**2009 Bonneville Power Administration**

**Regional Science Bowl^®^**

**Official Academic Competition Rules**

***Changes and clarifications in bold/italic***

**Eligibility Requirements**

1\. Each competing team consists of four or five student members (only
four will be playing at any time). To be eligible to compete, a ***high
school*** student must be enrolled for the current school year in grades
nine, ten, eleven or twelve at the team's school, and be less than 20
years of age or receive a special waiver from the Department of Energy.
To be eligible to compete, a ***middle school*** student must be
enrolled for the current school year in grades six, seven, or eight at
the team's school, and be more than 10 years of age and less than 15
years of age, or receive a special waiver from the Department of Energy.

Teams of home school students, girl scouts, boy scouts and science clubs
are welcome to participate; however, if the school a student attends is
competing in a Regional Science Bowl, then that student may compete only
on a team from that school.

2\. No school or student group may compete in more than one regional
competition. No student may compete on more than one team. Each regional
coordinator will determine if more than one team from a high school will
be allowed to participate in that regional as well as the geographic
area their regional will encompass. No more than 3 teams from one high
school or student group may compete in a regional event.

3\. To be eligible for the National Science Bowl^®^ finals, a student
must have competed on the team that won the Regional Science Bowl or on
***the next highest place team that accepts the invitation*** if the
first place team declines to attend. The winning team from each regional
tournament is eligible to be invited to participate at the National
finals April 30 - May 5, 2009.

4\. By **March 11, 2009**, the winning team's coach is required to
inform the National event coordinator of its availability to participate
at the Nationals. During this time of the school year, students are
participating in a variety of activities and academic events that may
conflict with their participation in the National Science Bowl^®^
(including, but not limited to, state athletic tournaments, proms,
International Baccalaureate, Advanced Placement and SAT exams). In the
interest of safety, continuity, and educational value, the National
Science Bowl^®^ requires students to take part in ALL of its events and
activities. Therefore, no waivers will be granted or special
arrangements made for students to participate in any conflicting
activities or exams. If team members are involved in these pursuits, the
students will need to determine which activity or event is in their best
interest and make their selection by **[March 11, 2009]{.underline}**.
All teams must arrive and depart on the designated dates and
***participate in all events, as scheduled throughout the duration of
the National Event, including Saturday and Sunday.*** If the winning
regional team (at least 4 students) is unable to participate at all
activities, ***at all scheduled times,*** the next highest place team
will be invited to replace them.

**Competition Structure**

5\. Bonneville uses for its **Regional** events a combination of pseudo
round robin for preliminary rounds and double elimination for the final
rounds.\
For the **middle school round robin**, each team will be randomly
assigned to play four other teams. For the **high school round robin**,
each team will be randomly assigned to one of eight divisions, and each
team will play four other teams within that division. At the end of each
game, regardless of the overall score, 2 points are awarded for a win, 1
point for a tie, and zero points for a loss. There will be no tie break
questions during the round robin matches.

6.  The **National** finals will use a round robin tournament format
    with several divisions for the preliminary rounds. For the
    preliminary rounds at the Nationals, teams will be placed in
    divisions by drawing lots, with the number of teams per division as
    equal as possible. The number of teams in each division will depend
    on the number of teams participating in the competition. Each team
    will play every team in its division. At the end of each round robin
    match, regardless of the overall score, two points are awarded for a
    win, one point for a tie, and zero points for a loss. The top 2
    teams from each round robin division will move on to the seeded
    double elimination tournament.

7.  ***For games that occur in the double elimination tournaments,*** if
    the score is tied at the end of the regulation time period, a series
    of five toss-up questions will be used to break the tie. Interrupt,
    blurt, and consultation penalties are in effect during tie-breaker.

**The Questions**

8\. Two types of questions will be used: toss-up and bonus questions. A
toss-up question may be answered by any of the four members of either
team that are actively competing. A team answering a toss-up question
correctly will always get a chance to answer a bonus question; the other
team is ineligible. No consultation is allowed on toss-up questions. The
***high school*** question categories are: astronomy, biology,
chemistry, earth science, general science, mathematics, and physics. The
***middle school*** question categories are: life sciences, physical
sciences, earth sciences, mathematics and general science.

9\. No team will have more than one opportunity to answer a toss-up
question.

