Westbrook's Amended ACF Rules

Westbrook's Amended ACF Rules govern the play of quizbowl tournaments that use these rules. They were facetiously adopted as the unofficial rules of play for ACF tournaments in 2007.

History

In January 2007, it was realized that the current ACF rules were not only rarely followed but woefully out-of-date. Peter McCorquodale posted the original 1998 Rules of Play for ACF, to provide a guideline for people who sought to revise the rules. After reading through two separate versions of the long and confusing 1998 Rules, Ryan Westbrook posted thusly:

“	I've thoroughly combed through these rules, and I've decided to draft my own set for consideration. To avoid confusion, I've deemed that I should set forth a full and comprehensive text. Section 1, Rule 1.1 - Players should listen to questions and if they hear clues they know, they should buzz and say what they think the answer is. If they're correct, they should be awarded points and get a bonus. If they're not, they shouldn't. Repeat 20 times. Declare a winner. End of rules.	„

Dwight Wynne then noted the possibility of a team taking advantage of these rules to correctly answer one tossup and one bonus part and win by a final score of 357 to 500. To attempt to correct for these perceived problems in the rule set, Dwight amended the rules into what is now commonly accepted as Westbrook's Amended ACF Rules.

Text of Westbrook's Amended ACF Rules

Westbrook's Rules of Quiz Bowl, Amended to Prevent Interpretations for Nefarious Purposes
Section 1
Rule 1.1 - Players shall listen to tossups and if they think they hear clues they know, they shall buzz and say what they think the answer is, unless of course someone on their team has already done that, in which case they shall not do that even if they think they hear clues they know.
Rule 1.2

Rule 1.2.1 - If players' given answer matches what's on the page, they shall be awarded 10 points and the opportunity to answer 30 points' worth of bonus questions, for which they do not actually need to buzz in to say what they think the answer is.

Rule 1.2.2 - If the answer doesn't match what's on the page, they shall not get points or the opportunity for a bonus, and if they were rude enough to interrupt the moderator to give such a stupid answer, they shall be deducted 5 points for insolence. If a player insists that his answer is correct, he shall be promptly told to shut up, and may only present a well-reasoned case for the validity of the given answer at a suitable break in the game.

Rule 1.3 - Repeat Rules 1.1 and 1.2 20 times. Whoever has more points at the end wins.
Rule 1.4 - Anyone caught exploiting any possible loophole in these rules in order for one team to gain an unfair advantage not based on knowledge or question quality shall be charged with violating the spirit of the game and tried by a jury of his peers. The ACF Cabal shall hand down punishment to those found guilty.

External Links

Westbrook's Amended ACF Rules as originally posted to the hsquizbowl forum