How to Play

Nevada Knockout is a fun way to encourage people to learn about Nevada’s Wildlife!

Thirty-two animals who call Nevada home have been chosen to compete in a single elimination tournament. Kind of like March Madness, but with animals! The idea is to research each match-up and decide whose adaptations would reign supreme and advance them to the next round in the bracket. Adaptations such as agility, intelligence, and different defensive and offensive behaviors should be taken into consideration when you pick which animal you think would be dominant!

Once you’ve filled out your bracket you can submit it to us here to compete in our 2019 Nevada Knockout Bracket Competition! This year’s competition is for the chance to pick an animal to be a contender in next year’s knockout. To enter the competition your class must submit ONE bracket into the folder linked above before September 30th. As a class you can participate in Nevada Knockout however you’d like: all students fill out their own brackets, as teams, as a class, etc. But, only one bracket can be entered into the competition. When you upload your completed bracket please label it your last name, your school, and your grade. Ex: Watson_Hug_12thgrade. Please make sure the bracket is easy to read if you decide to fill it out by hand and scan it in :).

The last part of Nevada Knockout is reading the results! Battle results will be posted on this webpage and links to that will be emailed to you on the Sunday before or on Monday. Results will be up no later than Monday! Battles aren’t necessarily battles to the death. If an animal retreats or runs away that is considered a loss. If the animals are in conflict over food whoever leaves with food is the winner. There will only be one animal competing and they will be adults. The results are written in a narrative story format. To give you an idea of what they look like here’s an example from last year:

Gopher Snake v. Mule Deer
Location: Lye Creek Campground
Mule deer is munching on some shrubs lazily sauntering through the trees. Mule Deer takes one step too close to the gopher snake, who is exposed while sunning himself early in the morning. The gopher snake immediately coils, and vibrates his tail against the dry grass, imitating a rattlesnake. The mule deer doesn’t want to look too closely at the sound of the rattlesnake and flees to find food elsewhere.
Result: Gopher Snake Advances!

If you have any questions on anything please do not hesitate to reach out to: Julie Watson at jwatson@ndow.org.