Inspired by the wizardry school of Hogwarts, Quiz Magic Academy is set in a world where evil spirits are generated, and plagued by the increasing "riddance of knowledge and conscience of the people." Then, a group of distinct type of mages from the East, titled "Sages," cured most of the land by defeating them after using the power of wisdom to unlock the weakness of those spirits. Knowing these types of spirits will eventually come back, the sages built the Quiz Magic Academy to train new sages by not only with the major of their choice, but also most importantly, grilling them with all types of knowledge so that they can defeat those spirits.
To boil it all down, by great intellect, you can unleash your greatest power!
Players can select their "avatars" from the growing pool of colorful students of their liking to customize their looks, then enter the storyline to play either single (lesson preview), and or compete nationally online with other players in real-time quiz-solving; by either solo competition or team play.
Regardless of installment, the quiz library are managed by the developer headquarters online, and are constantly updated with the latest trivias generally divided into these categories:
- "Anime / Gaming:" Everything regarding Anime, Western Animation, Video Games, and mobile games.
- "Entertainment:" Everything other than anime and gaming. Generally involving music, and showbiz tailored towards the culture of the licensed country.
- "Sports"
- "Literature: " Based on the national language of the licensed country. This category also includes art and history.
- "Science: " Math included.
- "Social Studies:" Geography, economics, and politics included.
- "Lifestyle:" Everyday trivias players may encounter in everyday living.
To answer questions, the user platform allows players to experience a wide range of versatility to input answers under a time limit, such as direct keyboard spelling input, "select from 4," "true or false," “unscramble,” etc. All input methods would be presented at random, but the beginning levels would typically start from "select from 4," and "true or false."
The franchise started in 2003, with the now default students—Leon, Serious, Rukia, and Shalon.
As of 2023, QMA has 18 arcade titles that structure the main storyline:
- Quiz Magic Academy (2003) - Also known as QMA I.
- Quiz Magic Academy II (2004)
- Quiz Magic Academy III (2005)
- Quiz Magic Academy IV (2007)
- Quiz Magic Academy V (2008)
- Quiz Magic Academy VI (2009)
- Quiz Magic Academy VII(2010)
- Quiz Magic Academy VIII (2011)
- Quiz Magic Academy: The Sage's Gate (Kenja no Tobira) (2012) - First installment to take out the numbering, but continues the storyline.
- Quiz Magic Academy: The Campus in the Sky (Ten no Manabiya) (2014)
- Quiz Magic Academy: The Bell of Dawn (Akatsuki no Kane) (2015)
- Quiz Magic Academy: Tokyo Grimoire (2016) - The first installment to have a Darker and Edgier arc, and also in porting the students to contemporary Tokyo for their mission.
- Quiz Magic Academy: THE WORLD EVOLVE (2017) - Continuing the Tokyo Grimoire Arc where the incident spread out from Tokyo to across the entire nation of Japan.
- Quiz Magic Academy: MAXIV CORD (2018)
- Quiz Magic Academy: XROSS VOYAGE (2019) - All students received brand new uniform design.
- Quiz Magic Academy: Kibou no Toki (2020)
- Quiz Magic Academy: Mugen no Kyoukai (2021)
- Quiz Magic Academy: Kogane no Michishirube (2023) - Released on July 24th, exactly 20 years since the first QMA game.
Beside the main arcade installment, side arcs were developed through the platforms via the NDS, and mobile. In January 2018, the iOS and Android platforms received their first title by the name of Quiz Magic Academy: The Lost Fantarium.
The story plot of each installment, along with their fully developed group of characters were proven lovable enough to spawn their own webcomic series, and it was also adapted into two OVAs; the first was released in 2008 and the second in 2010.
Examples:
- Curtains Match the Window: Many of the characters exhibit this.
- Floating Continent: The academies in some of the games can fly.
- Magical Girl: Several.
- Non-Uniform Uniform: Several of the students wear some variation on the normal school uniform.
- Series Mascot: Out of all students, the ones who are the No.1 poster models for game promotions are Leon and Rukia, who are usually assigned with either just the two of them, or if in a group shot, positioned at either points-of-interest, or the most upfront with the best close-ups.
- Theme Naming: More in tune of "themed birthdates." The general major students (especially those who joined prior to QMA3) happens to have their birth month and dates matched.
- January 1st (01/01) - Aloe
- February 2nd (02/02) - Serious
- March 3rd (03/03) - Yu
- April 4th (04/04) - Thanders
- May 5th (05/05) - Lask
- June 6th (06/06) - Clala
- July 7th (07/07) - Malariya
- August 8th (08/08)- Kaile
- September 9th (09/09) - Leon
- October 10th (10/10) - Rukia
- November 11th (11/11) - Shalon
- December 12th (12/12) - Yang Yang