10\. Questions are either multiple-choice or short answer. A participant
may answer a multiple-choice question with either the letter answer (W,
X, Y or Z) or the verbal answer; however, if the verbal answer is given,
it must be exactly as indicated in the question ***or as read by the
moderator***. The only acceptable answer to a multiple-choice question
will be the best of the four choices indicated in the question.

11\. Once read in its entirety, a question will not be re-read.

12\. For toss-up questions, the first player on either team to activate
the lock-out buzzer system wins the right to answer the question, except
that no player may buzz in until AFTER the moderator has identified the
subject area of the question. If a player buzzes in prior to the reading
of the subject area, the moderator will inform the player that he/she
has buzzed in too soon. The moderator may add time back to the clock, if
necessary.

13\. On any question, the first ***response given, as determined by the
officials,*** is the only one that counts. However, if a participant
gives both a letter answer and a scientific answer to a multiple choice
question, both parts must be correct.

14\. If the first team's answer to a toss-up question is wrong and the
question was completely read, the other team is given the opportunity to
answer it. The second team is allowed a full 5 seconds to buzz in after
the moderator indicates the answer is wrong or that a blurt or
consulting has occurred.

15\. The answer to a bonus question must come from the team's captain,
including when the question has been interrupted. Moderators should
ignore an answer from anyone but the captain on the bonus question.

**Verbal Recognition & Consulting**

16\. Before answering a toss-up question, the team member who has buzzed
in must be verbally recognized by the moderator or scientific judge.
(Before the match, the official ***who will be*** recognizing
participants will be identified.) If a student was not recognized, it is
treated as a non-answer (blurt) and the moderator will award 4 points to
the opposing team, but will not indicate whether the answer was right or
wrong. The toss-up question is then offered to the opposing team, if
still eligible. If the question has not been completely read, the
question is reread in its entirety, and the opposing team has an
opportunity to answer the toss-up question, and, if correct, a chance to
answer the bonus question.

17\. On toss-up questions, no consultation among team members may occur.
Prior to buzz: Should consultation among any of the team members occur
without a team member buzzing in, or if any team member should give an
answer without buzzing in, any answer given does not count, the
moderator will not indicate whether the answer given was correct or
incorrect, and the team loses the right to answer the toss-up question.
The question is then offered to the opposing team, if still eligible.
After a buzz: If consulting occurs, the consulting is then classified as
a blurt as in previous rule, and 4 penalty points will be awarded to the
opposing team.

**Timing**

18\. The match is played until either the time expires or all of the
toss-up questions (and earned bonuses for correct toss-ups) have been
read. Regional competitions will have two 8-minute halves with a
2-minute break (halves at the Nationals are 10 minutes). Each half
begins with a toss-up question.

19\. After reading a toss-up question, the moderator will allow 5
seconds for the two teams to respond before proceeding to the next
toss-up question. Timing begins after the moderator has completed
reading the toss-up question.

20\. A participant who has buzzed in on a toss-up question must answer
the question promptly after being verbally recognized by the moderator
or scientific judge. After recognizing a participant, the moderator will
allow for a natural pause (up to 3 seconds), but if the moderator
determines that stalling occurred, it will be treated as a wrong answer.

21. After a team member has answered a toss-up question correctly, the
    team is given the opportunity to answer a bonus question. The team
    will have 20 seconds for its captain to begin to give its answer to
    the bonus question. Consultation among team members is allowed on
    bonus questions.

22. On a bonus question, the signal "5 SECONDS" will be given by the
    timekeeper after 15 seconds of the allowed 20 seconds have expired.
    Additionally, the timekeeper will indicate the end of the 20-second
    bonus period by saying "TIME." If the team captain has not begun the
    response before the timekeeper calls "TIME," the answer does not
    count. If the team captain has begun the response, he/she may
    complete the answer, but may not stall.

**Scoring**

23\. Toss-up questions are worth 4 points, and bonus questions are worth
10 points.

24\. If a toss-up question is interrupted, the player recognized, and
the answer correct, the team will receive 4 points. If the answer is
incorrect, or if a player from the team buzzing in answers without being
verbally recognized, or if consultation occurs on the team buzzing in, 4
points are added to the opposing team's score, the question is reread in
its entirety, and the opposing team has an opportunity to answer the
toss-up question, and, if correct, the chance to answer the bonus
question.

25\. The double interrupt. If a toss-up question is interrupted and a
team incurs a penalty as in the previous rule, 4 points are added to the
opposing team's score. The question is then reread in its entirety.
However, if the opposing team interrupts the re-reading and subsequently
incurs a penalty as in the previous rule, 4 points are added to the
first team's score. The moderator will give the correct answer and move
on to the next toss-up question.

