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The Challengers (game show)

The Challengers is an American game show that aired in syndication during the 1990-91 television season The series was created by Ron Greenberg and was based largely on his 1969 production, The Who, What, or Where Game. Dick Clark presided over the show with Don Morrow announcing. The Challengers was a joint production of Ron Greenberg Productions and Dick Clark Productions, with Buena Vista Television (now Disney–ABC Domestic Television) as distributor.

The Challengers premiered on September 3, 1990 and aired new episodes until August 2, 1991. A series of reruns filled out the remainder of its broadcast run, which ended on August 30, 1991. The program was one of five syndicated game shows to premiere in the fall of 1990 and had the longest run of the five due to its production schedule, but like the others it was not renewed for a second season.

Gameplay
Three contestants, one a returning champion, competed on each show.

Challengers Sprint Round
The Challengers Sprint was a sixty-second speed round that began each game. Clark would ask a series of rapid-fire questions worth $100, and the contestants tried to be the first to buzz in to answer as only one of them could attempt each question. Answering correctly added $100, while answering incorrectly deducted $100. For the first three weeks of episodes, each contestant started the game with nothing; beginning on September 24, 1990, they were each staked with $200 at the start of the game. If time ran out while Clark was reading a question, he would finish it and allow the contestants a chance to respond.

Once the round ended, the contestant in the lead gained initial control of the board for the first round. In the event of a tie, one more question was asked; the contestant that answered it correctly started the first round, but answering incorrectly gave that privilege to the other contestant.

This round was briefly removed partway through the run (concurrent with the change to the daily "Ultimate Challenge" format, as described below) in favor of a single toss-up question, with the contestant who answered correctly scoring $100 and control of the Round 1 board. If someone buzzed in and did not answer correctly, he/she lost $100 and a new toss-up was given to the other two contestants. These rules did not last long, and by February 1991, the Challengers Sprint had been reinstated.

Round 1
Six categories, each containing three questions, were displayed on a video wall. The contestant in the lead after the Challengers Sprint (or the one who answered the single toss-up correctly when the Sprint was not in use) chose one to begin the round. The contestants were then given clues to the subjects of the three questions, valued at $150, $200, and $250 in order of increasing difficulty (later reduced to $100, $150, and $200). Correct answers added the value of the question to the contestant's score, while incorrect answers subtracted the same value.

Each contestant secretly chose one of the three questions using buttons on their podiums, and their choices affected the gameplay as follows:
 * Each contestant chose a different question. The three questions were asked in increasing order of value, with each contestant answering his/her own question.
 * Two contestants chose one question; the third contestant chose a different one. The two questions were asked in increasing order of value. The solo contestant had to answer his/her own question, while the two who chose the same question used their buzzers. If the first contestant of the two who chose the same question answered incorrectly, the other could either pass or try to answer.
 * All three contestants chose the same question. All three question values were immediately doubled, and the chosen question was asked as a toss-up open to all three contestants. The same toss-up rules as above applied. A contestant who answered correctly could either end the category or attempt either of the remaining two questions unopposed. Correctly answering this second question again gave the contestant the option to stop or try the third question. An incorrect answer on either the second or third question subtracted its doubled value from the contestant's score and ended the category.

In each case, the category was eliminated from play and the last contestant to give a correct answer chose the next one. Play continued until all six categories were played or time ran out.

Round 2
Six new categories were introduced and play continued as described above, with all question values doubled ($300/$400/$500, later $200/$300/$400).

As in Round One, play continued until all six categories were played or time ran out. Any players who finished the round with a zero or negative score were eliminated from the game.

Final Challenge
One final category was presented, with three question choices, each of which offered different payout odds of 1:1, 2:1, or 3:1 ranked by increasing difficulty. The contestants had 15 seconds to secretly choose a question and decide how much of their score they wanted to wager on it. If multiple contestants chose the same question, only the one who placed the largest wager was allowed to answer it; the others were locked out of the round.

