DCSD Middle School District Battle Rules:
All teams will compete simultaneously in a quiz-bowl-style competition. Teams may consist of 3, 4 or 5 members. There will be no alternates or substitutions.
Twenty questions will be asked per round.
All teams have 30 seconds after the question is read to respond. After 30 seconds, time is called and teams will simultaneously reveal their answer by flipping the title/author card or white board. If a correct response is given the team is awarded 5 points. If an incorrect response or no response is given, no points are awarded.
Each team will designate one member as the spokesperson for the team. Only the spokesperson may respond to the question either by holding up the correct title/author card or writing on the white board. If any other person responds, the team gets no points for the question.
Team members may huddle while deciding upon an answer but only after the question has been read in its entirety.
When the question begins, “In which book”, the response will be given by the spokesperson by holding up the correct book title/author card.
When the question is asking for a specific detail from a book, the correct response will be written on a white board by the spokesperson and shown to the judges. Judges will use their discretion in awarding points when it comes to the correct spelling/details of an answer.
Teams may not use any other battle–related materials or take notes during the competition, though scorekeeping is permitted.
Communication between audience members and team members in any form, (hand signs, verbal cries, mouthing of answers, etc.) will lead to team disqualification or removal of the audience member.
Challenges:
Challenges may only be made by the team spokesman. The challenger should stand and clearly state, “I wish to challenge that question”.
Challenges may only be made before the next question in the round is presented.
The battle will be suspended while the challenging team is given the opportunity to explain why the question is being challenged.
The challenging team will be given an unmarked copy of the battle title being disputed and has 3 minutes to prove their challenge. An alternate correct answer must be explicitly clear in the book and the challenging team must be able to find the exact page in the book where the alternate answer is located.
If the challenge is found to have merit and the team would have scored points, the team will be awarded 5 points. If the challenge is found to be without merit, the score will not be changed and game play will proceed.
Final rounds of competition:
After 2 preliminary rounds of 20 questions have been completed, scores will be totaled and the top 3 teams will compete against one another for 1st-3rd place rankings. Scores for the top three teams competing in the final rounds will be reset with all three teams starting with zero points.
The final round will consist of 20 questions.
All teams have 20 seconds after the question is read to respond. After 20 seconds, time is called and teams will simultaneously reveal their answer by flipping the title/author card or white board. If a correct response is given the team is awarded 5 points. If an incorrect response or no response is given, no points are awarded.
In the event of a tie after one final round of 20 questions, the tying teams will compete in as many 10 question rounds as needed to break the tie.
The decision of the judges throughout the entire battle is FINAL and CANNOT be challenged.
