Category round
Featured in some high school formats, a category round involves reading ten questions on some theme (such as "Italian history" or "words starting with C") to a team, with questions not answered correctly bouncing back to the opponent. The process is then repeated for the other team. Teams may consult on category round questions, and buzzers are not used. Questions are usually valued at ten points each, or the same as tossups, in category rounds, making 100 points the maximum possible gain.
Almost all four quarter formats include a category round. In some tournaments, including the NAC, getting all ten category round questions right earns a team an additional bonus of ten or twenty points.
Battle of the Brains has two full category rounds. A starting pool of six choices is given to the two teams, and they each get the first crack at two separate categories.
Often, the team which is trailing at the start of the category round will get to choose their category from the two options, or from more than two (with the categories chosen by neither team going unread in that game).
A timed category round is known as a lightning round or sixty-second round.
The directed round is similar in procedure to a category round, but does not relate its questions on a common theme.