Tiebreaker Procedures

For all non-elimination matches, a team need only win by one point to advance to the next assigned round of competition.

For non-elimination matches that end in a tie, the following tiebreaker procedures will be used:

• teams will receive a sheet with five tiebreaker questions

• teams will have 60 seconds to answer as many of the tiebreaker questions as possible for the first set of tiebreakers

• any team member may serve as the designated writer

• answers that are incomplete or unreadable will not count; allowance will be made for spelling of difficult place or persons names

• if one team answers at least one more question correctly than does the other team, that team will be declared the match winner

• if the match remains tied after the first set of tiebreaker questions is completed, additional sets of tiebreaker questions with time limits as noted below will be used until a winner can be declared

• tiebreaker sets after the initial set will have time limits as discussed below

For elimination matches that end in a tie or have a final score differential of only one point, the following tiebreaker procedures will be used:

• teams will receive a sheet with five tiebreaker questions

• teams will have 60 seconds to answer as many of the tiebreaker questions as possible

• any team member may serve as the designated writer

• answers that are incomplete or unreadable will not count; allowance will be made for spelling of difficult place or persons names

• if one team answers at least two more questions correctly than does the other team, that team will be declared the match winner

• if the match remains tied or one team is ahead by only one point after the first set of tiebreaker questions is completed, additional sets of tiebreaker questions will be used until a one team has a lead of at least two points and a winner can be declared

• tiebreaker sets after the initial set will have a 45 second time limit for the second set and a 30 second time limit for the third and subsequent sets

A sample of what tiebreaker sets will look like is provided below.  Questions of varying levels of difficulty from all books used for this year's competition will be included in tiebreaker sets on a random basis.

SVDP BOOK BOWL 2024
Tiebreaker Set #1

TB #1: Ashes of Roses
Q:  Where did Maureen go when the fire broke out?

TB #2: Around the World in 80 Days
Q:  What was the name of the club that Phileas Fogg belonged to?

TB #3: Farewell to Manzanar
Q:  What does Moma do when a man offers her fifteen dollars for her china?

TB #4: The Girl Who Drank the Moon
Q:  What did Grand Elder Gherland possess that gave him more pleasure than any of this other unique items?

TB #5: October Sky
Q: What was the name of the Russian satellite launched in 1957?