Round Rules

Only rules marked with * are protestable. See Section 13 for clarification.

Round Rules

Polygon Invitational will be using a modified NPDL-TOC Round Rules:

SECTION 2. Round Definition
A*. A team consists of two debaters. (A team may maverick up to two preliminary rounds if one partner is sick or experiences persistent connectivity issues. No mavericks will be allowed in elimination rounds.)
B*. A round consists of one Government team debating against one Opposition team.
C. The Government team proposes a case to uphold the resolution. The Opposition team opposes the Government team’s case. 
D. A round shall consist of the preparation time and the debate. 
E. The debate shall begin when the first speaker begins their speech and shall end when the last speaker ends their speech.

SECTION 3. Resolutions
A. Resolutions will be announced by the tournament at the start of preparation time
B. A different resolution will be used each round.
C. Over the course of the tournament each team may be assigned to uphold either side of the resolution in any given round.
D. Each preliminary round will have one resolution. Each elimination round will have three possible resolutions. Before the preparation period, teams shall strike resolutions as follows: The Opposition team shall strike one of the three topics, and then the Government team shall strike one of the remaining two. Each team shall take no longer than a minute to announce its strike to the judge and the opposing team.

SECTION 4. Ballot
A. The judge should award a win to the team that did the better debating. The judge should award a loss to the other team.
B*. The judge may not confer with anyone when making their decision. The exception is that the judge may communicate with the tournament director or designee(s) to clarify round rules.

SECTION 5. Definition of ‘Speech Time’ 
A. Except for roadmaps, speech time begins as soon as the debater begins speaking. Thank-you’s count toward speech time.
B. Roadmaps may include content warnings.
Roadmaps do not count toward speech time, so long as:
- The roadmap is not argumentative in nature;
- The roadmap does not exceed 15 seconds. This can be extended to no more than one minute if one’s opponent or judge asks for a repeat or clarification of the roadmap.
C. The judge shall not factor into their decision anything said by the debaters outside of their allotted speech time.
D. In the event of a technology issue that prevents round participants from being able to hear the speaker, the issue should be raised immediately verbally or in the round group chat. The judge shall have discretion to:
- pause speech time while the technology issue is being resolved, and/or
- allocate additional speech time sufficient for the debater who has the floor to repeat the portion of their speech that was not heard by other round participants due to the technology issue.

SECTION 6. Debate Format
A. Prime Minister Constructive (PMC): 7 minutes, given by the first Government speaker
B. Leader of Opposition Constructive (LOC): 8 minutes, given by the first Opposition speaker
C. Member of Government Constructive (MGC): 8 minutes, given by the second Government speaker 
D. Member of Opposition Constructive (MOC): 8 minutes, given by the second Opposition speaker
E. Leader of Opposition Rebuttal (LOR): 4 minutes, given by the first Opposition speaker 
F. Prime Minister Rebuttal (PMR): 5 minutes, given by the first Government speaker

SECTION 7. Preparation Time
A*. Debaters shall have 20 minutes of preparation time between the time the resolution is announced and the time debaters begin debating.
B*. Debaters may communicate with any other middle school or high school students. Debaters may communicate with their judge(s), but only when the opposing team is present. Debaters are also allowed to communicate with tournament officials to clarify tournament logistics. Other than that, debaters are not allowed to communicate with anyone by any means during preparation time.
C. During preparation time, debaters may consult both physical and electronic copies of any material, including both prepared notes and published sources. Debaters may use computers and the internet to store and to retrieve this material.

SECTION 8. Restriction of Communication during the Debate
A*. A debater shall not communicate, by any means, with anyone other than with that debater’s partner, the opposing debaters, and the judge(s). This rule shall not prohibit speakers from addressing the round observers.
B. A debater is allowed to communicate with their partner, in writing, during the round.
C. The judges may not consider any argument that is orally delivered by a debater who does not have the floor. The exception is that judges may consider Points of Information and Points of Order.

SECTION 9. Debate Rules
A. There is no preparation time between speeches. The next speaker must begin their speech (or their roadmap) within 20 seconds following the end of the preceding speech.
B*. Debaters are not allowed to access evidence not prepared during preparation time.
C. Judges should disregard new arguments (including new responses) during rebuttal speeches, regardless of whether a Point of Order was raised. The exception is that the PMR may respond to new arguments made in the MOC. Rephrasing or new analysis of prior arguments is allowed in rebuttal speeches. 

SECTION 10. Points of Information
A. A Point of Information (POI) is a single short question addressed by a member of the opposing team to the debater who has the floor.
B. The debater who has the floor may accept or decline each POI at their discretion. The debater may decline the request verbally or by not responding to it. Follow-up POIs are only allowed if separately accepted by the debater who has the floor. 
C. POIs come out of the speech time of the debater who has the floor, so time should not be stopped for a POI. Each POI may not exceed 15 seconds.
D. POIs are only allowed in constructive speeches. Debaters may not raise POIs during protected time, which shall be the first and last minute of any constructive speech, unless invited to do so by the debater who has the floor.