Answering a question correctly won the value of the wager multiplied by the odds, while a miss deducted only the value of the wager. The player in the lead after this round won the game and returned as champion the next day, although all contestants kept what they had earned. Contestants could choose to receive their winnings in cash or have them deposited into a Citibank Visa account that would be opened in their name. Later, they were given the additional option of opening a MasterCard account instead. Champions remained on the show until they were defeated.

If only one contestant finished the second round with a positive total, he/she had the option to skip the Final Challenge. If he/she decided to play it, the contestant was shown the category and the question choices. He/she then selected one and made a wager. Giving an incorrect answer deducted the wager and ended the game. Answering correctly, as before, won the value of the wager times the odds attached, and the contestant was given the choice to stop or continue playing. The round continued until all three questions had been attempted, or if the contestant either gave an incorrect answer or decided to stop.

Ultimate Challenge
The Challengers, like many game shows, employed a bonus round. The round was referred to as the Ultimate Challenge, and offered a prize of five figures to any champion who managed to beat it.

Format #1
The initial Ultimate Challenge format saw the round played for an accumulating cash jackpot. The difference between it and most other game show bonus rounds was that a champion had to qualify to play the round by winning three consecutive matches. When a champion qualified, the round would be played at the start of the next episode, and the first round of the main game would be shortened to accommodate it.

Two categories were presented to the champion at the beginning of the round, and each one had three different question subjects. The champion selected a category and was then shown the question subjects in the order in which they would be asked, and was given five seconds to think before answering each question. Answering all three questions correctly won the Ultimate Challenge and the jackpot, while an incorrect answer at any point ended the round and awarded nothing.

Originally, the jackpot had a starting value of $50,000 and was to increase in value by $5,000 for each time the Ultimate Challenge was played and not won. The series began with the jackpot at $55,000, since the round had been played on a special preview episode prior to its actual premiere and was not won. During the first two weeks of episodes, however, no champion won enough games to play the Ultimate Challenge. Therefore, two changes were made to the format beginning on the September 17, 1990 episode of The Challengers. One change took effect immediately, adding $1,000 to the jackpot every day it went unclaimed whether a champion had played for it or not. The other took effect once the jackpot was won, resetting it to $25,000.

One week after these format changes were made, the jackpot was won for the first time at a value of $60,000. A total of five contestants won the Ultimate Challenge while this format was in effect.

Format #2
Beginning on November 21, 1990, the Ultimate Challenge was reconfigured as a daily bonus round with $10,000 cash at stake. Initially, as before, the champion was presented with a choice of categories before the round began. Later the choice was dropped and the champion was told the category at the outset of the round.

Instead of needing to answer three questions correctly to win the Ultimate Challenge, the champion only had to answer one. However, the question could and often did contain multiple answers and all parts had to be answered correctly in order for the champion to win the $10,000.

The Ultimate Challenge was eventually done away with; while an exact date has yet to be determined, the round was retired sometime after the February 15, 1991, episode.

Tournament of Champions
For the first two months that The Challengers was on the air, contestants were not only competing to win money but were also trying to earn spots in the show's Tournament of Champions. The tournament was conducted the week of November 12, 1990, and its structure was similar to the one employed by Jeopardy! during its own tournaments.

The nine highest winning contestants through November 9, 1990 qualified for the tournament. They then competed, three at a time, over the first three days of the tournament. The winners advanced to the finals, which began on November 15 and were a two-day, cumulative score match. The contestant with the highest total score after those two days would be rewarded with a $25,000 bonus. As in regular play, all participants kept whatever money they had earned.

Teachers Tournament
Nine teachers competed, using the same format as the Tournament of Champions and awarding a $10,000 bonus to the overall winner.

Invitational Tournament
The Challengers invited nine more champions back for a tournament, which was held the week of March 18, 1991 and followed the same structure as the two previous ones. A $10,000 bonus was awarded to the winner as in the Teachers Tournament.

Questions
Many questions were related to current events, an aspect that the producers saw as a selling point. Episodes were taped shortly before their airdate, which was prominently displayed in the opening and on a screen behind Clark; generally, a week of episodes were taped on the Friday of the previous week, which allowed such categories as "This Week On TV" and "Today At The Movies" to be used frequently.

