How do timeouts work, and can I use one to question a call?

Regular season: each team gets one 60-second timeout per half. Unused timeouts don't carry over. (Tournaments: three 30-second timeouts per game.) There are no timeouts in overtime.

Questioning a ruling: you can use a timeout to question an official's rule interpretation:

• If the official's ruling was correct, the timeout is charged.
• If the rule was applied incorrectly, the timeout isn't charged and the correct ruling is enforced.

Judgment calls can't be challenged this way. Only the team captain or head coach may ask the referee for rule clarifications.

In overtime each team gets one coach's challenge for the whole overtime session, and it must be about a misapplied rule, not a judgment call.

Changing a 1-point or 2-point try declaration, or a "play" declaration on 4th down, also requires a timeout.