Half-games

A half-game is a game significantly shorter than a normal game in its context. For example, if a tournament's normal games have 20 tossup-bonus cycles in regulation, a half-game would consist of 10 tossup-bonus cycles. Overtime, if necessary, is generally unaffected. For tournaments that use timed games, a half-game may consist of a single timed half or (more commonly) a fixed number of tossup-bonus cycles in the vicinity of half the number of a typical game.

Half-games are used to save time and/or questions, typically in tiebreaker scenarios. They are also occasionally used when a tournament is running far behind or has run into other constraints.

Sometimes other fractional games (e.g., third-games) are used, typically for especially complex tiebreaker scenarios.