Granite State Challenge

Granite State Challenge is an American television quizbowl game show that airs on New Hampshire Public Television and began in 1983.[1]

Description

High schools from around the state compete against each other to win "brainy bragging rights" and grant money for their school. The first season of the program was hosted by Tom Bergeron (now of America's Funniest Home Videos and Dancing with the Stars fame), one of Bergeron's first jobs appearing on television. Starting in the second season and continuing to today, Jim Jeannotte took over hosting duties. Co-host Lori Warriner interviews the team members, coaches, and school administration. Prior co-hosts include Tim Estiloz, John Herman,[2] and Alison MacNair (former host of NHPTV's NH Outlook). The competition features 16 teams in a single elimination tournament competing in half-hour shows that are pretaped over a few weeks and air through the broadcast season. The program previously selected 32 teams to compete on the televised rounds based on state geography and recent appearances; however, after a year-long hiatus, the program required interested teams to complete a written test, with the top-scoring sixteen teams earning spots. The championship game, called the Superchallenge, is a 1-hour show with extended categories and more questions.[3] Since 1995, part of the funding for Granite State Challenge comes from proceeds of the New Hampshire Lottery Commission.[4] Beginning in 2008, each episode is available to view on YouTube and to download at no charge on iTunes.

Rules

The game is played by two teams of four, and uses a four-quarter format. All four quarters are played to a time limit.

The first quarter is a round of toss-up questions worth 10 points each. In the 30th season, one 30-point toss-up based on the year 1984 is included.

The second quarter uses 10-point toss-ups with a chance an fifteen bonus points when a team provides a correct answer on the toss-up. A team chooses a bonus set out of three provided and answers three 5-point questions.

The third quarter is the show's "60-second" round. Since the 30th season, the teams' alternates (if any) participate in this round only. The trailing team gets the first choice of three categories, and the leading team picks from the remaining two. Each team gets 60 seconds to answer either 10 questions with each question worth 10 points. A 10-point bonus is awarded for answering all questions correctly.

The fourth quarter is a final round of 10-point toss-ups. Since the 30th season, 10 points are deducted should a team provide an incorrect answer.

The winning team advances in a season-long tournament. In the final, titled "Granite State SuperChallenge," there are seven rounds: the first, fifth, and seventh are toss-up rounds, the second and fourth rounds are toss-ups followed by bonuses, and the third and sixth rounds are the 60-second lightning rounds. However, since the 30th season, the SuperChallenge lasts four rounds.

Past Champions

This is a list of past GSC winners since 1983.[5]

Schools with Multiple Titles:

Three Titles Apiece

Two Titles Apiece

References

  1. ↑ NHPTV Productions: Twenty Years of Granite State Challenge, Retrieved November 1, 2006
  2. ↑ johnherman.com, Retrieved November 1, 2006
  3. ↑ NHPTV Productions: Granite State Challenge, Retrieved November 1, 2006
  4. ↑ NH Lottery Commission November 7, 2005 Meeting Minutes, Retrieved November 1, 2006
  5. ↑ NHPTV Productions: Past GSC SuperChallenge Champions, Retrieved November 1, 2006

External links

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