Scholars Bowl Rules/Format

Vermont-NEA Scholars' Bowl

Tournament rules 2007-08

Each two-team match has three parts: toss-up and bonus questions, rapid-fire questions, and more toss-up questions. Teams may change players only between rounds.

Part one: Toss-ups and Bonus.

This part of the competition is 10 minutes long.
No more than four students per team.
No consultation between teammates on toss-up questions.
Only the student who buzzes in first has three seconds to answer a toss-up question worth ten points.
For all toss-up questions, the student who rings the buzzer first may not answer until the moderator recognizes him/her by school and last name.
Incorrect answers given after the full question has been read are not penalized.
If a person buzzes in prior to the full question being read with an incorrect answer the team is assessed a five-point penalty and the remainder of the question is read to the opposing team. It is discretion of the moderator to either pick up the remaining words or reread the beginning of the sentence to make the question flow more easily. If the second team also interrupts the moderator with an incorrect answer, they too are penalized five points.
The team that correctly answers a toss-up question may then collaborate on a bonus question worth up to twenty points. The team only has three seconds to begin answering (although on math questions, teams are allowed ten seconds to answer each part, but if an incorrect answer is given, the bounceback is only allowed the remainder of the ten seconds. If there is no time remaining, then their answer should be within the normal three-second response). All answers on bonus questions should be made through the team captain or a designee clearly identified by the captain. If there are multiple answers, then the team has three seconds to give each answer.
Any part of the bonus that the team does not get is then bounced back to the opponent for them to answer for the same point value within three seconds. Each part must be asked of both teams before going on to the next part.

Part two: Rapid Fire

No more than six students participating. Lineups must be set prior to the announcement of categories.
The team with the lower score has the choice of two categories read by the moderator (the instructions may NOT be read until a category is chosen). If the score is tied, a coin toss will decide which team will go first.
Ten questions worth five points apiece
If any team “sweeps” a category, getting all 10 answers correct, it gets an additional 10-point bonus
After reading the instructions, a team will have 60 seconds to answer all ten questions.
All answers are to be from the team captain or his or her designee.
If unsure of an answer, a team may call “Pass” to skip over the question and go on to the next. Passed questions may be re-read if time allows.
At the end of the 60-second period, the opposing team will have 45 seconds to answer any passed or incorrectly answered questions.

Part three: Toss-up Questions

This part of the competition is nine minutes long.
No more than four students per team.
Only toss-up questions are read. There is no collaboration between students.
For all toss-up questions, the student who rings the buzzer first may not answer until the moderator recognizes him/her by school and last name.
All questions are worth 10 points, with the same rules applying as in the first round regarding interruptions and missed answers.

Teams may not ask for questions to be re-read by the moderator.

Any discrepancies in student answers must be made prior to the next question being read. The judge will act accordingly, conferring with the moderator and coaches and stopping the clock, if necessary. The ruling of the judge is final.

Regional Format

Regions are established by geographical proximity and an attempt to have a balance of teams in all the groups.

Each team plays every other team in its division at least once (in a group of six, there are 15 matches, in a group of five there are 10 matches, in a group of four there are 12 matches, with each team playing the others twice).

Regions meet two or three times throughout the fall, arranged by a division director/coach at their regional site(s). Matches can be held on weekends or after school per agreement of the teams in the region.

The regional director arranges for a practiced moderator and judges. Whenever possible, coaches or teachers from different disciplines serve as judges.

No “scouting” permitted by other teams (sitting in at matches outside one’s own region).

No regional play should take place without a fully functioning lockout system. A state lockout system and scoreboard are generally available to each region by arrangement of the regional director.

Match Tiebreaks in Regional Play: Tied matches remain ties in regional play. No tie-break is used.

Record Tiebreaks in Regional Play: Ties in records between teams for first or second place are broken at the end of regional play by playing a round of toss-up questions, each question counting as one point with no penalty for an incorrect answer. The first team to reach seven and hold a lead of at least two is the winner. If a multiple-way tie exists, the same format will take place. (If the lockout system being used has the capacity for more than eight buzzers, then each team will have four team members playing on their own buzzer, otherwise, each team will have two buzzers for four students.)

Playoff Format

All teams qualify for the playoffs. There are two divisions in the playoffs: A Division and Medlar Division.

A Division

Teams that have performed well in the previous year are in the A division. The division has eight teams.
Teams in this division play in a modified double-elimination format, that is, once two teams have two losses with no wins, those two teams are then relegated to the Medlar Division for the next season. The other six teams will remain in the A Division the next year. After the second day of the playoffs, the two teams that have two wins with no losses receive the one and two positions for the semifinals, and the two teams that have two wins and one loss receive the three and four positions, with the fourth-position team playing the winner of the Medlar Division in a play-in match.
The fourth team is determined the following way: If the two A Division teams that have a record of two wins and one loss played one another in the playoffs, the winner of that match receives the third position and the other team receives the fourth position. If they did not meet in the playoffs, the record tiebreak used in regional play (explained above) will apply and take place at the end of the second day of playoffs.
Seeding is done in the following manner: Teams that finished first in regional play will be drawn randomly and placed in the best-seeded positions. After this, teams that finished second in regional play are drawn randomly for the next best seeds, followed by a random drawing of any teams that did not finish first or second in regional play.

Medlar division

All teams in the league except for the A Division teams are in the Medlar Division. There is no limit to the number of teams in this division.
The playoffs for the Medlar Division are single elimination. The final two teams in the Medlar Division are automatically promoted to the A Division for the next year.
Seeding for this division is done by the same process as described for the A Division.
The winner of the Medlar division plays the fourth-position team in the A division for the right to play in the semifinals.

Playoffs take place on three dates.

On the first playoff date:

A Division teams play their first matches; no teams are eliminated.
Medlar Division teams play until the bracket has eight teams remaining.

On the second playoff date:

A Division teams play until teams go 2-0, 2-1, 1-2 or 0-2. The four teams that are 1-2 and 0-2 are eliminated from the playoffs for the year, with the two 0-2 teams are relegated to the Medlar Division for the next year.
The Medlar Division teams play until two teams remain.

On the third playoff date:

The Medlar Cup championship is played between the two remaining teams.
The Medlar Cup winner plays the fourth-position team in the A Division in a play-in match.
The winner of the Medlar Cup/A Division play-in plays the first-position team in a semifinal.
The second- and third-position teams play in the other semifinal.
The winners of the semifinals play in the championship match.

Playoff score tie-breaker: Any ties at the end of a playoff match will be decided through a five toss-up mini-round, with the team answering the most number of correct answers the winner (each question counts as one point). If the teams are still tied, another five questions will be asked, and this will repeat until an outright winner is decided. There are no penalties for incorrect answers.