Last updated: 14-Nov-2025
New Jersey Odyssey of the Mind has codified the following policies and procedures to be followed by teams participating in a NJ OotM tournament. These policies and procedures are in addition to all rules and guidelines defined in the official Odyssey of the Mind Program Guide, the individual Long-Term problems, and by the Odyssey of the Mind International website. In places where these policies may conflict with published guidelines from the International organization, these NJ-specific policies take precedent unless explicitly noted on this page.
- Missing and Untrained Officials
- Holding Areas
- Advancement to State Finals & World Finals
- Payments and Refunds for Tournament Fees
- Oversized Props
- Delay of Game on Tournament Day
- Smoke Machines & Similar Devices
- Team-Created T-Shirts and Pins
- Refund and Returns for World Finals Merchandise
Missing and Untrained Officials
- Every team is required to supply one judge for each tournament. This judge will be trained by NJ OotM and once trained, can not be swapped out for an untrained individual.
- Every membership is required to supply one judge and one volunteer for each tournament. The judge will be trained by NJ OotM and once trained, can not be swapped out for an untrained individual.
- Judges and volunteers must be 18 years of age and out of high school.
Note – attendance may be excused in extenuating circumstances, but these circumstances must be communicated to the Officials Coordinators promptly.
Failure to supply a judge or volunteer will result in a penalty, based on this chart:
| Penalty when applied to the judge representing a single Team | Penalty when applied to judge or volunteer representing a Membership | |
|---|---|---|
| Judge – No judge registered for training or tournament | -10 pts to team | -3 pts to each team in membership |
| Judge – Registered judge did not attend training nor come to tournament | -10 pts to team | -3 pts to each team in the membership |
| Judge – Registered judge did not attend training but was reassigned to a non-scoring position and attended the tournament | -5 pts to team | -1 pt to each team in membership |
| Judge – Registered judge attended training but did not attend tournament | -7 pts to team | -2 pts to each team in membership |
| Judge – Registered judge came late and/or left early from judging responsibilities | -5 pts to team | -1 pt to each team in membership |
| Volunteer – No volunteer was registered for the tournament | N/A | -5 pts for each team in membership |
| Volunteer – Volunteer was registered, but did not show for assigned responsibilities at tournament | N/A | -3 pts for each team in membership |
| Volunteer – Volunteer was registered, but did not show for assigned responsibilities at tournament & coach was able to identify and coordinate a substitute with the Officials Coordinator | N/A | No penalty |
Holding Areas
- Holding Areas are a courtesy provided to teams so they may set up their props and materials in a contained environment. A Holding Area could be a portion of a classroom, or portion of a larger room such as a gymnasium or auxiliary cafeteria.
- Only teams, coaches, and a limited number of chaperones are allowed in Holding Areas.
- Teams will be given a specific time to occupy the area and must vacate their area, along with all materials, at the end of that time. Teams must also police their area for trash and leftover materials and make sure the area is left in a “broom clean” state.
- The amount of time given will vary per tournament based on available space
- Team will be given a single warning when their time slot ends
- Failure to vacate at that point or leave the room in an unclean state will result in an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.
- Additional unsportsmanlike conduct penalties can be assessed at the discretion of the Tournament Director and/or Association Director for poor behavior of teams, coaches, or spectators – which may include extra people or unauthorized people in the room/area, using more than “an equitable and appropriate portion” of the room, not vacating promptly when asked to, failure to abide by requested school policies for use of their rooms, or treating tournament staff poorly when communicating instructions.
Advancement to State Finals & World Finals
- Advancement to State Finals for NJ Odyssey of the Mind is governed based on a formula that takes into account the total number of teams in each problem and division across all regions. If a team is unable to accept an invitation to State Finals, the next placing team will not be invited in their place.
- Advancement to World Finals is governed by Odyssey of the Mind International. Based on current policy as of when this is written, if a team is unable to accept an invitation to Odyssey of the Mind World Finals, it will be extended to the next placing team if declined within enough time to allow that team to advance. Please consult the Program Guide for any updates to this policy.
Payment and Refunds for Tournament Fees
- For NJ tournaments, a payment deadline for the Regional Tournament fee will be determined and set based on the calendar of tournaments for the year.
- Secondary payment deadline(s) will be set for the State Finals tournament fee, which will also be determined and set based on the calendar of tournaments for the year.
