Florida League of Cities, Inc.
2008 Municipal Brain Bowl
Mission
The Florida League of Cities is launching its inaugural “Municipal Brain Bowl” in conjunction with FloridaCity Government Week. These events raise public awareness about the services cities perform and educate the public on the function of city government. The Florida League of Cities also hopes todevelopin today’s youth the necessary skills to be tomorrow’s public servants.
Background
Every year, cities participate in an action-packed celebration of excellence in public service known as Florida City Government Week. Cities use this opportunity to introduce innovative programs and initiatives that contribute to the well being of their communities. Many cities adopt proclamations, sponsor festivals, hold essay contests, and host mock commission meetings to engage citizens in the local legislative process. This year Florida City Government Week is October 19-25.
Preface
The rules and guidelines are set forth to assist Brain Bowl officials and participants. Brain Bowl officials include a judge(s), moderator, timekeeper, recorder, ombudsman and scorekeeper.
A. General
1. Participants must be members of the Leon County School System and must be in 7th-8th or 10th-12thgrades.
2. Each team is comprised of four participating members and one alternate member. The alternate member can only replace a member at the conclusion of amatch. Each team will have one captain, but all players can buzz in and be recognized to answer questions.
3. The Brain Bowl will be conducted orally.
4. The Florida League of Cities (FLC) will be responsible for selecting Brain Bowl content(My City: I’m Part of It, I’m Proud of It).
5. For the Brain Bowl’s vocabulary questions, the moderator’s role is to read the definitions and participants will provide the vocabulary term.For short answer questions, the moderator may provide a term and the participant will provide the short answer/phrase.
6. The role of the judge(s), along with the moderator, is to determine whether the participant has given the correct answerthat matches the question given.
7. Space will be made available for teams to confer or “huddle” during the competitions(high school note: conferring is allowed during the BONUSmatch only). No books or other written materials may be brought to the rooms where the competitions are being held. After a match has begun, neither coaches nor sponsors are to confer with team members unless official times are allowed. During all levels of competition, coaches and teachers will sit in the audience.
8. Prior to the competition, a briefing will be held for team members, judges, scorekeepers,timekeepers, moderators, ombudsman and coaches. FLC staff or their designees will conduct this briefingthe day of the competition at 5:30 p.m. in Sittig Hall. An orientation will be held for each individual team.
9. The first question asked is open for either team member to answer. Whoever buzzes in first will be recognized and allowed to answer the question. All questions will be in “tossup” format.
10. DURING THE COMPETITION, ALL PARTICIPANTS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR ADHERING TO THE RULES.
B. Questions and Competition
1. A team will have a maximum of 5seconds in which to answer questions in a standard matchand 10secondsin which to answer questions from a sudden death match. Questions will only be read once unless a team requests clarification; however, the team still remains under the 5-second or 10-second rule. The question, if not properly answered by Team A, may be re-read for Team B only if Team B makes that request.
If a question is answered incorrectly, the opposing team has the opportunity toanswer the missed question without a penalty for an incorrect answer.
If the opposing team answers the question correctly, that team will receive the point value of the question and will get the next question.
2.High school matches will consist of approximately 30 questions per two six-minute matches and one four-minute “intense”BONUS match. All answers are worth 10 points.
Example:
Question: “Name three of the seven continents.”
Answer: North America, Africa, Antarctica
Total: 30 points
BONUS MATCH: The Bonus Match will be fourminutes long and contain more involved questions and answers. A team will have a maximum of 7 seconds in which to answer questions in a BONUS match.Once the moderator has presented the question, the team can work together to respond to the bonus question with values of 10 or more points. The teamcan confer, but ONLY the captain will answer.
The team with the highest number of points will be declared the winner at the end of the three matches.
3. Middle school matches will consist of approximately20 questions per four-minute matchwithout a BONUS match. All answers are worth 10 points.
Example:
Question: “Name three of the seven continents.”
Answer: North America, Africa, Antarctica
Total: 30 points
The team with the highest number of points will be declared the winner at the end of the three matches.
4. An answer to a question given after the time has elapsed will not be considered valid. If theanswer proposed by Team A is incorrect, then Team B will have the opportunity to answerthe question.
