You can buzz in any time you think you know the answer. If you buzz in and get the question right, your team gets ten points and also gets a bonus question. If you buzz in before the question is over and get it wrong, your team loses five points and the other team still gets to hear the rest of the question. If you buzz in after the question is over and get it wrong, you don't lose any points. Bonus questions can only be answered by the team that got the toss-up.
Bonuses are worth twenty to thirty points.
For bonuses, the whole team can discuss the answer and the team captain gives the answer to the moderator. I estimate the subject distribution of the questions is something like this. The high school that wins our tournament is eligible to go to the NAQT National High School Championship in March 1998. The teams that come in second, third etc. The moderators, scorekeepers and people running things will be Caltech students and JPL scientists.