Online Quiz League

1. ORGANISATION & REGISTRATION

1. The purpose of the Online Quiz League (OQL) is to organise league and other quiz based competitions to be played using video sharing software by players all around the world.
2. OQL operates a non-discriminatory policy with respect to age, gender, disability, race or nationality, ethnic origin, creed, colour, social status and sexual orientation.
3. The league is run by the commissioner (Jon Stitcher) who has full and final say on all league matters.
4. The Comissioner shall have the power to arrange and settle all matters relating to the Leagues.
5. League matches must be played on a Wednesday night and commence promptly at 8pm and played using video sharing software.
6. To initiate the playing season, the Commissioner has set August 12th as a Final Registration Date, and all teams must by that date submit:

1. A fully completed Registration Form 
2. A remittance to cover the main entrance fee as set by the Commissioner

7. No player may play for more than one team in any one season without first obtaining the permission of the Commissioner ; the player has the right of appeal to the Commissioner of the OQL should the request for a transfer be refused.  This rule applies to all competitions played under the auspices of the OQL.

7a. Any player wishing to play in the Handicap Cup/Plate competition must have played in at least 3 matches in the league season.

7b. If it is discovered that an illegible player has played in a cup or league match, that player will have their score for the match changed to zero and the final scores adjusted accordingly.

8. The OQL Commissioner shall fix a playing season of 11 weeks for the league season plus 4 further weeks for a cup competition. The commissioner may extend or reduce these depending on the number of registered teams.

9. OQL Commissioner has the discretion to amend the playing rules for competitions in order to best accommodate the number of teams entering.

2. MATCH RULES

10.Sets of questions will be provided by the Commissioner and only these shall be used in league matches.

11. Questions will be uploaded to the OQL website precisely 15 minutes before the commencement of the matches. Each team captain will be emailed with half the password. This must be entered to access t he questions. The QM should read the questions from an electronic devise such as a laptop or tablet however if they prefer to print them off they may, but the opposition shall be informed.

12. Teams shall consist of not more than four players; If a team is missing a player then the questions that would have gone to that player go straight to the team but for a bonus point only. Players will take the position of seat 1 2 3 or 4 at the commencement of the match and this order is not to change during the match. The Home Team shall be responsible for ensuring that the roles of Question Person and Scorer are provided for each match, however it is expected that should a home team be short of either and the away team is in a position to provide a match official then they should do so. Teams should liaise by email to arrange this. Any arrivals after the start of a match cannot join the team.

13. A match shall consist of 32 Questions to each Team, and the winner shall be the team securing the most points.

14. All league matches should start at 8.00 pm with an allowance of 15 minutes. Should matches be delayed more than the allowance then the non-offending team has the right to claim the match.

15. All matches are to be played using the video sharing application, Zoom. It is highly recommended that all teams use Zoom and if any team wish to use a different platform for their home matches this can only be done with express permission of the commissioner.

16. During the match, all players and officials are to be visible on the application so that they can be seen by all players. No player may go off screen for any reason during a match and if they do they will not be permitted to take any further part in the match unless the opposition expressly permit this. The only exception to this is if the Zoom call needs to be restarted due to time restrictions. If this happens the match shall be restarted as soon as possible and no player is to research anything during this slight delay. 

16b. Should a player have technical issues with Zoom AFTER a match has commenced, that player has 60 seconds to fix the issue or they will not be able to play any further part in that round. If the opposition agree the player is given further time to reconnect but at any point the opposition can impose a 60 second time limit. If the player has not resolved the issues within those 60 seconds then they are officially timed out of the round and can play no further part in that round. If a player has tech issues on three separate occasions during a match the opposition player have the right to request that that player is no longer permitted to participate at all in the match.

17. Players are not to use any resources to try and answer questions, including but not limited to; internet search engines, reference books, members of their household. Any player caught attempting to cheat in any way will be immediately banned from the league and their team will forfeit that match.

17a. If a player is accused of cheating then the OQL committee will make a full and thorough investigation. If it is deemed that, on the balance of probabilities, a player has been cheating then the OQL committee will impose sanctions at its absolute discretion including, forfeiture of matches, restrictions on the player, suspension and in extreme circumstances a lifetime ban.

18. The home captain will toss a coin and ask the visiting captain to call to decide the order of answering.

19. The winning team will receive 4 league table points, in the event of a draw each team shall receive 2 points. The losing team will receive 0 points, unless they lose the match by 4 points or fewer and then they shall receive 1 point.

