The Rules of the Competition
In each round your team will be randomly paired against another team competing on the same book list.
Each contest room will be run by two “officials”: a Moderator who will ask the questions and judge the answers, and a Scorekeeper who will keep time and keep track of the points scored.
Each team should appoint a Team Captain. This may be one Captain for the entire Games or a different Captain for each round. However, the team must clear about who the Captain is in each round!
The two Team Captains will play “Rock-Paper-Scissors” to start each round. The winner will be Team A and will receive the odd-numbered questions. The other team will be Team B and will receive the even-numbered questions.
Once the round begins, students are not allowed to look at, or have with them, any papers or other written or printed materials. The only exception is that the Team Captain may have a list of the books and which team members have read that book.
If a team member leaves the room during a round, they will not be permitted to return to their team until that round has ended.
The room Moderator will read each question twice. Once the question has been read, the teams will have 20 seconds to confer about the answer.
For each question you receive – whether it is your own question or one you have the chance to “steal” – the Team Captain must either answer it or appoint a team member to answer it. Another team member may not answer until they have been appointed by the Team Captain. Answers given by a team member other than the Team Captain or appointed team member will be ignored by the Moderator and will not be counted as the team's official answer.
If the team that initially received the question answers correctly, that question is done. However, if the team that initially received the question answers incorrectly, the other team will have a chance to “steal” the question. The team with the chance to “steal” must provide its answer immediately when asked by the Moderator. The question will NOT be re-read by the Moderator, and the team will NOT have any additional time to confer about the answer. If they answer it correctly, they will get credit for a “steal”; if they answer it incorrectly, nothing is awarded nor deducted for that question.
Sometimes the answer you give will be only part of the answer the Moderator is looking for. If that happens, the Moderator might ask you to be more specific or to clarify your answer. In all cases, the decision of the Moderator is final.
SCORING INFORMATION:
Questions initially received by your team that you answer correctly (odd-numbered questions for Team A and even-numbered questions for Team B) will be tallied separately from the number of questions “stolen” by your team. Questions initially received by your team that you answer correctly will be worth 1 point, while questions you “steal” from the other team will be worth one one-hundredth of a point (0.01). As an example, if your team correctly answers 6 of the questions initially directed to your team and “steals” 3 questions, your team's score for that round will be 6.03 points.
IMPORTANT:
At the end of each round, the room Scorekeeper will ask each Team Captain to initial the scoresheet to confirm their team's score. The Team Captain may consult with the adult Team Leader or the adult Team Chaperone to confirm the number of points before initialing the scoresheet.
The points your team earns in all three rounds will be added together for your final score. With this scoring system, each team will be able to know at a glance how many of its “own questions” it answered correctly and how many questions it “stole”.
*At no time should the team lead nor team chaperone interject themselves into the trivia rounds to ask for clarification, dispute a question or answer. If a team lead or team chaperone does interject themselves into the trivia round, it is grounds for team disqualification.