What started as a friendly debate among a group of Mt. Lebanon mahjong players over who makes the best pizza eventually turned into a full-fledged blind taste test, complete with scorecards, spreadsheets, prizes and 22 hungry judges.

The result was “Pizza-Palooza,” a neighborhood pizza competition hosted by Mt. Lebanon resident Laura Young on Aug. 16.

The idea began during a mahjong gathering when the conversation somehow turned to pizza and, more specifically, what makes a pizza good.

“There were people vying for who made the best pizza,” Young said. “People were starting to disagree with one another over what makes a good pizza because if you like a thin crust or you like a thick crust, it’s very different.”

The discussion eventually led Young and fellow mahjong player Marcy Gelman to come up with the idea for a taste-test party. They decided to take the competition seriously — or, at least, as seriously as one can take a neighborhood pizza party.

The pizzas would be tasted blind, the boxes would be covered to conceal identifying information, and each pizzeria would provide two pizzas.

“We started brainstorming it right there,” Young said. “What if we could do it blindfolded or something to really determine and make it a more legit taste test?”

The group invited its members to submit their favorite pizza places. Young created a Google Form where participants could submit their first, second and third choices.

In the end, the group had 20 pizzas from 10 pizzerias in the official competition, with additional pizzas arriving as unofficial last-minute entries. Those were not included in the official competition because the judging form had already been set up for 10 pizzerias.

The 10 participating pizzerias were Caliente Pizza & Draft House, F&F Pizzeria, Little Nippers, Crust! Café and Pizzeria, Fiori’s Pizzaria, Giovanni’s Pizza & Pasta, Mm! Mm! Pizza, Pizzeria Davide, Badamo’s Pizza and La Vera Brooklyn Pizzeria.

The restaurants represented favorites of members of the group, including several Mt. Lebanon establishments and others from nearby communities. Each participating pizzeria was represented by two pizzas: one plain cheese and one specialty. If a restaurant was known for a particular specialty, the group encouraged participants to choose it. The restaurants generally did not know they were part of the competition until the orders were placed.

Then came the most important rule: No one could know which pizza came from which restaurant.

Boxes were covered with electrical tape, newspaper, wrapping paper, aluminum foil or whatever else was necessary to conceal identifying information. Some restaurants already used generic boxes, making the job easier.

Young was the only person at the party who knew which pizza came from which pizzeria.

Once the pizzas arrived, they were assigned letters and the tasting began. The group wanted everyone to have an opportunity to sample the crust, cheese and sauce, so each pizza was ordered in a medium size and cut into 16 pieces.

There was plenty of pizza to go around. In fact, there was more than enough.

“We ended up with 22 pizzas,” Young said.

The judging was surprisingly methodical. For the plain pizzas, judges evaluated the crust, sauce, cheese and sauce-to-cheese-to-crust ratio. The crust category included the bake, crispiness and char. Judges evaluated the sauce for its balance of sweetness and acidity, seasoning, texture and quantity. Cheese was judged on its melt, coverage and flavor.

Specialty pizzas were judged on flavor harmony, crust structure, concept and creativity, and execution and presentation.

The maximum score possible was 40. The overall winners barely topped 30, suggesting the judges took their jobs quite seriously.

Young created paper scorecards for the event and then used a Google Form to collect the results. Responses automatically populated a spreadsheet, allowing her to calculate the scores and determine the winners that evening.

“I was very serious about the Google forms and not knowing where the pizzas came from,” Young said. “Once you get me the idea, I’ll blow it out. I can execute really well.”

The blind tasting produced some clear winners.

And the winners are …

Best plain pizza: Pizzeria Davide, brought by Naomi Crown — 28.7/40

Best specialty pizza: Crust! Mediterranean pizza, brought by Lara Henke — 30.5/40

Overall winner/highest overall score: Crust! Mediterranean pizza — 30.5/40

Best crust: Giovanni’s — 7.4/10

Most popular pizza: Badamo’s white pizza with red onions and hot peppers — 30.2/40

Pizza aficionado: Naomi Crown, who correctly identified six pizzas.

One of the closest competitions was in the specialty category, where Crust! finished with a score of 30.5, just ahead of Badamo’s at 30.2. Badamo’s also earned the distinction of being the “most popular” pizza because it was the first to be completely eaten.

Crown proved particularly adept at the blind-tasting challenge, correctly identifying six of the pizzas by their pizzeria. She also happened to be the person who brought the winning plain pizza from Pizzeria Davide in the Strip District.

For Young, one of the biggest surprises was discovering some highly regarded pizza outside Mt. Lebanon. Pizzeria Davide was unfamiliar to several members of the group before the competition. Young said a friend who works in the Strip District immediately endorsed it when she mentioned the restaurant.

“Even when you get out of Lebo a little bit, there’s some good stuff to be had,” Young said.

The event was not intended to create a serious rivalry among restaurants. The real goal was to bring people together. The mahjong group invited husbands, children, friends and family members, including people who did not necessarily know one another.

“It was just really people getting an opportunity to meet our friends’ families,” Young said.

Italian music played in the background as people sampled pizza and socialized. The group also turned the competition into a celebration, handing out a collection of pizza-themed prizes.

There were small trophies, a pizza-shaped 1,000-piece puzzle, pizza-themed shirts, a pizza dog toy, pizza-flavored Pringles, a dish towel, pizza candy and even ingredients such as Parmesan cheese, oregano and crushed red pepper.

One particularly memorable prize was a small sign originally intended to say “Best Pizza in Town.” The group crossed out “town” and replaced it with the Pittsburghese “tahn.”

Henke, who brought the winning Crust! pizza, planned to take the sign back to the restaurant. Another taster took a small trophy to Giovanni’s, which supplied the winning pizza in the crust category. Young said restaurant employees were excited to see it and took pictures with the trophy.

“It was just really fun,” Young said.

Despite the mountain of pizza, the event appears to have left the group hungry for another competition. Young said members are already considering a different food theme for next year, with “Taco-Palooza” or “Pierogi-Palooza” among the possibilities.

The timing may even remain similar. Pizza-Palooza was held the Sunday before the start of the school year, when many families were back home and looking for a social activity before the busy fall schedule began.

For now, though, the mahjong group’s pizza debate has been settled — at least according to the numbers.

Or perhaps it has simply created a new debate.

After all, there are always more pizzas to try.