26\. If the moderator inadvertently gives the answer to a toss-up
question without giving either team a chance to respond, no points are
awarded and the moderator goes on to the next toss-up question.

27\. If the moderator inadvertently gives the answer to a toss-up
question before allowing the second team to respond (after an incorrect
answer, or an answer given without the team member having been
recognized) the next toss-up question will be read to the second team in
place of the inadvertently answered question. If this situation occurs
on question #25, the officials will obtain a replacement toss-up
question.

28\. On a toss-up question, if the moderator inadvertently recognizes a
player other than the one who buzzed in, the player who buzzed in will
be allowed to answer as though he/she had been correctly recognized.

29\. On a bonus question, if the moderator inadvertently responds to
someone other than the captain while indicating whether an answer is
correct, the next bonus question will be read to the team eligible for
the bonus. If this situation occurs on question #25, the officials will
obtain a replacement bonus question.

**Summary of Scoring**

+-------------------------------------+--------------------------------+
| **Type of Question**                | # Points Awarded               |
+-------------------------------------+--------------------------------+
| Correct Toss-up                     | +4 points & eligible for bonus |
|                                     |                                |
| Incorrect Toss-up                   | +0 points                      |
+-------------------------------------+--------------------------------+
| Correct Bonus                       | +10 points                     |
|                                     |                                |
| Incorrect Bonus                     | +0 points                      |
+-------------------------------------+--------------------------------+
| Interrupted Toss-up:                | +4 points & eligible for bonus |
|                                     |                                |
| \- Correct Answer                   | +4 points to opposing team     |
|                                     |                                |
| \- Incorrect Answer                 |                                |
+-------------------------------------+--------------------------------+
| After a team member buzzes in:      | +4 points to opposing team     |
|                                     |                                |
| \- Unrecognized Toss-up (Blurt)     |                                |
|                                     |                                |
| \- Unrecognized Interrupted Toss-up |                                |
| (also a Blurt)                      |                                |
|                                     |                                |
| \- Consultation among players       |                                |
+-------------------------------------+--------------------------------+
| Before a team member buzzes in:     | +0 points but team will be     |
|                                     | disqualified from toss-up      |
| > \- Answering a toss-up            |                                |
| >                                   |                                |
| > \- Consultation among players     |                                |
+-------------------------------------+--------------------------------+

## 

## Challenges

30\. Challenges must be made before the moderator begins the next
question, or ***for the last question of a half,*** ***within three
seconds of the end of that half***. All challenges must come from the
four members of each team who are actively competing. The fifth team
member and/or the coach may not object verbally or by signal. If either
the fifth team member or the coach objects verbally or by signal to the
active team members, the challenge will not be allowed. All decisions of
the judges are final.

31\. Challenges may be made either to scientific content or to the
application of the rules. Challenges may NOT be made to judgment calls
by the officials, including but not limited to whether a question has
been interrupted, whether 5 seconds have elapsed before a student buzzes
in on a toss-up, whether 20 seconds have elapsed before a captain begins
answering a bonus, whether a half has expired before a new toss-up
question begins, whether a stall or consultation has occurred, ***a
player has given a first response,*** or whether time should be added
back to the clock.

32\. Should a question or challenge arise during a competition, the
competition and the clock will be stopped until the question is
resolved. Once the question has been resolved, the match will continue
from that point. Should the moderator decide that some time was lost due
to the interruption in play, the moderator has the right to put the
appropriate amount of time back on the clock.

33\. If a team's answer to a toss-up question is judged incorrect, and
they wish to challenge the ruling on the basis of scientific content,
but the opposing team is still eligible for the toss-up, the first team
should hold its challenge until after the opposing team has completed
its toss-up opportunity. The first team should then state its challenge
before the next bonus or toss-up question is read. If the challenge is
upheld, the second team's answer will be disregarded and the time lost
since the first team's answer was disallowed will be put back on the
clock. The first team will then have the opportunity to answer the bonus
question.

**When Time Runs Out**

34\. If a toss-up question is begun before time expires in a half, that
question will be finished under the usual rules of play, including the
bonus if the toss-up is answered correctly. The half is then over. A
question will be considered to have been begun if the subject area has
been completely read. The second half will begin with the first toss-up
question not read in the first half.

**Miscellaneous Rules**

35\. Substitutions may be made only at the half. If a team has five
players, the player who did not play in the first half may substitute
for any of the four starters. Teams may switch captains, but only at the
half.

