Scholastic Scrimmage

Scholastic Scrimmage is a high school quiz bowl game show airing on WLVT-TV and WPSU-TV (formerly WPSX-TV), and is hosted by Karen Walton and David Price respectively.

Two teams of four players from Pennsylvania high schools field questions on a diverse range of academic subjects and score points with correct answers. The winners of each game advance in a competitive, season-long tournament.

WLVT-TV 39 version

The game is played in one round of 24 minutes with a half-time separating the round into two segments. The game begins with a toss-up question. Any Player from either team can buzz in to answer the toss-up question, but the players may not confer with their team members. Players must buzz in before time expires to answer the question. The first player to buzz in and give the correct answer earns 10 points and a chance at a related bonus question for their team. If a player answers incorrectly, his/her team loses 5 points from their score (scores can become negative) and his/her team can no longer buzz in for that question. The question is then directed to the opposing team to buzz in (they may not confer). If one of the opposing team members answers the rebounded toss-up correctly his/her team scores 5 points and a chance at a related bonus question. If he or she answers incorrectly on the rebounded toss-up question, his/her team does not lose any points and the contest continues with another toss-up. Similarly, if neither team buzzes in within the time limit, the contest continues with another toss-up.

After answering a toss-up or rebounded toss-up correctly, a team receives one or more bonus questions worth a total of up to 15 points. The team members can confer on the answer, but only the captain can buzz in to answer. Depending upon the number of bonus questions given and answered correctly, the team can receive 0, 5, 10, or 15 bonus points. Play continues in this manner until half-time.

During half-time Dr. Karen Walton, the host, asks the players questions about themselves. Before the first match, team members submit cards containing interesting facts about themselves. During half-time of the first match they are asked questions about what they wrote on the cards. Similarly, if teams make it to the second and third matches, they are asked about their school activities and future plans respectively.

This system lends itself to strategic play. In 1998, for instance, Emmaus High School trailed by quite a bit at halftime. The team consciously gave very short answers in order to leave more time remaining. For example, Emmaus High School student Kevin Cunningham was asked what activities he enjoys. "I'm in Key Club," he replied, though he actually participated in many more activities.

After half-time, play continues exactly as it had in the first segment until a buzzer sounds signaling that time has expired. The team that has the highest score wins the match and advances to the next round of the tournament. The tournament bracket is made up of 39 teams from school districts in the Lehigh Valley (a reference to WLVT's station number). At the end of the Scholastic Scrimmage season, the winning team is awarded $4000 for its scholarship fund, with the runner-up receiving $2000. The winning team also receives medals, a plaque for their high school's trophy case, and the bragging rights of being the best team in the Lehigh Valley. The show is currently in its 33rd year on WLVT-TV.

Dr. Walton's style of hosting is notable for her not telling players that they have given an incorrect answer. Rather, she will state that the question "goes over to..." the other team or she will state the correct answer.

In the 28 year history of "Scholastic Scrimmage", Emmaus High School in Emmaus, Pennsylvania has the best record, with seven first place and 3 second place finishes. Other notable performances are by Parkland High School with 4 first place and 2 second place finishes, and Liberty High School with 3 first place and 5 second place finishes. Southern Lehigh High School also is a three-time champion. Below is a record of the all the top finishers.

Past Scholastic Scrimmage champions

WPSU-TV 3 version

The game is played in three rounds of approximately 6 minutes each. Each round begins with host David Price asking a toss-up question. Players buzz in to answer the toss-up question; the first player to buzz in with a correct answer earns 10 points and a chance at a related bonus question (a "follow-up") for their team. An incorrect answer incurs no penalty, but the opposing team gets to try to buzz in and score 5 points on a rebounded toss-up.

Regardless of whether the team scores 5 or 10 on the toss-up, they get to confer and try to answer a follow-up question for another 10 points (in season 1, sometimes a two-parter at 5 points per part, but from season 2 onward, always a single 10-point question). The designated captain must buzz in before conferring time expires to indicate readiness to answer.

A distinctive "chime" sound signals the end of each of the first two rounds. At that time, David Price chats with each team (from season 3 on, always the team that just played a Fast Track, see below), and at the downward buzzer that ends the final round, the team in the lead wins, and advances in a season-long tournament (seasons 1 through 3; see the section on the Tournament below for season 4 changes). The winning school receives one scholarship which they may give to any student to attend any Penn State campus. In season 3, each member of the championship team received a ring engraved with the show's logo, much like an NFL Super Bowl ring; this also occurred at the end of seasons 4 and 5, and all players received a yearbook of all the participating teams.

The final episode is an hour in length. There are four rounds in the game (and two Fast Track rounds to each team starting in the third season, the second pair being back-to-back after the third round; see below). The chime signals completion of the first three rounds, and, as always, the downward buzzer ends the game. Season 4 saw the teams play 5 rounds, with a Fast Track after each of the first four rounds (see below).

Changes for season 3

* The first round now has each team alternating answering tossup-style questions for 10 points and a chance at a follow-up question for another 10 points. On the initial question, just like regular toss-up questions, players buzz in, and may not confer. Each team gets an equal number of turns (usually 5 or 6, depending on time available). Prior to this season, all rounds used a pure toss-up/follow-up format.