5. If the moderator is interrupted by a member of the team to which the question is beingaddressed, the moderator will immediately stop reading the question and allow theinterrupting individual must begin answering immediately. If the player whointerrupted the moderator fails to provide the correct answer, the moderator will then repeat the entire question for the opposing team.
6. All questions will be in “tossup” format. During the bonus match, the questions will simply have multiple answers with varying values (refer to bullets 2 and 3).
C. Sudden-death Match
1. In the event there is a tie at the end of the round, a sudden-death match shall beplayed.
2. The questions in this match shall consist solely of information from Page 26 of “My City: I’m Part of It, I’m Proud of It.” If the first participant answers the first question in the sudden-death playoff correctly, then the second participant is afforded the opportunity to answer a second question. If the second participant answers incorrectly, the first participantwins. If the first participant answers the first question incorrectly and the secondparticipant answers the second question correctly, then the second participant wins. Ifboth participants answer correctly or incorrectly, play continues with another two
question match.
D. Grievance Procedures
1. Any oral protest/appeal must be made immediately by the team captain.
GLOSSARY OF TERMS
1. Chief Judge – The person who keeps a record of the team to which the questions should beaddressed and the official authorized to make the final decision for any protest. Note: there maybe other judges in place, but the Chief Judge gives the final ruling on all questions and protests.
2. Coach/Assistant Coach – The person(s) who prepares the four students for the Brain Bowlcompetition. These persons maybe teachers/educators.
3. Counter Protest – Protest filed against the outcome of an already filed protest. A team has two minutes to file a counter protest after the judge’s decision.
4. Immediate – (1) As soon as a violation or infraction of the rules occurs and the clock isstopped. (2) The time allocated to the Chief Judge to make a decision regarding an oral
protest.
5. Interruption – a) An individual interrupts the moderator when a question is being read; b) a team confers or “huddles” out of order (a five-point penalty may be assessed); c) participants disrupt thecompetition (after first interruption, a warning is issued, and, after additional interruptions,team(s) are assessed a five-point penalty.) Teams are to confer only when a question has been asked.
6. Invalid Protest – a) A team files a protest or counter protest that is not valid (team may beassessed a one-point penalty); b) when the same team files more than one invalid protest or
counter-protest during the competition.
7. Moderator – The person who reads the questions for the game, directs order of play andverifies the response to the question by awarding or not awarding points.
8. Ombudsman – The person who is responsible for monitoring team members when thenecessity may arise for a team member to leave the area of competition (e.g., bathroombreak); monitors room to insure that there is minimal audience traffic. Ombudsmen also acknowledge the protest card in order to notify theChief Judge of a possible protest.
9. Penalty – The loss of point(s) due to infraction of a rule stated in the BrainBowl guidelines/rules document.
10. Protest – (1) A challenge as to the accuracy of an answer provided during the match; (2) aclaim that a rule violation occurred during the match; or (3) a claim that a judge misinterpreteda rule that would change the outcome of a match.
11. Protest Card – Instrument used to notify the ombudsman or judge of a protest.
12. Protest Procedure – A protest may be initiated by the team’s captain orally during the matchor by the team’s coach who will utilize the protest card. A coach initiates a protest by usingthe protest card. When the ombudsman informs the Chief Judge of a protest, the clock willtop immediately.
13. Round– Rounds are full match cycles.
14. Scorekeeper – The person who records the official scores during the competition.
15. Alternate – Any non-playing team member who is available at a specific time to replace oneof the four playing members.
16. Sudden Death – Each sudden-death match consists of two different questions. If Team Aanswers the first question in a sudden-death playoff match correctly, then Team B is affordedan opportunity to answer the second question. If Team B answers incorrectly, Team A wins.
If Team A answers the first question incorrectly and Team B answers the second questioncorrectly, then Team B wins. If both teams answer correctly or incorrectly, then play continues
with another two-question match. All sudden-death questions are valued at one point.
17. Team – A group of four to seven students competing in the competition.
18. Time Limit – (1) The time assigned to a game; (2) The time allowed for a response to a question; (3) The time allowed to the Chief Judge to make a decision regarding a writtenprotest or counter-protest.
19. Timekeeper – The person who keeps the official time for the game and the time spent foranswering questions.
GOOD LUCK!
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