes harder answers, harder and more clues, and a rigorous pyramidal style on toss-ups (harder clues first, followed by easier clues). The questions are more academic and less "general knowledge" or "trash" in nature.
While questions must be blind to players before tournaments, ACF uses team submitted questions, which are edited by a tournament editor. The team that submitted them receives a bye that round. ACF also makes its questions publicly and freely available on its website after its tournaments, in contrast to other formats which maintain copyright. (NAQT sells its questions, College Bowl retains the right to reuse its tournament questions).