Most of the current event questions and answers were taken from, or verified by, Newsweek; this was announced on-air at the midpoint of each episode.

The series was also unique in its payout structure: contestants received their winnings on a Citibank Mastercard or Visa credit card, although Dick referenced in some episodes that contestants had the option of converting the balance to cash.

title: The Challengers (game show)


text: Talk:Poamsan

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Talk:Poamsan


text:
Poamsan

Poamsan is one of the Sobaek Mountains of central South Korea. It rises to 961.7 m above sea level, and stands on the border of Mungyeong City, North Gyeongsang province and Chungju City, North Chungcheong province. To the southwest of its principal peak, Poam mountain descends to the low pass of Haneuljae.

Much of Poam Mountain is now contained in Woraksan National Park. Its lower slopes contain a number of important cultural artifacts, many of which are linked to the role of Haneuljae as a key transit route in the Silla and Goryeo periods. For example, the site of the Goryeo-era Buddhist temple of Mireuksa is located in Mireung-ni, Chungju City. The site of the Silla-era Buddhist temple of in Gwaneum-ni, Mungyeong-eup, Mungyeong City. Stone pagodas and sculptures from these long-abandoned temples, which appear to have played a double role as temples and traveller's hostels, can still be found at the sites.

title: Poamsan


text: Talk:Haneuljae

title: Talk:Haneuljae


text:
American Cordillera

The American Cordillera is a chain of mountain ranges (cordilleras) that consists of an almost continuous sequence of mountain ranges that form the western "backbone" of the Americas. Aconcagua is the highest peak of the chain. It is also the backbone of the volcanic arc that forms the eastern half of the Pacific Ring of Fire.

North America
The ranges of the Cordillera from Mexico northward are collectively called the North American Cordillera.

From north to south, this sequence of overlapping and parallel ranges begins with the Alaska Range and the Brooks Range in Alaska and runs through the Yukon into British Columbia. The main belt of the Rocky Mountains along with the parallel Columbia Mountains and Coast Ranges of mountains and islands continue through British Columbia and Vancouver Island. In the United States, the Cordillera branches include the Rockies, the Sierra Nevada, the Cascades, and various small Pacific coastal ranges. In Mexico, the Cordillera continues through the Sierra Madre Occidental and Sierra Madre Oriental, as well as the backbone mountains of the Baja California peninsula.

The Cordillera continues on through the mountain ranges of Central America in Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama, and becomes the Andes Mountains of South America.

South America and Antarctica
The Cordillera, having continued through Central America, continues through South America and even to the Antarctic. In South America, the Cordillera is known as the Andes Mountains. The Andes with their parallel chains and the island chains off the coast of Chile continue through Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, and Chile to the southernmost tip of South America at Tierra del Fuego. The Cordillera continues along the Scotia Arc before reaching the mountains of the Antarctic Peninsula.

title: American Cordillera


text:
Battle of Mizushima

The naval battle of Mizushima took place on 17 November 1183 during the Genpei War. One of the most important bases of the Taira was Yashima, a small island off the coast of Shikoku. In November 1183, Minamoto no Yoshinaka sent an army to cross the Inland Sea to Yashima, but they were caught by the Taira just offshore of Mizushima (水島), a small island of Bitchu Province, just off Honshū. The Taira tied their ships together and placed planks across them to form a flat fighting surface.

The battle began with Taira archers loosing a rain of arrows upon the Minamoto boats; when the boats were close enough, daggers and swords were drawn, and the two sides engaged in hand-to-hand combat. Finally, the Taira, who had brought fully equipped horses on their ships, swam to the shore with their steeds, and routed the remaining Minamoto warriors.

title: Battle of Mizushima


text:
Template talk:Japan-stub

I can see why some might not want the Japanese flag for the Japan-stub, but it would be nice to have some sort of graphic to go with the stub. I thought about a map of Japan, but all of the ones that I have found so far in my clipart collections look pretty unidentifiable once they are shrunk down to an appropriate size. I was also thinking that a nice temple gate could possibly be a nice graphic, but I haven't been able to find one of those that would work well. gK [[User talk:GK|¿?]] 16:56, 8 Dec 2004 (UTC)

