- Team A is playing a timed NAQT match against Team B.
- Team A is down by 35 points after answering tossup 19 with only 10 seconds left in the game.
- If the clock runs out during the next bonus, Team A can't win (obviously) even if they get 30 points on the bonus.
- The captain of Team A predicts that even if he says "No answer" to each of the following bonus parts, the clock will run out without getting to another tossup.
- Knowing this, the captain of Team A wishes to completely skip the bonus so that his team can hear another tossup and have a shot at winning.
I personally think skipping a bonus and moving onto the next tossup should be allowed, especially if you are certain you will zero that bonus (such as "Name these characters from (a novel you've never heard of) --" or "Name these characters from Fox's Terra Nova--".
(Note: the second bonus should be skipped by all quiz bowl players in all situations.)
2. A team has 5 seconds to answer each part of a bonus question, unless otherwise noted by the question. After reading each part, the moderator will prompt the team for an answer after 4 seconds. Once prompted, someone on that team must begin answering, or the captain must immediately designate the person who will answer.
3. A team may begin its answer before the end of a bonus question. In such cases, the moderator stops reading when the team begins its answer. If the bonus contains another part, the moderator then asks the next part. This happens even if the part asks for more than one piece of information and the team gives only one; a risk of answering the bonus while it is being read is that a team might miss the fact that it is asking for multiple pieces of information.
4. If the bonus question contains multiple parts, a team may answer only the part that is being read. Any "introduction" (e.g., "For 10 points each--given a Vice President of the United States, name the President under whom he served.") belongs to the first part of the question.
