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 ones 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.
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