Running up the score occurs when a competitor continues to play in such a way as to score additional points after the outcome of the game is no longer in significant question and the team is all but assured of winning. In the United States and Canada, it is considered poor sportsmanship to run up the score in most circumstances (exceptions are listed below). Sporting alternatives include pulling out most of the team's first string players, or calling plays designed to run out the clock ("e.g.", in American football, kneeling or running the ball up the middle). The term and the concept are not common elsewhere in the world. Mercy rules are used in many amateur sports, which ends the game when the score reaches a certain point.