SAM HOUSTON STATE UNIVERSITY

ACADEMIC CHALLENGE

GENERAL RULES

  1. Each contest features two high school teams of four players each.
  2. Teams must be accompanied by at least one adult advisor. The advisor must be a school or school district employee. Although the playing team is not required to be coed, we encourage schools to field mixed teams if at all possible.
  3. Points are scored by correct answers to questions having pre-stated values. There are no points subtracted for wrong answers.
  4. Should an answer be interjected from the audience, the question may be discarded at an official's discretion.
  5. Questions requiring a person's name as an answer may be correctly answered by giving the person's surname only, provided there is no other person having the same surname with whom he might be confused (e.g., Roosevelt). If more information is provided than is required for a correct answer and some portion of the information is incorrect, the whole answer will be deemed incorrect.
  6. All math answers must be expressed in simplest terms.
  7. As in a spelling bee, there is no going back to change an answer. For all questions, the first answer is the only one which will be evaluated for correctness.
  8. Substitutions are forbidden during the contest, but a team is not required to use the same four players in a subsequent match.
  9. If at the end of the match both teams have the same number of points, the tie is broken in a sudden death playoff. The first team to answer a question correctly in overtime is declared the winner. All overtime questions are valued at ten points.
  10. Please note this rule: Appeals regarding answers to questions may be lodged by the team's advisor or the players. WITH THE EXCEPTION OF THE BONUS ROUND, appeals or questions MUST BE LODGED IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING THE QUARTER IN WHICH THE QUESTION WAS READ AND BEFORE THE SCORE FOR THAT QUARTER IS OFFICIALLY DECLARED. An appeal shall consist of the player and/or advisor explaining the issue to the officials. The officials shall consult with the opposing advisor so that both sides are aware of the appeal. The Bonus Round exception is explained under the rules for that round.
  11. If the appeal results in a change of points, the officials must notify the advisors of both teams before the official declaration of the outcome of the match.
  12. Decisions of the officials shall be final. Their declaration of the outcome of the match shall be irrevocable, and the match shall not be replayed even if the outcome could have been altered by judgment errors.
  13. The academic team captain must sit in the second seat away from the electronic response system. This applies to all teams in all matches.
  14. Teams shall arrive at the location of the match at least 30 minutes before the match begins. If a team arrives 15 minutes past game time, they automatically forfeit.
  15. Although communication is crucial in rounds in which consultation is permitted, players must remain seated.
  16. If a team member's equipment malfunctions, it is the team member's responsibility to notify officials at once. No adjustments or changes are permitted due to malfunctioning equipment.
  17. The team dress code for the competition shall comply with the standards set by your school for class attendance. However, students are encouraged to make a genuine effort to dress in a manner appropriate to the seriousness and dignity of the occasion. We reserve the right to determine the appropriateness of a participant's manner of dress, and inappropriate dress can lead to disqualification of the participant.
  18. Good sportsmanship is expected from all participants, including team members, coaches, and spectators. If in the judgment of match officials a person is behaving in a disruptive manner, that person may be required to leave the match.
FIRST AND FOURTH QUARTER RULES
  1. All questions in these two rounds are "Toss Up."
  2. Players may interrupt a question while it is being asked if they believe they can anticipate the answer required by the completed question.
  3. The player first signaling readiness to answer by activating the electronic response system MUST WAIT TO BE RECOGNIZED by an official as the eligible respondent. If a player gives an answer before being recognized, the question will be completed for the opposing team.
  4. If the recognized player gives an incorrect answer or no answer, the first member of the opposing team to signal readiness may respond after being recognized.
  5. Once a player signals readiness, he or she is expected to respond immediately after being recognized. If in the judgment of the match official the player does not answer in a timely fashion, the question will be offered to the other team to answer.
  6. Consultation between team members is prohibited during the first and fourth quarters. Any appearance of consultation will result in the loss of the opportunity to answer the question currently being asked.
  7. Questions need not be repeated if they are completed. If a team buzzes in and answers incorrectly before a question is completed, the question will then be completed and the other team given a chance to answer.
SECOND QUARTER RULES: THE BONUS ROUND
  1. There are two kinds of questions in the Bonus Round: "Toss Up" and "Bonus." The quarter starts with a Toss Up question. For each Toss Up question all of the rules for the First and Fourth Quarters apply.
  2. If a team is right on a Toss Up question, it gets a chance at a 2-part Bonus question, worth a possible 30 points. The Bonus works this way: the team starts off with a 10-point question, and if they answer it correctly then they go on to a 20-point question. If the team misses any question at any level, that question and only that question is offered to the opposing team to answer. The Bonus stops there (awarding both teams the points accumulated), and a new Toss Up question follows. This pattern continues until the end of the round.
  3. Because of the progressive nature of this round ALL CHALLENGES MUST BE MADE IMMEDIATELY. THE CHALLENGE MUST TAKE PLACE BEFORE A SUBSEQUENT QUESTION HAS BEEN ASKED. THERE WILL BE NO GOING BACK. THIS APPLIES BOTH TO THE TOSS-UP QUESTIONS AND TO THE BONUS QUESTIONS.
  4. Consultation among team members is forbidden during Toss Up questions but permitted and encouraged during Bonus questions. Answers to Bonus questions must be given by the team captain. The team captain does not need to be recognized before answering in the Bonus round. The electronic response system is not used during Bonus questions.
  5. The Bonus Round will have 5 toss-ups and 5 pairs of bonus questions which all together will contain 200 possible points.
THIRD QUARTER RULES: THE 60-SECOND ROUND
  1. The team having the lower score begins the round by selecting one of four categories offered by the moderator. They will attempt to answer as many as they can of 10 questions drawn from the category they select within a 60-second period. If the teams are tied, the team which answered the last question correctly begins the round.
  2. Each question is worth 10 points. If any team answers all 10 questions in a set, the team is awarded a 20-point bonus.
  3. Consultation among team members is allowed during the 60-Second Round, and all answers must be given by the team captain.
  4. The captain will not be recognized by the official before responding, and the electronic response system is not used except to keep the time.
  5. The captain may respond before the moderator has completed a question, but the moderator reserves the right to complete any questions after a right or wrong answer has been given.
  6. Important: The team is playing against the 60-second clock. The moderator will give the team an indefinite period of time to answer a question until the 60 seconds expire. If the team does not know the answer to a question, the captain must say "Pass" to move on to the next question. Once a team misses or passes a question, they cannot later return to it.
  7. After the first 60-Second Round has expired, the second team tries to answer questions the first team missed or passed. After the second team has finished giving their answers to the questions missed or passed by the first team, the second team will select from the remaining three categories and play the 60-Second Round. Then the first team will be given the opportunity to answer the questions the second team missed or passed.
  8. In the event of an error in pronunciation or other mistake by the moderator which appears to "cost the team time," NO ADJUSTMENT WILL BE PERMITTED unless in the opinion of the officials the error was so significant as to create a situation of extreme prejudice to the team. In such cases the officials may add the appropriate amount of time to the end of the round or, at thesole discretion of the officials, the team may attempt an additional 10-point question from one of the unused categories. One 10-point question will be asked for each six seconds "lost."