What is Scholar Bowl?

Scholar Bowl is an annual academic competition organized by Probe, which consists of strategy games and academic challenges. Each school selects six contestants to represent their school at the three competitions. There are small competitions in January and February as well as the large district competition in March. Winners of each competition receive a trophy for their school and medal for each contestant. Probe feels that sportsmanship is of great importance, therefore a trophy and medals are also awarded for sportsmanship. See below for the rules for each game played at the Scholar Bowl Competitions.

Judge

The Judge has general knowledge questions. Each team competes head to head and tries to "buzz in" and answer the most questions correctly. The buzzer system we use is called "The Judge".

Mind Benders

Mind Benders include grid logic, analogy and picture puzzles. The team works together to complete as many puzzles as possible in fifteen minutes.

Mancala

Scholar Bowl Competition Rules

You need:

• 2 players
• 24 playing stones
• Game board; or you can use a 12-cup egg carton with a small bowl placed at each end.
• The bowl to each player's right is his/her storehouse.

Objective: To have the most stones at the end of the game.

Rules: Set up

• The board is placed between two players.
• The side closest to the player is his/her small pits and hi/her storehouse is on the right end of the board.
• Each player puts four stones in each of his/her small pits.

After players decide who goes first, the first player takes the stones from any one of his/her pits and, going counter-clockwise, puts one stone at a time into each pit and in his/her storehouse. This is called "sowing." If a player's last stone lands in his/her storehouse, that player gets another turn. 

When "sowing", the player remove the stones from the pit with one hand. Then they open their hand up showing the stones. With the opposite hand, they place one stone at a time into each pit. (This ensures that the players do not accidentally drop more than one stone at a time into each pit.) When moving around the board, players do not place a stone in the opponent's storehouse. 

If your last stone ends in an empty pit on your own side of the board, you may take all stones from the opponent's pit directly opposite and your last stone and put them all in your storehouse. If there are no stones in the opponent's adjacent pit when you land in an empty pit, you take no stones and your turn is over. If your last stone ends in an empty pit on your opponent's side, you take no stones and your turn is over. 

You might want to tell your students the following story to help them understand this rule. When you land in an empty pit on your side and there are stones in your opponent's pit, you may capture their stones and escort them back to your storehouse. You (your stone) remains in the storehouse to guard them. If there are no stones in your opponent's pit, you have nothing to capture and nothing to guard, so you remain in your pit. Your turn is now over.

You may touch the stones to count them. However, you may not pick up the stones while counting. Once you have picked up the stones, you must play them.

It is each player's responsibility to know if he/she receives another turn for landing in his/her storehouse. Therefore, when a player thinks his/her turn is, he/she must state, "I am finished." This will be the signal for the other player to begin play even if he/she realizes that the opponent could have had another turn. 

Unless a player land in his/her storehouse, play stops when you drop your last stone into a pit (and complete a capture if possible). It does not matter if there are stones in the pit where you drop your last stone, play stops.

Players take turn until all the pits re empty on one side fo the board, then the game is over. The opponent puts any stones which remain on his/her storehouse. The winner is the player with the most stones in his/her storehouse at the end of the game.

Strategy: It is not a good idea to empty your side of the board too early in the game because your opponent gets to keep all the stones in his/her pits at the end of the game.

Nine Men's Morris

Scholar Bowl Competition Rules

You need:

• 2 players
• 18 markers: 9 light-colored and 9 dark-colored
• Gameboard

Objective: To reduce the number of your opponent's markers to two, or prevent him/her from being able to move any of his/her markers.

Rules:

• Players decide who goes first.
• Players take turns placing one marker at a time on an intersecting point.
• Anytime a play has three markers in a row, he/she can remove one of the opponent's markers from the board.

This rule does apply as markers are being placed on the board at the beginning of the game as well as throughout the remainder of the game. The instant a player has three markers in a row, he/she may remove an opponent's marker. 

• Each time a player makes three-in-a-row, he/she must announce it so the opponent knows to wait to take their next turn. This gives the player time to decide which stone to remove. Opponents do not need to point out a three-in-a-row if the player did not see their own play.
• A player can only remove a marker from the opponent's three-in-a-row sequence if there is no other choice.
• After all markers are on the board, players take turns moving pieces along the lines and trying to get three markers in a row (horizontally, vertically, or diagonally). You can only achieve a diagonal in the four corners of the board.
• No jumping is allowed.
• A player loses the game when he/she has only two markers left or cannot move any of his/her markers. 
• A move is not official until a player has removed his/her finger from your piece he/she is moving. A player must move one piece each turn.

Strategy: It is legal to move one of your three-in-a-row pieces out and then put it back on a later move, claiming an enemy piece each time you create a three-in-a-row sequence. a player must move one of his/her pieces back and forth to keep claiming opponent's pieces. 

 Target Number

Scholar Bowl competition Rules

You will need:

• A deck of Uno cards (remove all word cards)
• A timer
• Pencil & paper for scoring
• Pencil and & paper for each student

1. Shuffle cards, and deal each player five cards face down.

2. Place a card with a one on it face up in the center of the table to represent the tens place.

3. Take the top card from the remaining deck and place next to the #1, in the ones place. This will create a two-digit number between 10 and 19 which will become the target number for this round. 

4. Set time for 30 seconds and announce go.

5. Players turn their cards over and attempt to use addition, subtraction, multiplication, and/or division to arrive at the target number. This should be a silent work time. 

6.The goal is to use as many of your five cards as possible to reach the target number before the time is called. Your solution must use at least 3 cards.

7. When time is called, all players must immediately place their solution "up." These cards should be in the order the solution will be given. Turn unused cards face down. This will make scoring easier. Also, each player should write their solution on scratch paper, but this is not required. Students may take a few moments to finish writing down their equations before solutions are recited, but then all pencils should be down. 

8. Players take turn reciting their solutions. If any player disagrees with a solution, they must immediately challenge it. 

9. Scoring:

10. Players throw in all cards each round.

11. Deal each player five new cards to begin next round.