Middle School BOB Competition Rules

Players must be entering grades 5-8 in the fall when the Battle occurs.
Each team may have no more than 5 players on stage in any given round of competition.
Substitutes must be instituted before a new game starts but not once the game has begun.
Players, their families/affiliates and a team’s associates (volunteers, assistant coaches) may not watch anyone else’s battles until their team is out of the competition.

Teams will be divided into pools and will compete in a round-robin style competition.
The winning team from each pool will move on to the semi-finals.
The winner of each pool is determined by which team has the most wins. If two teams have the same number of wins, then the team with the highest number of total points scored will be the winner.
There will be 20 questions asked in each round.
The questions will be based on 6 predetermined titles.
The answer to each question will be in the form of the full title and author of a book.
A buzzer system will be used for all teams in each competition.

The Emcee will read the questions aloud. Teams can buzz in at any time after the Emcee begins reading the question.
The Emcee will acknowledge the team member who buzzed in.
After being acknowledged, the teammates have 10 seconds to answer. The team may confer during this time, and the team member who buzzed in must be the one to say the answer, and must begin answering before the 10 seconds are up.
The Emcee will respond whether the answer is correct. If the answer is incorrect or the team did not answer within 10 seconds, then the second team will buzz in to answer and will have 10 seconds to confer.
If the Emcee did not finish reading the question before the first team buzzed in, then they should finish the question before the second team buzzes in. If the second team is not sure whether the question was finished, they may ask the Emcee before they buzz in.
The Judge is responsible for ensuring that teams do not shout out.
Shout outs are:
- Talking when the other team is in the process of answering
- Talking prior to being acknowledged by emcee
- Someone on the team giving the answer to the emcee other than the person who was acknowledged.
- If a teammate talks as the person buzzing in starts to answer.

The Scorekeeper is responsible for updating the scoreboard when teams gain or lose a point.
The timekeeper is responsible for timing the 10 seconds after the Emcee acknowledges a team member, telling the team when 5 seconds have passed, and letting them know if their 10 seconds are up.
Team members or coaches may challenge procedures. Team members will alert their coach and then procedural challenges will be deliberated by the two coaches, judge, and an executive board member conferring quietly together.
Challenges must be made at the time that the event being challenged occurs and before the next question is asked.
Questions and answers may not be challenged.
Challenges can be made by calling a timeout.

Team gets 1 point for each correct answer, which must include the correct title and the author’s full name.
In case of a tie, additional questions will be given until the tie is broken.
Any team that shouts out will be penalized 1 point . If a team has 0 points, they go down to -1.

updated January 2019