Below is a list of changes that have been made for the 2025/2026 season. We encourage you to read the official rules as well, of course.
There will be no limitation on number of players on a team. Although only 5 can play at a time, teams can add new players at any time. However, no student may change teams within a subdivision -- e.g., a student who plays on the JV Purple team in Round 1 cannot play on the JV Gold team in round 2. They could, however, move up to play on a varsity team.
In addition to the champions of each region, any varsity teams who place in the top 15% overall in the nation will qualify for the super-regionals round, even if they did not win their region. This will be based on total points scored over all 5 regular season rounds. Teams that have a bye in their regional play should still play the round to add to their total points for the year.
If a tie for the regional champion can’t be broken on head-to-head play, it will be broken by total number of points scored in the 5 rounds.
The testing window will increase to two weeks. This is the maximum amount of time we can have the window open without creating issues in preparing for the next round, so there will be no extension of rounds. If a team cannot play due to school closure and missing that match affects whether they win they region and/or qualify for playoffs, we will adjust for that. WE ENCOURAGE ALL TEAMS TO PLAY EARLY IN THE TEST WINDOW AND USE THE SECOND WEEK AS A BACK-UP PLAN. If you wait until the last few days to play and suddenly school is closed, you won’t be able to play in that round.
All challenges to questions must cite an NJCL or classical source to support the challenge. If a coach lodges 5 challenges that the committee deems incorrect, the coach will lose their right to challenge future questions.
Online schools may test their students online, but will need to indicate this in their registration and submit recordings of their virtual testing sessions.