Debatable prize tournaments

Last updated August 10, 2026. These rules govern every Debatable tournament that offers cash prizes, including The Debatable Open on Saturday, August 29, 2026.

1. Organizer

Tournaments under these rules are run by Debatable (itsdebatable.com). Questions, disputes, and refund requests go to aidandavidhollinger@gmail.com. Stripe processes payments; Stripe is not a sponsor of any tournament.

2. The event

The Debatable Open runs all day on Saturday, August 29, 2026. Doors open at 10:00 AM Eastern Time and stay open through the day; you arrive when it suits you, get paired, and debate. You compete from your own device on itsdebatable.com. The top of the standings goes to an elimination bracket in the evening, and the final streams live on the watch page.

Rounds are one-on-one spoken debates on the platform's standard lay format: constructive and rebuttal speeches on a clock, with the motion announced at the start of the round. You are not required to debate a set number of rounds, and standings use your results across the rounds you do play. The break size and the bracket time are posted on the tournament page on the day.

3. Eligibility

• Paid entry is 18+. You must be at least 18 years old at the time of payment and confirm this at checkout.
• Free entry is open to ages 13 and up. Minors compete with a parent or guardian's permission and are not eligible for cash prizes.
• Paid entry is void where prohibited or restricted by law. It is your responsibility to confirm that entering a paid skill contest is lawful where you live. Some jurisdictions restrict paid-entry contests; if yours does, enter free.
• The organizer, and anyone in the organizer's household, may compete but cannot win cash prizes.
• One entry per person. Duplicate accounts forfeit all entries and fees.

4. How to enter

Register on the tournaments page with a signed-in account. You can enter before the day or during it, right up until entries close for the bracket. Two doors, one field:

• Free entry. Same motions, same clock, same judge, same leaderboard. Not eligible for cash prizes.
• Paid entry, $20. A single payment through Stripe checkout that makes your entry prize-eligible. Pay in any time before entries close, including after you have already played a round.
• Fee waiver. Cost should not decide who competes for the prizes. Ask for a free entry on the tournament page, with or without a reason, and the organizer can grant it. A waived entry is prize-eligible on the same terms as a paid one: same bracket, same judge, same payout order, and nothing on the public tab marks it as comped. You still confirm you are 18 or older, because that is what cash eligibility turns on. Requests are read by a person, so ask early in the day rather than minutes before the bracket.

There is no fixed check-in time. Open the tournament page when you are ready to debate and you go into the pairing pool; leave and come back later and you go back in. Entries close before the elimination bracket is drawn, and that time is posted on the tournament page.

5. Prizes and payouts

• First place: $500. Second place: $250. Third place: $100.
• Prizes are fixed amounts guaranteed by the organizer regardless of how many people enter. Entry fees do not set the prize level and no part of any prize depends on the number of entries.
• Cash prizes go to the highest-placing prize-eligible entries in final standings order. An entry is prize-eligible if it paid in or was granted a fee waiver; the two are treated identically here. If an entrant who is not prize-eligible takes a placement, that placement's title is theirs, and the cash for it goes to the next highest-placing prize-eligible entrant.
• Third place is decided by the tournament's published tiebreak order among semifinal exits (or by a played third-place round if the host schedules one).
• Payouts are sent within 14 days of the results being confirmed, by a method arranged directly with each winner (bank transfer, PayPal, or similar). A human reviews the final ballots before any money moves; an AI verdict alone never releases funds.
• Winners may be asked to verify identity and provide tax information where required. Taxes on prizes are the winner's responsibility.

6. Fees and refunds

• The entry fee for The Debatable Open is $20, charged through Stripe at pay-in.
• Full refund if you withdraw 48 hours or more before the scheduled start, and any time the event is canceled or rescheduled by more than 7 days.
• No refund once you have played a round, and none for disqualification for conduct or for elimination.
• If fewer than 8 paid entries have played by the time entries close, the organizer may either run the bracket with prizes as posted or cancel and refund every paid entry in full.

7. Judging and appeals

• Rounds are judged by Debatable's AI judge under its published, versioned rubric. How the judge works, its published criteria, and its reliability figures live at the judge integrity page.
• Every ballot includes a written reason for decision.
• Either debater may appeal a ballot within the appeal window shown on the round page. Appeals are reviewed by a human, never re-run through a model.
• Standings become final after the last appeal window closes. After that, results are final.

8. Broadcast and recording

• Elimination rounds, including the final, may be recorded and streamed publicly on the watch page and connected channels.
• By entering, you consent to your voice, video, display name, and round content being broadcast, recorded, and replayed as part of tournament coverage.
• If you cannot appear on a stream, contact the organizer before the event. Day rounds are not broadcast by default.

9. Conduct and fair play

• During your own speeches, the words must be yours, spoken live. Having another person or an AI feed you lines in real time is grounds for disqualification. Notes and pre-round prep are allowed.
• Harassment, slurs, or targeted abuse toward any participant means disqualification without refund.
• Impersonation, account sharing, or manipulating pairings or results forfeits entry, fees, and any prize.
• The organizer's conduct rulings during the event are final.

10. Technical failures

• If you disconnect mid-round, you have 5 minutes to rejoin before the round is forfeited.
• If a platform-side failure prevents a round from completing fairly, the host may rerun the round or adjust the schedule.
• Missing your scheduled round by more than 5 minutes is a forfeit of that round.

11. Changes and cancellation

The organizer may adjust the schedule, round count, or break structure to fit the field, and may postpone or cancel the event for technical or safety reasons. If the event is canceled, every paid entry is refunded in full. Material rule changes before an event are posted on this page and on the tournament page.

12. Legal

• This is a skill-based competition. Entry fees are payment for participation in a judged contest, not wagers, and outcomes are determined by performance, not chance.
• To the extent permitted by law, the organizer's total liability to any entrant is limited to the entry fee paid.
• These rules are governed by the laws of the State of Illinois, USA. The Terms of Service and Privacy Policy also apply.

Debatable · itsdebatable.com · aidandavidhollinger@gmail.com