The match format has been updated for 2026. To see what has changed, open this document–a copy of the 2025 match format with highlighting indicating rules that have been changed.
Matches feature two teams meeting face-to-face. Each team must be composed of three to five members. The team members must be selected and seated at the table before the timekeeper opens the match. Timekeepers run the room. They keep time and move the match through its various components while ensuring that all participants and spectators comply with the rules.
Each match will begin with a coin toss, either with a physical coin or the use of a coin flip application. The team that wins the coin toss may elect to present first (and thereby be designated ‘Team A’) or to have the other team present first (in which case the team that wins the toss is designated ‘Team B’).
To open the first half of the match, copies of the first case and question will be distributed to the judges and teams. The timekeeper will then read the case title and questions. Neither the judges nor the teams will know in advance which case will be used.
Team A will have up to two minutes to confer, after which any member(s) of Team A may speak for up to six minutes (total) laying out the Team’s view regarding the case. This is known as the Presentation Period.
Next, Team B will have up to two minutes to confer, after which Team B may speak for up to three minutes in response to Team A’s presentation. This is known as the Commentary Period.
Team A will then have up to two minutes to confer, followed by three minutes to respond to Team B’s commentary. This is known as the Response Period.
The judges will then begin an eight-minute question and answer session with Team A. Before asking questions, the judges may confer briefly. Each judge should have time for at least one question, and may ask more questions if time permits. For each question asked, the responding team is allowed to confer to come up with its answer, but the answer itself must be delivered in its entirety by just one member of the team. This is known as the Dialogue Period.
Judges then evaluate the Presentation, Response, and Dialogue by Team A and the Commentary by Team B, and assess the teams based on the scoring rubric. The rubric provides for a maximum of 45 points to be awarded to the presenting team and a maximum of 15 points to be awarded to the responding team.
After the judges have made their scoring decisions, the moderator will read the second case title and questions to the same two teams, beginning the second half of the match. Neither the judges nor the teams will know in advance which case will be used.
The match will proceed, as above, with Teams A and B switching roles. The judges will then assign scores to each Team’s performance once again, following the rubric above. Thus, in each match, each team will have the opportunity to present one case and to respond to the other team’s presentation of another case, for a total of 60 points possible from each of the three judges.
At the end of the match, the timekeeper will ask all the judges to individually announce the number of points they awarded to each team, along with a brief explanation of how they arrived at their judgment. The timekeeper will then announce the result of the match (see Match Scoring on the Scoring page).