- Full payment (or a valid purchase order) for all teams participating is required (or postmarked) by this date. Failure to pay in full will result in the teams being prevented from competing and/or advancing to the next level of competition. Repeated failure to pay may result in sanctions to the membership as allowed per the Odyssey of the Mind Program Guide.
- Refunds can be requested up until the established payment deadline. After the deadline, all payments are considered final. If teams drop between the payment deadline and the tournament, their fee is forfeit.
- A payment deadline will also be set for World Finals Merchandise, which will be determined and set based on the calendar for the year. Full payment (or purchase order) is required by this date. Failure to pay will result in NJOotM not delivering the merchandise. Repeated failures to promptly pay may result in sanctions to the membership as allowed per the Odyssey of the Mind Program Guide.
Oversized Props
- All team props and materials must fit through a single door as defined in the Odyssey of the Mind Program Guide (28”x78”)
- If props do not fit through the door, a team will be given approximately 3 minutes to disassemble and reassemble their props to get them through the door and set back up in the “starting area” on or near the competition floor.
- Reassembly can only be done between staging (e.g. the “hallway”) and the starting area (e.g. the “competition floor”). It may not be done prior to a team’s performance time, (e.g. on a break or first thing in the morning) as this is not fair to teams that would not have that opportunity.
- If a team is unable to complete reassembly of their props in the starting area within the 3 minutes allotted, no direct penalty will be assessed to the team. However, the team will not be allowed to use their props that do not make it into the competition site and/or onto the competition floor. Officials will be instructed to assess scoring accordingly (i.e. a backdrop left in the hallway will not be scored for points).
Delay of Game on Tournament Day
- We expect our teams to conduct themselves with the upmost level of sportsmanship during an Odyssey of the Mind tournament. As such, the team, coach, and spectators are expected to do their part to ensure the tournament runs smoothly and on time, allowing all participants and spectators their fair share of tournament staff and officials’ time and attention. This includes (but is not limited to):
- arriving at the team’s Long Term and Spontaneous competition sites 20 minutes prior to their scheduled time
- submitting their structure to Weigh-in with enough time to allow for proper judging prior to their scheduled Long Term time (for Problem 4 teams)
- promptly and efficiently moving team members and props through staging to the starting area on the competition floor
- arriving at Staging with paperwork (e.g. cost form, style form, team list, OA form, etc.) completed and with the proper number of copies
- If, in the opinion of tournament staff, a team is unduly delaying the tournament due to lack of preparation, an inability to stay on time, or requiring an unfair amount of additional time for their team to be processed, an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty may be assessed. This penalty will be in proportion to the length of the delay caused by a team’s actions.
Smoke Machines & Other Similar Devices
Due to NJ state fire regulations and general school guidelines, Smoke Machines (of all types) and similar devices will not be permitted at NJ Odyssey of the Mind tournaments. This policy absolutely and explicitly takes precedence over the Smoke Machines policy in the Program Guide.
If you have a question about a specific device, please reach out to your Regional Director at least 4 weeks prior to the tournament to inquire if it will be able to be used, to allow for enough time to check with all of the schools hosting the tournaments that year (including State Finals), for all regions (to ensure consistency between regions). Please note that there is a very small chance of the device being allowed in all locations.
Team Created T-Shirts and Pins
All pins, t-shirts, and other designs must be pre-approved.
- Email director@njootm.org with design/proof/etc. for formal approval, well before you get the item produced.
- Designs cannot be derivative of other copyrighted or registered trademarks (e.g. no take-offs of Disney Princesses or Marvel Superheroes, etc.).
- Designs cannot appear to be an official NJ Odyssey of the Mind pin/shirt. You must include your school name and city if you want to include “NJ OotM” (or any variation of it) on the shirt/pin. You may not use any of the NJ iconography or logos including, but not limited to the “circle NJ logo”, the “OMER tail” on the back of shirts, the “Real Raccoon Club” logo, the NJ Odyssey of the Mind wording lockup, etc.
- Designs cannot appear to be an official Odyssey of the Mind International (CCI) pin/shirt. In addition, they cannot say “World Finals,” “WF,” or depict the World Finals logo. Please see the Program Guide, Chapter 5, Number 24 for the full list of what is allowed and not allowed by Odyssey of the Mind International.
- Odyssey (CCI) will enforce copyright/intellectual property designs at World Finals.