High-Five Challenge

High-Five Challenge, which airs on Oregon Public Broadcasting and in 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.

Host

* Wayne Faligowski

Announcers

* Rich Fields (1993-1999)
* Don George (1995-2002)
* Michael Bailey (2002-2006)
* Bill Diaz (2006-Present)

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.

Notes

* Whenever the three-second time limit for answering expires and the buzzer sounds, Wayne will sometimes call it a "zap," especially when it is the first time that happens in the show, after a string of several correct answers

National version

There have been proposals to take High-Five Challenge national on PBS. [http://www.americas-schools.org/newsletter/asp-newsletter-0503.htm#media]

Webcast

A streaming webcast of the most recent game may be viewed on the game show's website.

External links

* [http://www.high-five.com/ High-Five Challenge website]