20. Answering;

• a) A player should commence to answer their own question within 15 seconds of the completion of the question. They may be allowed to continue after 15 seconds to complete an answer, but if obviously taking too long, may be told to finish by the QM at the QM's discretion. If the answer is correct, TWO points are awarded. If teams are playing using the 'free guess rule' then, if a wrong answer is given, or the question is unanswered, the question is passed to a member of their own team who has five seconds to answer. If the second attempt is correct ONE point is awarded. If still incorrect or unanswered within the time limit, the question is passed to the opposition who has five seconds to answer correctly for ONE bonus point. For matches which do not use the 'free guess rule' a player shall be awarded TWO points for answering their own question but if they answer incorrectly it is immediately passed over to the opposition where one player may answer for ONE point. If they do not answer within 15 seconds, or defer to a teammate, the teammate may answer and if correct will be awarded ONE point. If clarification is requested by any player, the clock should be stopped and restarted after such has been given. QM needs to be considerate of any clear connectivity problems and use their discretion to allow longer to answer or repeat a question if a player has clearly been unable to hear the question.

• b) One point should be given for a correct answer given after fifteen seconds, but before twenty seconds, by the original answerer. Should two or more players answer, the QM will allot points (or otherwise) on the first answer heard.

• c) If no points are awarded to the original person asked, the question must be passed, despite the original reply being close to the correct answer. If the initial answer is partially correct the QM should use the word 'prompt' to inform the player that further information is to be given. They shall have one chance, and one chance only to give a full correct answer before they are classed as answering incorrectly.

  21. When deciding whether a player should answer or not they should be aware of signalling by their team mates. This can be done in one of two ways. Clear hand signals to demonstrate the degree of certainty a team has, or, by vocalising how sure they are to a percentage, e.g. 'I am 80% sure of this answer'. The team captain may nominate a player to answer by clearly stating that player's name.

22. Should any member of a team be found guilty of prompting in any shape or form, the Question Person shall treat any answer received as incorrect and then proceed to pass the question to the non-offending team.

23. If any member of the audience should prompt a person answering a question, the Question  Person shall cancel and ask a supplementary question.

24. It is the duty of each captain to ensure that his or her team's supporters do not in any way prompt any member of the competing team.

25. The score sheet must bear the names of all eight players in capitals and be witnessed and verbally confirmed by both Captains and the Question Person within 10 minutes of the completion of the game. The home captain is responsible for the full electronic copy of the score sheet being in the hands of the commissioner immediately upon conclusion of the evening's quizzing. If a delay is anticipated for any reason the commissioner must be informed and in his sole discretion will decide whether or not to allow this delay. If the score sheet is not received promptly then the match will be awarded to the away team using the average winning and losing scores to determine the result.

26. Following the completion of the match, teams may, at their discretion play a friendly match(es). If either team does NOT wish to play a friendly then a friendly will not take place but it is expected that teams will be courteous and alert their opposition in advance that they do not want to partake of a friendly.

27. The home team may select the question set for the friendly.

28. Disputes;

• a) If either team feels that an answer in the question set, or the Question Person's ruling, is incorrect so that points were wrongly awarded, they must say so immediately or at least before the start of the next round. The Question Person must then invite the two captains to agree how points should be awarded if possible. Captains who know that a mistake has been made should concede the point(s) there and then. If teams cannot agree, the Question Person must note a possible protest.

• b) If, at the end of the game, the result turns out to depend on the disputed point(s) and it is decided to proceed with the protest, the captain of the protesting team must write the word PROTEST on the front of the score sheet and on the reverse side give brief details of the matter concerned. As a first step the two captains should consult a reliable internet source on the night to confirm their opinions, try to agree to concede or withdraw the protest. If they cannot agree, then a written protest must be made by email within 24 of the game to the commissioner, with a copy to the other team.

• c) Protests will be heard by the League commissioner whose decisions shall be FINAL.

29. Any tie at the end of each season for the first or second place in a League shall be settled by total points scored followed by total points difference followed by the result in the match between the two teams. If there is still no separating the teams then the team with the most 2 point answers across the season shall be the deciding factor followed by the toss of a coin.

30. In all knockout competitions, ONE extra round shall be played if the game results in a tie after 8 rounds. If the game is still tied after 9 rounds, then a 10th round shall be played. If the game is still tied after 10 rounds a Tie Break question shall be asked. The questions in these rounds shall be of a general nature. The order of answering will change after Round 8 and again after Round 9.

31. Any player who wishes to play

31. Either Captain has the right to be told the score before a question is asked during the last round.

32. Teams who fail to turn up for League games will immediately forfeit the match. A team who misses two matches in one season without a good reason may not be permitted to return for the following season.

3. GENERAL

33. Any published matters, including press, radio, and social media, concerning quiz teams and individual members must not contain any comment or statement capable of causing offence or embarrassment. Questions must not be discussed on social media until the results for that evening's matches have been published on both the website AND the OQL Facebook page.. OQL has the right to impose appropriate sanctions on teams or individuals who contravene these rules.

34. The OQL Commissioner will publish competition rules for all competitions promoted directly by the OQL.