4-H General Livestock Quiz Bowl Rules

PRE-REGISTRATION IS NECESSARY FOR THE QUIZ BOWL. FOR MORE INFORMATION ON PARTICIPATING, CONTACT YOUR LOCAL EXTENSION OFFICE.

Co- Superintendents: Brandy VanDeWalle, Fillmore County Extension & Kerry John, Kimball-Banner County Extension

Data Management: Rob Eirich, Deuel & Garden County Extension

Date, Time & Place: Sunday; rounds begining at 5:00 p.m. if needed.  Monday; rounds begin or resume at 9:00 a.m. and continue until a champion team is determined.

**Due to time constraints on the competition day, 4-H members may compete in either the Livestock Quiz Bowl OR the Livestock Skill-a-thon.

Eligibility:

1. The General Livestock Quiz Bowl has two divisions. An Intermediate Division team consists of four individuals, age 12 or 13 as of January 1 of the current year. A Senior Division team consists of four individuals, 14 years of age or older as of January 1 of the current year. If a unit does not have four members who are 14 years or older, they may use members who are Intermediate Division age, but who are not also on an Intermediate Division team. If a Senior Division team has one or more members who are under 14 years of age, that team will be ineligible to qualify for national competition at the National 4-H Invitational Livestock Quiz Bowl. An Intermediate Division team cannot include anyone over age 13 as of January 1 of the current year.
   
   
2. An attempt will be made to make the Senior Division questions more challenging than the Intermediate Division questions.
   
   
3. There are no individual entries in this contest, only teams.
   
   
4. Team members need not be enrolled in any specific 4-H projects.
   
   
5. A team will consist of four members and up to 1 alternate. An alternate can be substituted at the conclusion of any phase in a round. No substitutions are allowed within a phase, unless the moderator deems that an individual cannot continue on in competition. Recommended procedure for Quiz Bowl team member substitution is as follows:
   
   
• Each team may name a fifth youth as an alternate and the alternate is expected to attend all rounds of competition in which their team participates.
  
  
• If an alternate enters play, he/she must remain in the contest for the rest of that phase.
  
  
• Substitution during the contest needs to be approved by moderator. In the event a four-member team enters competition and one member is unable to continue, and there is no designated alternate, the resulting three member team will be allowed to continue; however, they forfeit the Phase I questions directed toward the fourth team member.

6. Counties should encourage all 4-H members to study and compete for the county team on an open participation basis. County team members may be selected in a manner determined by the county.

Awards:

The Champion Senior Division Quiz Bowl team will participate in the National Invitational 4-H Livestock Quiz Bowl in Omaha, Nebraska. Eligible senior teams must meet age and all other qualifications established by national rules. Teams with one or more members under age 14 as of January 1 of the current year are ineligible to compete at the national contest. If the Champion team is ineligible or declines to participate, the opportunity will be offered to the Reserve Champion Senior Division team.

General Rules:

1. Teams will be notified prior to competition when and where they should report.
   
   
2. Team Captain: A team captain is designated and must be seated nearest the moderator, who is positioned between the two teams. Contestants will wear nametags and/or have cards with their names to provide to the moderator. The captain will remain the captain throughout the contest and will always be seated closest to the moderator. Other team members may change their seating order between matches.
   
   
3. Viewing: Contestants cannot view matches in either division until their team has been eliminated from competition. After their team has been eliminated, contestants may view matches in either division, but must remain quiet throughout the event. Other specific rules about public and participant viewing will be announced at orientation.
   
   
4. Each contestant will be given the opportunity to test the proper functioning of game equipment.
   
   
5. Timeouts: Team members, coach, moderator, judges, scorers, or Quiz Bowl committee members may call for a timeout for clarification of rules, scoring, question and/or answer, or to allow for unexpected problems. Timeouts may be called only after a question has been answered and before the start of the next question. In general, there should be no timeouts in any game unless called by the moderator or judge.
   
   
6. Protests: When a protest is raised, timeout will be called by the moderator. The moderator and judge(s) will consider the protest. In all cases, the decision of moderator and judge(s) is final.
   
   
• A protest of a question or answer may be made only by a team member or coach of either team, and then only at the time a particular question is read or answer given. Once the moderator has begun the next question, the protests are not valid.
  
  
• Coaches are allowed to use reference material to defend a protest, but have a maximum of two minutes to find the reference.
  
  
• If a protest is sustained, the moderator will take one of the following actions as deemed appropriate:
1. A question is protested before an answer is given and the protest sustained - discard the question. No loss or gain of points for either team.
   
   
2. An answer is protested (either correct or incorrect) - at least one judge and the moderator or two judges will determine the validity of the protest. Points will be added or subtracted as appropriate.
   
   
3. A question is protested after an answer is given (correct or incorrect) - at least one judge and moderator, or two judges will determine the validity of the protest question. The question may by discarded at no loss or gain of points or the question may be allowed with the appropriate gain or loss of points as in the situation above.
• Abuse of protest provisions may result in one or more of the following: Dismissal of team coach from the contest area; dismissal or replacement of the team member; dismissal of entire team with forfeiture of any points or ranking.
  
  
• Spectators, parents and visitors may not protest any question, answer or procedure during the course of play. They may, however, submit in writing to the contest officials any suggestions, complaints or protests at the conclusion of the contest.
  
