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    Individual Player National Championship Tournament Rules

    These are the competition rules for the Individual Player National Championship Tournament (IPNCT).

    1. General Rules
      1. Unless modified in this document, standard ÎÞÓǶÌÊÓƵ gameplay rules apply. All references to “team(s)” should be understood as meaning “player(s)”, uses of “either team” should be understood as “any player,” uses of “both teams” should be understood as “all players,” etc., along with all other necessary adaptations made to apply the same ideas to the context of a game for individual players and more than two players at a time.
      2. All rules related to bonus questions, teammates, and the captain of a team do not apply.
      3. IPNCT games have only tossup questions.
      4. All IPNCT games are untimed and will use a specified number of tossups for regulation play. The number of tossups may not be the same for all games.
    2. Group Games
      1. Games at the IPNCT will be group games, which are characterized by three or more (typically eight to ten) players competing to answer tossups.
      2. As under ÎÞÓǶÌÊÓƵ’s standard rules, the first correct response ends a tossup.
      3. Unlike ÎÞÓǶÌÊÓƵ’s standard rules, different players may continue to signal and provide responses until the tossup is answered correctly, until time is called, or until every player has signaled once.
        1. All incorrect answers (not just the first) given before the moderator has finished the question will lead to an interrupt penalty (“neg five”) for the player.
        2. The moderator will restart the three-second countdown for signaling after clearing the lockout system after each incorrect response.
      4. In some group games, a player can buzz out by accumulating a certain number of points.
        1. A player who has buzzed out will no longer participate in the current game.
        2. That player will receive a higher ranking for that room than any player who subsequently buzzes out (and higher than any player who does not buzz out at all).
        3. A player buzzes out by having a cumulative point total that equals or exceeds the game’s stated threshold. The threshold for each game depends on the length of the game and will be announced at the beginning.
        4. It is possible for no players to buzz out.
        5. In some group games, it is possible for all players to buzz out. In other group games, there will be a maximum number of players who can buzz out (specified in advance), and if that limit is reached, all remaining players will continue playing for the rest of the game and be ranked according to the criteria below.
      5. In the finals, at certain predetermined points in the game, the player or players with the lowest score(s) will be eliminated from play.
        1. Other than at the end of regulation, if there is a tie for the places to be eliminated, the statistical tiebreakers in Rule B.6.b will be used.
        2. At the end of regulation, if there is a tie, standard gameplay tiebreakers will be used (three tossups, followed by sudden death if the tie remains).
        3. Players in the finals will be ranked by order of elimination, with players eliminated earlier being ranked lower and players who were eliminated at the same time considered tied.
      6. Other than in the finals, the players in each group game will be ranked as follows:
        1. Players who buzzed out will be ranked by the tossup number on which they buzzed out (regardless of their final score), with earlier buzz-outs meaning better ranks.
        2. Players who did not buzz out will be ranked by the following criteria, in this order:
          1. Final score
          2. Number of tossups answered for power (in regulation)
          3. Number of tossups answered (in regulation)
          4. Earliest tossup at which the player’s final score was reached or exceeded (in regulation, and with the understanding that all players simultaneously achieve a score of 0 before the game starts)
          5. Incoming card number. This is a number used for tournament scheduling. The player(s) with the number(s) closer to 1 is/are ranked as better.
        3. As an exception to the previous rules, some games may be designated for breaking ties using gameplay rather than Rules B.6.b.ii–iv. Such gameplay will consist of three additional tossups read only to the tied players, and if there is still a tie after that, additional tossups will be read to the still-tied players until the tie is fully resolved. Players may not buzz out during these tiebreakers.
      7. Players may not call timeouts during group games. Administrative timeouts may still occur.
      8. A halftime period will be observed after half the tossups have been read.
    3. Protests
      Factual protests in group games will be handled as follows:
      1. They must be lodged prior to the beginning of the next tossup.
      2. Multiple protests on the same question will generally be grouped together for resolution.
      3. Protests will be resolved according to the same principles as in standard ÎÞÓǶÌÊÓƵ play (e.g., earned points are added, unearned points are removed, missed opportunities to score points are played, gameplay that shouldn’t have happened is mooted).
      4. If a protest cannot be resolved immediately, the moderator and/or tournament director will decide whether the game should be paused to await resolution, paused at a future time, or continue. Typically, the finals will continue until the next time at which players are to be eliminated, games in which there is a maximum number of players who can buzz out and that maximum number has already been reached will continue, and other games will be paused.
      5. Players may not protest that a player “took questions away from them” by continuing to play during the resolution of a protest.
      6. One effect of protest resolution may be altering the buzz-out order of players (if upholding a protest results in a player having met the buzz-out threshold on an earlier tossup).
      7. Protests that don’t affect the final ranking of players in a room may be declared moot.

    Ranking Example

    Suppose in a group game, Adam goes from 45 to 60 points on tossup 12. Barry finishes with 25 points (1/2/2) having powered #32, answered #20 and #41, and negged #46 and #48. Carrie finishes with 50 points (0/6/2). Daniel goes from 50 to 65 points on tossup 28. Erik finishes with 50 points (3/1/1). Flora reaches 60 points on tossup 40. Gabrielle finishes with 40 points (0/5/2). Harry goes from 45 to 60 points on tossup 46. Ivy finishes with 25 points (1/1/0) having powered tossup #33 and answered #43. Jeff finishes with 45 points (4/0/3).

    These players would be ranked as follows:

    1. Adam (buzzed out at tossup #12)
    2. Daniel (buzzed out at tossup #28)
    3. Flora (buzzed out at tossup #40)
    4. Harry (buzzed out at tossup #46)
    5. Erik (50 points, three powers)
    6. Carrie (50 points, zero powers)
    7. Jeff (45 points)
    8. Gabrielle (40 points)
    9. Barry (25 points, one power, reached 25 on #32)
    10. Ivy (25 points, one power, reached 25 on #43)