Rules and Guidelines

The 2010 Academic Bowl Rules and Guidelines booklet is available as an Adobe PDF file. Click the link below to open and save the booklet to your desktop. For best results, print at 125 - 150%. If the booklet does not open, download the FREE Acrobat Reader here. 2010 Academic Bowl Rules and Guidelines Book (PDF)

This is a listing of the major changes for 2008. All changes are noted in red. Minor changes in wording have also been added in various sections. Please be sure to review the entire Rules and Guidelines Booklet before the competition.

General Information Not in the Rules and Guidelines Booklet

1. Room Coordinator -We have changed the title of the room coordinator role to Gallaudet Officer which more accurately reflects the role of the Gallaudet staff who oversees all operations of the competition in each room.

2.Student Participation Contract - We have added one item to the policies and procedures section of the contract:Students cannot be released to their parents/guardians or other family members any time during the competition or while staying in the hotel or dormitory rooms.In the event of an emergency or illness, the GURC host coordinator must be notified prior to any student leaving the competition or dorm/hotel premises.

3. Guidelines for Participating Schools - Overnight awake staff will be provided on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights from curfew time until 6:00 a.m. the following day. In the event of an incident or emergency with any student overnight, at the discretion of the Gallaudet Officials, the appropriate head coach or assistant will be awakened.

Major Changes to the 2007 Rules and Guidelines Booklet

The following red highlighted areas are the major changes for 2008; however, each team is responsible for reviewing information in the entire booklet before the competition begins.

Section 3C. Academic Eligibility

Eligibility for National Competition - It may happen that a student on a regional championship or second-place team was academically eligible at the time of the regional competition, but is not academically eligible at the time of the national competition because he or she is on academic probation, academicsuspension, or the equivalent at the time of the national competition. If one ortwo members of a regional team are academically ineligible at the time of thenational championship, the team may compete, but with a minimum of threeplayers. National Academic Bowl teams must consist of the original teamplayers who participated in the regional competitions. Participation is defined as having played in at least one match at the regional competition.The team cannot add more players who were not on the team during the regional competition. However,if less than three players of a regional championship or second-place team are academically eligible at the time of the national competition, the school will be ruled ineligible to compete in the national competition. In this case, the regional third-place team will be invited to attend the national competition.

Section 5.Teams and Number of Players

The Academic Bowl recognizes that at some schools, additional students, teachers or staff may have participated in school-based Academic Bowl-type activities. However, only five players and two coaches may participate in regional and national competitions. Any additional people accompanying the team must travel at the school's expense. These additional people must not take any official role during the competition, and must not sit with the team or participate in team discussions during timeouts and between-round breaks.

The Academic Bowl program has a policy on additional adults or students, which is reproduced here:

Schools may bring a maximum of two coaches and five players to the regional and national Academic Bowl competitions. The Academic Bowl program cannot accommodate other adults or students.

If additional students attend regional or national Academic Bowl competitions for any reason, they must be accompanied by a chaperone or chaperones from their schoolThe team's coaches may not also serve as chaperones for additional students. The school is solely responsible for making travel, lodging, and meal arrangements for their additional students.

Students not on the team cannot participate in meals, social events, or other activities specifically designated for the teams.They also cannot sit with the team during the competition or wear the same team apparel at any time, in or out of the competition venue.

Gallaudet University, the Gallaudet University Regional Centers, and the Regional Academic Bowl host sites assume no liability for anyone except the designated coaches and players for each team.

Section 7 B.National Academic Bowl

All travel arrangements for the National Academic Bowl must be coordinated with the National Academic Bowl office.Travel arrangements once made should not be changed without prior approval.In cases where the travel costs increase as a result of changes, the school will be expected to pay the difference between its original arrangements and the new arrangements.

Section 12 B. Round Two Format

12 B.2. Procedures and Rules

1. Before Round Two begins, each coach assigns players to seats: Seat 1, Seat 2, Seat 3, and Seat 4. These seats need not be the same seats occupied by the players during Round One.

Each player in Round Two will receive four (4) questions.If a team has three players, Player #1 will receive six (6) questions and Players #2 and 3 will each receive five (5) questions. The most difficult questions are given to Player #1, slightly less difficult questions to Player #2, somewhat easy questions to Player #3, and the easiest questions to Player #4.This is done while maintaining a balance of categories and questions, similar to that in Round One.

Section 17.Legibility

While this is not a handwriting competition, answers must be written legibly. If the judges cannot determine from the writing what the intended answer is, the answer is incorrect. Players will not be asked, since they may have had a chance to rethink their answer

Beginning in 2008, handwriting samples will be required of all team members.A handwriting sample form will be posted on the Coaches' Corner in the Academic Bowl website for coaches to download and give to their players.Teams are to bring the samples with them to the regional and national competitions.

Players should still review their handwriting with their coaches for any possible problems with legibility or stylistic quirks, and give handwriting samples to the judges before each match.