High-Five Challenge
Encyclopedia
High-Five Challenge, which airs in Oregon
and Washington and is taped in Portland, Oregon
is a high school
quiz competition
featuring teams from Oregon
and Washington. It has been on the air since 1993 and was created and is hosted by Wayne Faligowski.
Questions come from 10 different categories, both academic (e.g. Science, History, Geography) and non-academic. Each school appears once during the season. Playoffs are held between the top eight scoring teams and two random picks. Each week, two teams of 5 to 7 players (although only 5 may be actively playing at one time, one of these a "Wild Card") face questions posed by the host. Once the regular season is completed, the top eight highest-scoring teams advance to the playoffs.
One of the players on each team is designated the "wild card." The wild card player may buzz in just like any other player, except that a wild card's signal takes precedence over any other signal except the other wild card (as such, this is termed a "steal"), and that wild card may confer briefly with his or her teammates before answering. Each wild card can only steal three times during the course of the half, and a failed steal attempt causes a loss of twice the point value of the question.
The categories are played in a random order, and after all five categories are played, the half is over. Substitutions may be made at halftime, and the wild card is always changed.
The second half is played the same as the first half, except that there is an added "mystery category," represented by a line of question marks. The mystery category is always the last category played, and the point values for the mystery category are doubled (to two 20-point questions, two 40-pointers, and one 80-pointer). After the mystery category is played out, the team with the highest score wins the game.
Generally speaking, all players receive calculators, movie rentals, and a free dinner buffet. Teams who advance to the playoffs (the top eight highest-scoring teams, win or lose) are treated to a riverboat cruise, and the final winners receive $3,000 for their school.
webcast
of the most recent game may be viewed on the show's website.
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
and Washington and is taped in Portland, Oregon
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
is a high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
quiz competition
Quizbowl
Quiz bowl is a family of games of questions and answers on all topics of human knowledge that is commonly played by students enrolled in high school or college, although some participants begin in middle or even elementary school...
featuring teams from Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
and Washington. It has been on the air since 1993 and was created and is hosted by Wayne Faligowski.
Questions come from 10 different categories, both academic (e.g. Science, History, Geography) and non-academic. Each school appears once during the season. Playoffs are held between the top eight scoring teams and two random picks. Each week, two teams of 5 to 7 players (although only 5 may be actively playing at one time, one of these a "Wild Card") face questions posed by the host. Once the regular season is completed, the top eight highest-scoring teams advance to the playoffs.
Gameplay
Each team is spotted 2,000 points to start the game. The host checks the five categories for the first half, and one is chosen at random. The host then asks five questions in that category. Each question is worth a pre-stated number of points; within a category, two questions are worth 10 points each, two are worth 20 each, and one is worth 40. All questions are "toss-ups" (that is, players must buzz in to answer); a correct answer earns the points for that question, while wrong answers cost the same amount.One of the players on each team is designated the "wild card." The wild card player may buzz in just like any other player, except that a wild card's signal takes precedence over any other signal except the other wild card (as such, this is termed a "steal"), and that wild card may confer briefly with his or her teammates before answering. Each wild card can only steal three times during the course of the half, and a failed steal attempt causes a loss of twice the point value of the question.
The categories are played in a random order, and after all five categories are played, the half is over. Substitutions may be made at halftime, and the wild card is always changed.
The second half is played the same as the first half, except that there is an added "mystery category," represented by a line of question marks. The mystery category is always the last category played, and the point values for the mystery category are doubled (to two 20-point questions, two 40-pointers, and one 80-pointer). After the mystery category is played out, the team with the highest score wins the game.
Generally speaking, all players receive calculators, movie rentals, and a free dinner buffet. Teams who advance to the playoffs (the top eight highest-scoring teams, win or lose) are treated to a riverboat cruise, and the final winners receive $3,000 for their school.
National version
There have been proposals to take High-Five Challenge national on PBS. http://www.americas-schools.org/newsletter/asp-newsletter-0503.htm#mediaWebcast
A streamingStreaming media
Streaming media is multimedia that is constantly received by and presented to an end-user while being delivered by a streaming provider.The term "presented" is used in this article in a general sense that includes audio or video playback. The name refers to the delivery method of the medium rather...
webcast
Webcast
A webcast is a media presentation distributed over the Internet using streaming media technology to distribute a single content source to many simultaneous listeners/viewers. A webcast may either be distributed live or on demand...
of the most recent game may be viewed on the show's website.
External links
- High-Five Challenge website
- High-Five Foundation website A non-profit foundation associated with the game show.