Written Battle Rules
Oral Battle Guidelines
Scoring

Championship Battle Guidelines

1. The Written Battles will start promptly at 4:30 p.m. Teams or team members will not be allowed to enter the cafeteria once the battle has begun. Please arrive by 4:15 p.m. Battles are generally over by 5:00 pm.

2. The entire team, including the alternates, may participate in the Written Battles.

3. Pencils and answer sheets with the authors’ last names will be provided. Please DO NOT bring any books, notes, etc.

4. Choose one team member with good penmanship to write the answers and the authors’ last names on the answer sheet.

5. At the First Written Battle, there will be 30 questions. At the Second Written Battle, there will be 30 questions plus three tiebreaker questions.

6. A Youth Services librarian will read each question twice. Each team will have 30 seconds to quietly discuss and decide on an answer, with the team captain making the final decision about what is written. Teams will not be able to ask the librarian to explain or to repeat any questions, so it is important to listen carefully while the questions are being read.

7. The three tiebreaker questions will be used only in the event of a tie.

8. A list of the authors will be printed on the answer sheet.

9. At the end of the Written Battle, teams should leave their answer sheets on the floor.

10. If any team’s behavior becomes disruptive and disturbs the concentration of the other teams, that team will be asked to leave the Written Battle.

11. Any student who finds it necessary to leave the cafeteria may do so quietly. No one will be allowed to re-enter the cafeteria after leaving.

12. Team managers and other interested adults will be asked to wait in another room.

13. Team managers will be notified of the Written Battle results within 3 days. After the first written battle about half of the teams will advance to the second Written Battle. After the second Written Battle, the 16 teams with the highest scores will continue on to Oral Battle Day.

1. The top 16 teams from the Second Written Battle will participate in Oral Battle Day. Teams will be assigned either morning or afternoon battles, with eight teams participating in each time period.

2. Spectators are welcome; however participants and family members involved in afternoon battles may not attend morning battles.

3. Battle participants, managers and spectators are not to discuss questions in between battles.

4. Each team will participate in four battles on Oral Battle Day. During each Battle, a maximum of six team members may participate, with one member acting as captain, who will stand to answer each question. The six members and designated captain may be changed from battle to battle. Teams may not add members to a Battle once it has begun.

5. A coin will be flipped to see which team will go first. Team captains will draw 10 questions each (a total of 20) for that battle.

6. The librarian will read each question twice. Each team may confer up to 20 seconds. The captain will then stand up and clearly give the author’s last name and the answer to the question. Other team members may not talk to the captain or to each other after the captain stands up, nor should there be any communication between the team and the audience.

7. The librarian will award points for each correct author and answer. If the answer is incorrect, the question will be read once more for the opposing team. The team will have 20 seconds to confer on the answer.

8. While a team is conferring or answering the question, members of the opposite team must not indulge in disruptive conduct such as loud laughing, loud talking or communicating with the audience. A team violating this rule will receive ONE warning. If the behavior persists, the librarian will deduct four points from the offending team’s final score.

9. The audience members are invited to watch the Battles quietly. Audience members, including the team managers, must not talk to the librarian or members of either team during the battles. The librarian in charge will manage any violation of the rules.

10. The decision of the librarian in charge is final. In order to keep the day progressing, if there are any questions pertaining to the battle, the team manager should consult with the Youth Services Supervisor. Parents and Team Managers may also complete a Question Problem Form if they find fault with a particular Battle question.

11. Once the Battle is over, each team’s score will be listed on a sheet for that room’s Battles. At the end of the morning or afternoon, each team will be assigned between one and eight points on the basis of how that team did against all the others in that room. Eight points will be given to the team with the highest raw score, and one point will be given to the team with the lowest score.

12. If there is a tie in the raw score for a room, the points assigned to those positions will be added together and divided. [Example: Two teams tie for 3rd place. The points for 3rd place (six) and the points for 4th place (five) will be added together and divided by two, with each team receiving 5.5 points. The next team, in 5th place, will receive four points.]

13. The points received by each team in all four battles will be added together. The morning team with the most points and the afternoon team with the most points will play each other in the Championship Battle.

14. If there is a tie between two or more teams, those teams will participate in a sudden-death tie-breaker battle, where the first team to score advances to the Championship. Each team will receive answer slips. The librarian will read a question, and the teams will have a set time to record their answers. If only one team has the correct answer, that team will advance to the Championship Battle. If all teams have the same answer, they will all be asked another question, whether the answer was correct or incorrect. If some teams have the correct answer and others do not, those teams without the correct answer will be eliminated. The remaining teams will then be asked another question, until the last remaining team advances to the Championship Battle. No author names will be required in a tie-breaker.

15. If there is a tie between two or more teams, those teams will participate in a sudden-death tie-breaker battle. Each team will receive answer slips. The librarian will read a question, and the teams will have a set time to record their answer on their slip. No points will be awarded and no author names will be required. If only one team has the correct answer, that team will advance to the Championship Battle.

16. If all teams have the same answer, they will all be asked another question, whether the answer was correct or incorrect. If only some of the teams have the correct answer, those teams without the correct answer will be eliminated. The remaining teams will then be asked another question, until the last remaining team advances to the Championship Battle.