36\. No one in the audience may communicate with participants during the
match; communication will result in ejection from the competition room.

37\. If someone in the audience shouts out an answer, the question will
be thrown out (as will the person) and the moderator will proceed to the
next question.

38\. Prior to each match, the two team coaches will introduce themselves
to each other and will sit together in the back row of the competition
room.

39\. No notes may be brought to the competition table. Nothing may be
written before the clock starts. Scratch paper will be provided at the
beginning of each match and collected at half-time and at the conclusion
of the match.

40\. Calculators are not permitted.

41\. Members of the audience, including the ***teams and*** coaches,
will not write down the questions/answers the moderator reads or use any
electronic recording or transmitting device, including digital cameras,
cell phones, or computers during the match. At the Nationals, coaches
will be provided with a team score sheet to track the number of
questions answered by each individual student on their team. No one else
in the competition room is permitted to write or make notes of any kind
during the active competition. If this occurs, the individual(s) will be
asked to leave the competition room.

**Rules for the End of Round Robin Tournaments at Bonneville's Regional
Events**

*42.* At the end of the Round Robin competition, sixteen teams will
advance to the double elimination contest in the afternoon.\
These teams will be randomly seeded for the first Double Elimination
round.\
The sixteen advancing teams will be selected based on the following
criteria:

1.  Points accumulated during the Round Robin competition, i.e., 2
    points for each win, 1 for a tie, zero for a loss.

2.  Head to head match-ups. If only two teams are tied, and they have
    already faced each other, the winner of that match shall advance.

3.  Cumulative Score differentials. If more than two teams are tied,
    cumulative score differentials will be used. These are the
    cumulative point spreads by which a team won or lost each round
    robin match (point spreads for each win are added, point spreads for
    each loss are subtracted).

4.  Tie breaker matches. In the unlikely event that two or more teams
    are tied and have the same score differentials, tie breaker matches
    will be used as follows:

    i.  If two (2) teams are still tied, there will be a five toss-up
        question run-off (interrupt penalty in effect). No bonus
        questions will be used during this segment of the competition.
        If still tied, another five toss-up question run-off will be
        used, etc., until the advancing team is determined.

    ii. If more than two teams are tied, each team, in separate rooms,
        will be given a series of 10 toss-up questions (no bonus
        questions will be used during this segment of the competition).
        The usual 5 seconds will be allowed for a competitor to buzz in
        after the question is completely read. There are no interrupt
        penalties but also no reason to interrupt since all 10 questions
        will be read. Scoring will be based on the number of questions
        right minus the number wrong. If two or more teams are still
        tied, procedure (i) or (ii), as appropriate, will be used until
        the advancing teams are determined.

.

**Rules for the End of Round Robin Tournaments at National Event**

***43.* At the National finals for *middle school*:** Ties for positions
1 and 2 in each Division will be broken using the following rules in the
given order until ties are broken:

> \(1\) If each team involved in the tie has played every other team
> involved in the tie or if a team involved in the tie has defeated
> every other tied team or lost to every other tied team, head-to-head
> results in the round-robin tournament will be used. If more than two
> teams are tied, records in all games involving two of the tied teams
> will be used. If one or more teams receive a position or are otherwise
> separated above or below the rest of the group, remaining tied teams
> will be compared again using only those games involving two of them.
>
> \(2\) If all teams involved in the tie will qualify for the
> double-elimination tournament, coin flips will be used to break ties.
> If three or more teams are involved, coins will be flipped until an
> "odd man" wins, with the remaining teams flipping again until all ties
> are broken.
>
> \(3\) If more teams are involved in the tie than will qualify for the
> double-elimination tournament, a set of tie-breaker questions will be
> used, consisting of toss-up questions only. If two teams are tied, the
> teams will play against each other with a set of five questions, with
> the usual timing and scoring rules in effect, including the interrupt
> and blurt penalties. If more than two teams are tied, each team will
> be given the same set of ten questions in separate rooms, with usual
> timing rules in effect and scores of +1 for each correct answer, -1
> for each incorrect answer, and 0 for each unanswered question. If one
> or more teams either advance or are eliminated, remaining ties will
> broken by first reverting to rule (2) above.

***44**.* **At the National finals *for high school*:** In the event of
ties for the two positions from each round robin division to qualify for
the double elimination tournament, the rankings of the teams in the
Division Team Challenge will be used to break the tie.