Officials

Game officials are the staff that allows people to play the game of quizbowl.

Mainstream quizbowl officials

Tournament Director

The tournament director is the logistical head of the tournament. The tournament director is responsible for ensuring that the tournament has sufficient teams, packets, rooms, staff, and equipment to hold a viable tournament, and is the main point of communication between participating teams and the tournament host. The tournament director is usually also the head of the protest committee. All decisions made by the tournament director are final.

Moderator

The moderator is responsible for reading the questions, determining the validity of responses, awarding/deducting points based on those responses, resetting the buzzer system prior to the start of the next tossup/bonus cycle, and resolving any protests that come up (or choosing to send them along to the tournament director). The moderator should have good knowledge of the rules used at the tournament and be able to apply them at all times. Sometimes the moderator acts as a scorekeeper as well if no scorekeeper is available.

Scorekeeper

The scorekeeper is responsible for keeping an accurate tally of individual and team points scored for each team.

Statsperson

The statsperson, or stats guru, is responsible for collecting scoresheets from each individual game, entering them into a quizbowl statistics program such as SQBS, and displaying the results for teams to see.

Non-mainstream quizbowl officials

Most quizbowl formats just need a moderator and scorekeeper in every room. Some formats use additional game officials.

Scoreboarder

Often a volunteer during playoff/finals matches of tournaments, the scoreboarder functions as a scorekeeper, writing the score on a board so that the audience can keep track of the score during the match.

Judge

The judge appears in CBI tournaments. The judge's role is to determine the validity of answers given by the players. The judge also records the points scored on each tossup or bonus in case there is a discrepancy in the score.

Reset/Timer Announcer

Another CBI official whose duties would be performed by the moderator in most other formats, the reset/timer announcer (or RTA) is responsible for starting the clock at the beginning of each half, recognizing the player that buzzed in, and then resetting the buzzer system.

Timer

Some local high school formats require a separate official to be in charge of timing the match.