 * How about... a shot of a Japanese castle? Something samurai-ish?  Japanese characters? A Japanese doll?  (Copyright not verified)  Sushi?  Iron Chef?  One of these lovely pictures? (Copyright not verified) Japanese National Flower: Cherry Blossom (Sakura)?  I think the Japanese national flower would do very nicely. -- AllyUnion (talk) 01:34, 9 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Links to Sakuras (Copyright not verified)
 * 1) Picture 1; From: Site 1
 * 2) Picture 2; Site 2
 * 3) Picture 3; Site 3
 * 4) Picture 4; Site 4
 * 5) Picture 5; Site 5 <- I like this one especially.
 * 6) Picture 6; Site 6
 * 7) Picture 7; Site 7

-- AllyUnion (talk) 01:34, 9 Dec 2004 (UTC)

 * I'm sorry, why is the Japan flag not appropriate? If the topic is sufficently related to pick the Japan-stub, why is a flag not?  --ChrisRuvolo 00:43, 15 Dec 2004 (UTC)

 * I'm not sure personally. Ask the person who removed it.  See: User talk:TakuyaMurata -- AllyUnion (talk) 23:36, 15 Dec 2004 (UTC)

My apology for not making my reasoning for removing the flag clear. The reason was the flag is political, and we'd better stay away from political matters in wikipedia. The best analogy I can think of is Nazi's swastika. True that swastika is probably related to Nazisml, thus it is seemingly natural to use it as the stub picture. But I don't think people feel comfortable seeing it in artcles. I know some people, if few, feel somehow the same feelings. For example, in Japan teachers often protest against the precense of the flag in graduation ceremonies and TV stations get complains from viewers by airing the footage containing the Japan flag. I don't necessarily believe those people's resoning or feelings are correct or resonable. I just think we ought to be sensive over sensive issues. Hope this will help. -- Taku 05:29, Dec 19, 2004 (UTC)

 * I'm not following your argument. Are you saying that all flags should be removed from Wikipedia due to their political nature?  Your position seems to be extreme and not representative of an international audience.  Yes, the swastika would offend a general, international audience, due to its obvious negative connotations, but is the same true for the Flag of Japan? --Viriditas  | Talk 02:24, 24 Dec 2004 (UTC)

 * No, I am not saying all flags have too (perhaps negative) political connotations. And I am sure most of people have very indifferent feelings about the flag of Japan. It is however true that few feel uneasy seeing the flag. It is true as I said above that the use of the flag often leads to a dispute. Another example besides above is few people complained about showing of the flag when NHK, the national broadcasting station ends its the broadcast at a day. My point is few have a problem and we should be sensitive about it. I seems to me what those people are getting is that it is the Japanese government that uses a flag usually, thus the flag gives an impression of the government or the nation. The Japan flag in Olympic games, for example, makes sense because the national team presents Japan as a nation. On the other hands, this stub just means a stub related to Japan, not Japan as a national entity. It is like you don't use the flag of Japan in making a pamphlet about Japan for tourists. You want to put something reminding about Japan like sakura, why flag. -- Taku 05:01, Dec 24, 2004 (UTC)

 * I want to respond to what you've written in both replies:
 * In your first reply, you said that you removed the flag because it was political, and you said we should "stay away from political matters in wikipedia"; I'm still not clear on your original statement. It should be noted that Wikipedia does not "stay away" from political topics, so your reasoning on that point is not supported by official policy.
 * In your second reply, you clarified your orgiinal position. You made the argument that using the flag is not only political but reflects  nationalistic or government implications.  On this point, I agree with you, and I see your point, however, I'm not sure an image of the sakura would scale at size 30, so it might not be a good image to use.  In the case of a geo stub, shouldn't we choose a geographical image, or at least something that will stand out like a flag?  Due to the small icon used on the stub, an image of cherry blossoms will be ambiguous. --Viriditas  | Talk 06:55, 24 Dec 2004 (UTC)

 * A photo of cherry blossoms has two problems. First is that when it is shrunken to a size appropriate for the japan-stub message, it becomes basically unrecognisable. The second problem is that even if you could find a good image or drawing of a cherry blossom, most people outside of Japan probably won't make the connection between sakura=japan. I thought that an image of Mt. Fuji might work, but after shrinking several of them, I decided that didn't work either.

