President’s Bowl

Events are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. on the days below in Lowrimore Auditorium on FMU’s main campus. Schedule and formats are subject to change.

• Monday, Jan. 29: Bracket Selection Event
• Monday, Feb. 5: Opening Rounds
• Tuesday, Feb. 6: Opening Rounds
• Monday, Feb. 12: Second Rounds
• Tuesday, Feb 20: Semi-Finals
• Monday, Feb 26: Championship Match

The winning teams will receive the following:

• Winner: Team’s name engraved on the FMU President’s Bowl trophy and $2000
• Runners-up: $1,000
• MVP Award: $500
• Semi-finalists: $250

Team members must agree on how prize money should be spent to benefit and support the registered club or organization under which they competed.

(Based on the NAQT, LLC rules. ©2016)

• Teams: No more than three people may play at a time. Teams cannot consist of more than six people; substitutions may be made between games, at halftime, before overtime, or during a timeout called by either team.
• Games consist of two halves featuring 7 Tossup questions each and Bonus questions
• Tournament Officials: Moderator (reads the questions and calls time), Judges, and Score Keeper
• Tossup Questions:
  • Usually worth 10 points. Each tossup question has a “power mark” indicated by an asterisk in the question that only the moderator sees.
  • A correct response given at or before the power mark earns 15 points instead of 10.
  • Correct answers to tossup questions #3, #7, #10 and if needed #14, earns three Bonus questions for that team only – each worth 5 points.
  • A player may signal (“buzz”) to answer a tossup at any point after the moderator has begun reading it. The moderator will stop as soon as a player has buzzed.
  • Only one player per team may buzz on each tossup, and only the player who buzzed may give an answer.
  • Teammates may not engage in verbal or written consultation (“conferral”).
  • Players must begin answering a tossup within 2 seconds after having been recognized.
  • An incorrect answer, or if the 2-second period has expired, the moderator will, if necessary, finish reading the question for the other team—but the question remains a tossup (subject to the rule of no conferral allowed).
  • If a player on the second team buzzes and answers correctly, the second team earns the bonus.
  • If the second team’s player gives an incorrect answer, or no player on the second team buzzes, the tossup goes dead: the moderator will provide the correct answer and move on to the next tossup.
  • If the moderator completes reading a tossup with no player buzzing in before the end of the question, both teams have 3 seconds in which to buzz. If one team gives an incorrect answer at this point, the other team has another 3 seconds in which to buzz. (no consultation is allowed)
  • Computation tossups are allotted 10 seconds in which to buzz in.
• Bonus Questions:
  • Three Bonus questions are earned for correct answers to tossup questions #3, #7, #10 and if needed #14, for that team only – each worth 5 points.
  • Bonus questions have no “power mark” for answering early in the reading of the question. Therefore, the complete question is read before the timer to answer starts.
  • Teams have 5 seconds to answer after the question has been read fully; the moderator will ask for a response after 4 seconds.
  • Teams may confer on each part of a bonus question.
  • The captain, or a player designated by the captain, should give the team’s answer.

• The moderator will ask for additional information (also called a “prompt”) if an answer is correct but less complete than what is required, except for titles of works, which must usually be exact. Generally, last names of persons, or other commonly used names (“Moses,” “Madonna”) are sufficient.
• If the score is tied at the end of the game, three tiebreaker questions (with no bonuses) will be played. If the score is still tied, sudden-death tossups will be read.
• Francis Marion University has modified the official NAQT rules for the purpose of conducting its own Intramural tournament. Where FMU rules do not apply or offer complete guidance, decisions will be made based on NAQT rules. The full version of the NAQT rules is available at https://www.naqt.com/rules.html.