* Before each chat segment, one team plays a "Fast Track," a lightning round consisting of up to 10 toss-up-style questions in 60 seconds, at 10 points each. Answering time is shortened to three seconds (from 10), and questions are always in the style of "buzzer beaters" (i.e., questions that are short, simple, and to the point), but otherwise, players must buzz in for the question and may not confer. Note that a player need only buzz in before the synthesized "crash" sound signals the end of the 60 seconds. The first "Fast Track" goes to the team trailing after Round 1, and the second one goes to the team that did not play the first one.

* During the second and third rounds, gameplay is just like in the first two seasons, except that a wrong answer to an interrupted toss-up now costs that team 5 points. A rebounded question is worth 10 points if a penalty was charged, 5 if not.

The tournament

In seasons 1 through 3, the tournament used the following format: An opening round was played with all the teams. Then, additional qualifying matches were played with the lowest-scoring winners if there were more than 64 teams, or with the highest-scoring non-winners if there were less. Either way, this would result in a 32-team elimination tournament that continued until there were two teams left, who would play off in the hour-long special.

In season 4, because of the expansion to 82 teams, the top 8 highest-scoring teams from the opening round, win or lose, played in the round of 16. The next 16 highest-scoring teams, again, win or lose, played a wild-card round of 8 matches for the remaining 8 spots in the round of 16.

In season 5, there is no longer a wild-card round. Only the 16 highest-scoring teams from the qualifying round will qualify for the round of 16.

Changes for season 4

* The back curtain is now dark blue as in season 1 (where seasons 2 and 3 used a yellow curtain).
* The Fast Track animation segue was changed.
** In season 3, the words "Fast Track" flew in onto the screen as computerized ribbons in various shades of blue and white filled the screen. The ribbons would dissipate to reveal the screen setup for the Fast Track (see below), and the "Fast Track" text would fly out.
** Season 4 sees the Fast Track segue now more akin (to a degree) to those played to start each round. The top and bottom halves of a Fast Track title card (with the words "Fast Track" in duplicate, white text on a blue card on top and blue text on white on the bottom) slide in from the sides of the screen and remain there briefly. Then the card is split vertically and slides out the top and bottom to reveal the Fast Track screen setup.
* The screen setup for when a team is taking a Fast Track was changed slightly.
** When the yellow team (always the first team alphabetically) plays their Fast Track, they are placed in a large box on the left-hand side of the screen, corresponding to the camera-left position on set; in that instance, David is placed in a small box on the right-hand side of the screen. The clock graphic flies in from the right and the numbers angle upward.
** When the blue team (always the second team alphabetically) plays, they are placed on the right-hand side of the screen (with their camera-right position on-set), David's box is on the left-hand side, and the clock flies in from the left and the numbers angle downward. This was the setup for both teams, regardless of buzzer color, in season 3.
* In episodes from earlier in the season, at the end of the show, the box for the credits squeezed in. In prior seasons, the show would fade to a split screen of the set and the credits from a sponsorship plug. This has since returned.
* The final show featured 5 rounds. Rounds 1, 3, and 4 were the alternating tossup-style questions with bonuses, and rounds 2 and 5 were tossup/follow-up. A Fast Track was played after each of the first 4 rounds, with rounds 1 and 3 having their Fast Tracks go to the team with the lower score at that point.
* The final show was also the first to feature a live studio audience, as well as a balloon drop at the end of the show.

Changes for Season 5

* Popular culture has now been discontinued as possible subject matter.
* The "think music" that plays as the 10-second answering time elapses has been changed. The first two shows featured music resembling a futuristic echoing bell over a sort of muted stopwatch tick sound effect. Currently, the music is techno/hip-hop in style, and slightly resembles the original think music.
* The credits now appear at the bottom of the screen instead of using a split screen, as in prior seasons.
* The qualifying rounds now feed into a simple 16-team tournament, as stated above.
* Once in the 16-team tournament, the last Round 1 question for each team is given in a video by Penn State faculty (dubbed an "experts" question).

Past Winners

The past winners are as follows:

Note that most winning scores are between 150 and 250. The higher scores in the Championship game are due to its expanded length.

Notes, WPSU-TV version

* The "Game Over" buzzer is never sounded when there is a tie at the end of regulation. Instead, the match continues until the tie is broken, then the buzzer is sounded at the end of that complete question cycle. Because of this, David never announces (or needs to announce) when a tiebreaker is in play. (Generally, questions with no change in score under these conditions are edited out.) However, the chimes for rounds 1 and 2 (and the additional rounds in the championship game) may be sounded whether there is a tie or not. When there is a tie after round 1, the yellow team is given that "Fast Track," and the blue team is given theirs after round 2. Similar rules are in place after round 3 of the season championship game.

* In season 2, David almost always wore a shirt and jacket, which could vary from show to show (the above picture is from season 2). In season 3, David always wore a blue button-down shirt with a small Scholastic Scrimmage logo (which he would later use on Huddle Up, a program based around Penn State football that he created himself; the logo was covered, as he wore a jacket over it). His shirt for seasons 4 and 5 is similar, except it is red.

* David was not the host for the first season (2003-04). The hosting duties were handled by Katie O'Toole.

External links

* [http://wpsu.org/scholasticscrimmage/index.html WPSU-TV's "Scholastic Scrimmage" website]
* [http://www.wlvt.org/EDUCATION/SCHOLASTICSCRIMMGE/ScholScrimMAIN.htm WLVT-TV's "Scholastic Scrimmage" website]