 * I agree with Taku that there are reasons to avoid using the Japanese flag. Even within Japan there are problems with the flag, but it is even more of a problem for some outside of Japan (Korea, China, Taiwan, Philippines, etc.). The Japan National Tourist Organization, for example, doesn't use the flag on their website.

 * For some countries, a map of the country might work well as the graphic for a stub, but I've tried shrinking down several of the maps that I have in my clipart collections, and the image becomes unrecognisable at stub size.

 * I thought that a nice temple gate might be a good simple graphic. Finding a good drawing, or even a clear photo, has proved difficult. For examples of what I was thinking of, see, , and.

 * What is needed is a nice simple graphic where the association with Japan can be commonly inferred. The symbol for the Yen (¥) is unimaginative, but it fits that description. Some kanji might work well. For example: 島国 (island country = Japan ?). gK [[User talk:GK|¿?]] 19:28, 24 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * I could probably create a good, clear, unambiguous image of a temple gate. Hopefully I'll have some time later. --Viriditas  | Talk 22:17, 24 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Proposal
Unless anyone objects, I propose that we use a sakura or a group of sakura for this template. All we need to do is track down a free version of it. -- AllyUnion (talk) 04:29, 22 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Free clip-art images

This is just a low-res sample. Following the image will take you to the sources. I was unable to find any free images of itsukushima torii but if I had to choose, I would choose the torii as it is an outstanding image that scales well at a small size.

The torii image is GFDL so I'm going to turn it into a small icon and post it here. --Viriditas | Talk 01:10, 25 Dec 2004 (UTC)

I created the following from the clipart package from a commercial program and am claiming fair use since it was only a small part of a collage of Japanese-related images, it had to be modified to be usuable, and was then shrunk down as well. gK ¿? 01:40, 25 Dec 2004 (UTC)

This is a modification of Image:Miyajima-torii.jpg, which is GFDL, so there should be no problems using this image. gK ¿? 02:02, 25 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * That looks great at 30 pixels, unlike the sakura. Are there any objections to using this icon? --Viriditas  | Talk 03:25, 25 Dec 2004 (UTC)

 * I also just found two places for Japanese-related images. gK ¿? 03:49, 25 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * http://www.cnet-ta.ne.jp/p/pddlib/default.htm Public domain
 * http://park19.wakwak.com/~kaleido/index-e2.html "Free", whatever that means, but I couldn't find any sort of copyright notice.

 * I have no objections. It looks great. -- AllyUnion (talk) 05:13, 26 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Comments

 * Do we need a poll at all? as I havn't seen any objection yet. We can just put this and see if someone opposes. -- Taku 23:42, Dec 26, 2004 (UTC)
 * Added. --Viriditas | Talk 00:38, 27 Dec 2004 (UTC)

 * Even though I am the one who proposed the idea of using the image of a Japanese temple gate, and then created the shrunk-down version, I do wonder if most naïve Wikipedia users will make the association between the image and Japan. gK ¿? 01:52, 27 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * I suppose it depends on where you are from. In the United States, the image of a Japanese temple gate is ubiquitous and commonly associated with Japanese culture. --Viriditas  | Talk 02:53, 27 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * I can say one thing... it looks more Japanese than Chinese. -- AllyUnion (talk) 02:29, 30 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Use the above image for the template?

Approve

 * 1) -- AllyUnion (talk) 12:22, 26 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * 2) Viriditas | Talk 22:56, 26 Dec 2004 (UTC)
 * 3) Taku 23:40, Dec 26, 2004 (UTC)
 * 4) gK ¿? 01:52, 27 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Japanese place stub
Anyone have suggestions for that? -- AllyUnion (talk) 10:14, 6 Jan 2005 (UTC)
 * Do you mean suggestions for an image on Template:Japan-geo-stub? --Viriditas | