Recognition rule

Disclaimer: This article is about rules. Its contents are not authoritative. Please consult official rules for up-to-date information.

In some quizbowl formats, players are required to be "recognized" by a game official before giving their answer on toss-up questions. Giving an answer without being recognized first is treated as answering incorrectly regardless of what answer the player says, or receives a lower number of points than would otherwise be received, or is otherwise penalized or disincentivized.

This rule used to be more common (and still remains in some formats like Arkansas's), but has fallen out of favor in many formats as it would often unfairly punish enthusiastic players who knew the answer. No national rule set has such a rule.