  
• No source of information is infallible. There may at times be answers given to questions which are in agreement with recommended sources which are in fact erroneous. Every effort shall be made to eliminate these questions, but in the event of such occurrences, the judges and moderator may challenge the answer to the question, and if there is unanimous agreement, may elect to accept only the correct answer or to discard the question with no loss or gain of points to either team.
7. Ties: If both teams are tied at the end of a match, the moderator will read a series of three additional toss-up questions until the tie is broken. Questions will be scored as in Phase Three (see below). If still tied after this; the play becomes "sudden death" form with the first team to achieve a higher score becoming the winner. Questions for "sudden death" play will be selected by judges.
   
   
8. Once the moderator has declared a winner based on the total team point accumulation, there shall be no protests.

Method of Quiz Bowl Competition:

1. Seating and matches will be done through a randomized system. The exact procedure followed will be determined by the number of teams participating and the time allowed for the contest.
   
   
2. Whenever time and space permit, a double elimination procedure will be used.
   
   
3. Each match will consist of three phases as described below. In all phases, only the first answer given is accepted and will be ruled as correct or incorrect.
   
   
• Phase One: Phase One will consist of eight (8) questions that will be asked of each team. Teams that receive the questions first will be decided at random (coin flip). While the first team is being asked questions, the second team will be in a holding area, where they cannot hear the questions. After the first team has completed 8 questions, the second team will be brought in and asked the same 8 questions on a rotating basis within the team. Each individual team member will be asked two questions.
  Correct answers are worth 10 points with no deduction for incorrect answers. No teammate assistance may be offered or received in this phase. Answers must be started within 10 seconds after the question is read (starting an answer after the 10 second buzzer goes off is not acceptable). Answers will consist of multiple choice, fill in the blank, and/or completion type questions. The moderator will read the correct answer if incorrect or no answers are given.
  
  
• Phase Two: Phase Two will consist of eight (8) questions. Each team will have first opportunity to answer four questions on alternating basis. Correct answers are worth 10 points, with no deductions for incorrect answers. The team shall discuss questions prior to answering, but only the team captain can report the answer. Once the team captain begins an answer, no additional help may be offered from teammates. If anyone other than the team captain answers or additional help is offered, no points will be awarded. Answers must be started within 20 seconds after the question is read (starting an answer after the 20 second buzzer goes off is not acceptable). Questions shall primarily be fill-in-the-blank, completion, or short answer. When a team fails to answer the question in the allotted time or answers incorrectly, moderator shall offer the question to the opposing team, without re-reading it. The opposing team may discuss the question and shall have 20 seconds (from the time the moderator offers the question) to begin an answer to the question. Correct answers are worth 10 points, with no deductions for incorrect answers. This team may discuss the question only after it has been offered to them by the moderator (not while the team originally asked the question is discussing it). Only the team captain may report the answer.
  
  
• Phase Three: Phase Three will consist of regular, toss-up and bonus questions with a total of sixteen (16) questions worth 15 points each. During this phase, any team member from either team may buzz in to answer a regular or toss-up question. The first two questions will be regular questions. Every 3rd question will be a toss-up question with a bonus attached. The only difference between a regular and a toss-up question will be that toss-up questions will have a bonus question attached.
  
  
1. Scoring and procedures of regular and toss-up questions with no Violation of Play: After the regular or toss-up question has been read, the first individual from either team to signal will answer the question within five seconds after being acknowledged by the moderator, or will lose 10 points. Ten points will be deducted for incomplete or incorrect answers. If an incorrect answer is given, moderator will offer the question to the other team, who has the opportunity to answer after buzzing and being acknowledged. The second team must buzz in within 10 seconds of being offered the question. The question will not be re-read. If neither team can offer an answer within 10 seconds, the moderator will give the correct answer and neither team will forfeit points.
   
   
2. Scoring and procedures of regular and toss-up questions with Violation of Play: Any member answering regular or toss-up questions without being acknowledged will result in a deduction of 10 points. The moderator will NOT indicate whether the answer was correct or incorrect, but only that it was answered without acknowledgement and will offer to the opposing team. The opposing team has the option of answering within 10 seconds after receiving an offer from the moderator. The question will not be re-read. The second team must buzz in and be acknowledged by the moderator before answering.
   
   
3. Bonus questions: If a bonus question is attached to a correctly answered toss-up question, the moderator reads the bonus question and the team that answered the toss-up question is allowed to discuss the question. The question will not be re-read. Answers must be started within 20 seconds after the question is read. Only the team captain, may answer. Once team captain begins an answer, no additional help may be offered by teammates. If more than one person answers or additional help is offered, no points will be awarded. Correctly answered bonus questions are worth 15 points. All parts of bonus questions must be answered correctly. No points are deducted for incorrect or incomplete answers to bonus questions. The opposing team does not have the opportunity to answer bonus questions.
   
   
4. If a bonus question was attached to an unanswered toss-up question or an incorrectly answered toss-up question, the bonus question becomes a regular question and the cycle of regular, regular, toss-up with bonus starts over.
   
   
5. Pre-mature buzzing: When the buzzer is pushed before a question is completely read, the moderator will stop reading and that person must answer the question after being acknowledged. If the answer is incorrect or incomplete, ten points will be deducted from the team score. Judge(s) will not ask for clarification of answers in these instances. Answers must be complete and correct. In the event that a multiple choice question must be answered before all the possible answers have been read, the contestant's answer must match the moderator's correct answer exactly, either by letter choice, or by the corresponding wording of the correct letter. If the answer is not complete and correct , the question will then be completely re-read and offered to the other team.
4. Questions will not be re-read, except as in (5) above.
5. The score of both teams will be announced periodically.
6. The judge(s) may ask for clarification of answers.