SECTION 11. Points of Order
A. A debater may raise a Point of Order if they believe that the opposing team is bringing up a new argument (see 9.C) in a rebuttal speech. Points of Order may not be used for any other purpose.
B. Points of Order are not allowed during constructive speeches but are allowed at any time during rebuttal speeches.
C. To raise a Point of Order, the debater shall state “Point of Order.” Time should then be immediately stopped. The debater then has 15 seconds to explain why the argument in question made by the opposing team is new.
D. The opposing team then has 15 seconds to respond to the Point of Order. Once the response is finished, time should immediately resume.
E. Debaters may interrupt their opponent’s speech only for the purpose of a Point of Order.
F. Debaters should not use Points of Order as a tactic to disrupt their opponent’s speech.
G. Judges may choose whether to announce their rulings on Points of Order during the round. If there is a judge panel, judges may not announce their rulings on Points of Order during the round.

SECTION 12. Evidence
A*. Debaters may not fabricate evidence. Debaters may not misrepresent a source they cite.
B. Evidence rules vary by round (see Section 15).

SECTION 13. Enforcement
A. During the debate, the rules in this article shall be enforced by the judges. Judges should not direct students to deviate from these rules or encourage students to violate them.
B. The subsections of this article that shall be enforceable by the Protest Committee are:
2.A, 2.B, 4.B, 7.A, 7.B, 8.A, 9.B, 12.A, 15.B. 
A Protest Adjudicator designated by the Tournament Director shall be allowed to overrule judge decisions when enforcing these subsections and rules.
Subsections enforceable by the Protest Adjudicator shall be marked with an asterisk in these rules.
C. Violations may be reported to the Protest Adjudicator only by the coaches of the teams involved or by tournament officials.
D. In ruling on protests for violation of rules set forth in this Article, the Protest Adjudicator shall consider all facts and circumstances associated with the violation. If the Protest Adjudicator determines that a violation occurred, it shall determine whether a consequence is appropriate, and shall consider all relevant factors, including whether the violation
- was intentional,
- was unethical and/or dishonest,
- would be considered abusive
- was intended to obtain an unfair advantage in the debate
- whether, based on conversations with the judge(s), the violation appears to have affected the round outcome
- violates the purpose behind a rule in addition to its express language, and the degree of prejudice resulting to the opposing team from the violation.
E. The Protest Adjudicator is empowered to impose any of the following consequences:
- warning and/or reprimand, including a statement of consequences for a repeated violation
- require the round be repeated under terms considered fair and just by the Committee
- impose a loss on the team in violation
- disqualification from the tournament

SECTION 14: Accommodations
A. The tournament director may make exceptions to any of the rules in the article in order to accommodate students with disabilities or other needs.
B. Any such accommodation(s) should be requested in advance.

SECTION 15: Polygon Rounds
A. In varsity rounds 1 and 2:
1. Debaters should rely on logic and general knowledge.
2. Debaters may assert facts, but judges should disregard any attribution of these facts to a published source.
B. In varsity rounds 3 and 4:
1. Debaters should primarily rely on logic and general knowledge. Reference to published sources is allowed but should be limited. Published evidence, such as specific statistics, is not a requirement for an argument to be accepted by the judge.
2*. Debaters may use only sources that are freely available online.  
3*. A debater may not present evidence attributed to a source unless the source URL was sent to the judge prior to the beginning of the PMC.
4*. A team may not send more than 7 URLs to the judge.
5*. The judge is not expected to read the evidence on receipt, but may refer to it in order to confirm a team's compliance with the evidence rules. In making a decision about the round, the judge should not consider evidence that was not presented in a speech.
6*. Immediately after a debater introduces a piece of evidence in their speech, their partner must send source URL to the opposing team in the round group chat. In their speeches, the opposing team may refer to information provided in the cited source.
C. In varsity round 5, varsity elimination rounds, and all novice rounds:
1. There are no restrictions on evidence use.
D. In varsity rounds 4 and 5:
1. The speech times shall be as follows:
- Prime Minister Constructive (PMC): 7 minutes, given by the first Government speaker
- Opposition Flex Time: 2 minutes
- Leader of Opposition Constructive (LOC): 8 minutes, given by the first Opposition speaker
- Government Flex Time: 2 minutes
- Member of Government Constructive (MGC): 8 minutes, given by the second Government speaker
- Opposition Flex Time: 1 minute
- Member of Opposition Constructive (MOC): 8 minutes, given by the second Opposition speaker
- Leader of Opposition Rebuttal (LOR): 4 minutes, given by the first Opposition speaker 
- Government Flex Time: 1 minute
- Prime Minister Rebuttal (PMR): 5 minutes, given by the first Government speaker
2. Flex time may be used by the controlling team to prepare arguments or ask questions of their opponents. Flex time may not be used as additional speech time.