Minnesota High School Quiz Bowl League

These instructions for keeping score at Minnesota High School Quiz Bowl league games are intended to be used in conjunction with the official MNHSQB scoresheet.

Before the game begins:

Fill out the top block of information including round number, packet number, room number, and moderator name. The first game of every night's competition will be Round 1 (even if it's the fifth or ninth game for the season as a whole). The packet number is in the upper right-hand corner of the question packet.

Fill out the names of the teams. If the school has multiple teams (as most do), make sure to indicate which team (A, B, etc.) it is. Fill out the names of the players. Record first and last names and don't hesitate to ask for the correct spelling. It doesn't matter the order in which the players' names are entered; choose one that is convenient with respect to how they are seated at the lockout system.

Phase 1:

When a player answers a tossup correctly, write "10" in the row for that tossup underneath their name. If a tossup goes unanswered, skip that row and put a diagonal slash through the tossup number in the central column. Then record "10" in the "Question Total" column and keep a running, cumulative score in the "Cumulative Score" column. It should be possible to tell from the scoresheet exactly which player answered which tossup and which tossups went unanswered. There is no need to mark which specific players gave incorrect answers.

Phase 2:

Record tossups as before, but put either a "10" or "15" in the column depending on whether the player received "power points." Continue to skip rows (and slash tossup numbers) for unanswered tossups. Record the points on the bonus in the "Bonus Points" column and then the total points for the question in "Question Total." The question total will be 10 or 15 (for the tossup) plus 0 to 30 for the bonus. Then add the question total to the team's score in "Cumulative Score."

If you read more than 20 tossups during phase 2, write the tossup numbers in the center column.

Phase 3:

Place the score that each team receives on the lightning round it chose in the "Bonus Points" column of the row labeled "Lightning." Place the score that each team receives on the other team's lightning round in the "Bounceback" row. Continue keeping a running score in "Cumulative Score."

Phase 4:

Keep score exactly as in Phase 2. Begin entering scores in the Phase 4 section of the scoresheet, even if there are unused rows in the Phase 2 section.

At the end of the game:

Announce the score. If a player or coach has a discrepancy, work with them to resolve the issue. The easiest way to do this is to take the team for which the scores disagree and begin calling out its cumulative score after each tossup until a difference is found. Then examine that line for differences in the points assigned or arithmetic.

Enter the number of tossups heard by each player in the game. When there are no substitutions, this will be the same for every player. Enter the number of tossups (10s) and power tossups (15s) for each player as counts (not point totals). Enter the number of points each player scored in the "Player Total Points" row.

Add up the tossup points scored by all of a team's players, and put that subtotal in the "Subtotals" row beneath the tossup section. Add up the bonus points and lightning round points (i.e., everything in the "Bonus Points" column) scored by a team and put that in the "Subtotals" row under the bonus section.

Add the two subtotals and the result should be the same as your final, cumulative score. If it is, the scoresheet passes the consistency check and should be turned in to headquarters. If the sum of the subtotals is different, review your arithmetic to find the error. If you can't find the mistake, return the sheet to headquarters for assistance from the statistician or tournament director. If the scores are close enough that there is any doubt about the identity of the winner, make sure both teams are aware of that situation.

Miscellaneous Notes:

From time to time during the game (particularly before and after the lightning rounds and at a time-out), the moderator may request that you announce the current score. You should not make a practice of announcing the score on your own volition to avoid slowing down the game.

Players and coaches may request to examine the scoresheet when the clock is not running. Work with them to identify and correct any discrepancies. In particular, coaches may wish to ensure that tossups are credited to the proper players; it will be easier to correct a misattributed tossup immediately after the game is played than to try to work it out later.

If a team makes a substitution, add the new player in a new column of the scoresheet; do not keep stats for two players in the same column. If there is a substitution, not every player will have heard the same number of tossups, so make sure that row is correct.

If the moderator is not in the habit of announcing the number of points scored on the bonus (or whether or not a tossup was answered for power), remind him or her of the need to do so.

If you become confused while keeping score and believe that you cannot continue without jeopardizing the integrity of the competition, you may request that the moderator stop the clock long enough to set the scoresheet right. This should be considered an emergency measure and employed rarely.

If it becomes necessary to replace a tossup (for any reason) or a tossup is inadvertently skipped so that the scoresheet's numbering of the rows diverges from the tossup number in the packet, add a brief note to the scoresheet in an appropriate place indicating which tossup corresponds to each row. An example might be, "Tossup 14 was thrown out and replaced with tossup 32" or "Tossup 17 was skipped; rows 17-30 correspond to tossups 18-31."

Expediency:

This document describes the way that a scoresheet should be completely filled out before it is turned in. A dedicated scorekeeper should be able to record all of the required information as the game progresses, but a moderator keeping score for him- or herself may not be able to without compromising the quality of the game or the number of questions read. If you are both moderating and keeping score, you should feel free to record the minimum necessary amount of information as you go and to fill in the rest of it after the game is completed. A good compromise is often to record tossups and bonuses, but to leave the cumulative score column for later.