History of NAQT game format

This page traces changes in the "standard" NAQT tossup/bonus game format as used at ICT, SCT, HSNCT, and tournaments using IS sets without local modifications. NAQT has also produced sets in various other formats.

1996-1997

Original NAQT format:

• 28 tossups and 27 bonuses per round
• If tossups 1-27 were all converted, tossup 28 read for points but no bonus read
• Variable value bonuses possible but 90% of bonuses worth 30 points
• First widespread use of power tossups.
• Intentionally non-powermarked questions possible though 95% or more of tossups had power marks (this may have been changed as early as the first ICT but the original SCT had a mix of powermarked and non-powermarked questions by design).
• Clock expiration before a buzz kills a tossup, but players allowed to answer if they have already buzzed/bonus completed on any correct tossup if buzz occurred in time
• If all 28 tossups are read and time remains on clock, game ends
• 9 minutes per half at all levels

Differences in original NAQT format from other major game formats in 1997

• ACF used 20/20 packets and no clock, whereas College Bowl used 8-minute halves without any fixed minimum or maximum number of questions.
• Neither ACF nor College Bowl used "tossups without bonuses" as a standard part of gameplay.
• ACF used only 30-point bonuses by this time. College Bowl kept variable-value bonuses through the end of its campus program and generally any given packet would have an equal number of 20, 25, and 30 point bonuses. At earlier times, ACF used variable-value bonuses and College Bowl uses bonuses that could be worth fewer than 20 or more than 30 points, but both practices had already stopped by 1997.
• Power tossups were not used in either ACF or College Bowl.
• College Bowl retained the rule that the half immediately ends on clock expiration, with some very specific exceptions.

1997-1998

• Variable value bonuses eliminated, all bonuses now worth 30 points
• Non-powermarked tossups eliminated
• 28 tossups and 26 bonuses per round
• Tossups 27 and/or 27-28 could be read without bonuses if 0 or 1 tossup goes dead and time remains on clock

2000-2001

HSNCT and IS sets changed to 26/24 packet length

2001-2002

• All formats changed to eliminate potential "tossups without bonuses" at end of game (except in overtime situations); packets come with the same number of tossups and bonuses. This was a simultaneous change to both packet construction and the rules; even if a bonus is flubbed and the reader runs out of bonus questions, a tossup during the normal course of non-overtime, non-replacement gameplay cannot be correctly answered without a bonus supplied from a backup packet being read.
• Collegiate packets contain 28/28 and high school packets contain 26/26.

2004-2005

• Collegiate packet length reduced to 26/26.
• IS set packet length reduced to 24/24.

2008-2009

• Any tossup started before clock expiration will now be completed as normal; no longer have to buzz in before time expires to avoid tossup being "killed."

2009-2010

Timing for four-year intercollegiate matches extended to 10 minutes per half.

2010-2011

HSNCT packet length reduced to 24/24.

2011-2012

Collegiate packet length reduced to 24/24.

2017-2018

• SCT now runs untimed with 11-question halves.
• Timing at ICT extended to 11 minutes per half.

2019-2020

Role of "team captain" in gameplay procedures significantly reduced.

2020-2021

• Bonuses are paired with tossups rather than read in order.
• CCCT timing changed to 11 minutes per half (not used in 2021 due to tournament being online, will take effect in 2022).
• Various temporary timing and rules modifications for online play were used.

2022-2023

• Two-second time limit to answer tossups after being recognized extended to three seconds at all levels.

2023-2024

• High school game length changed from 9 to 10 minutes per half.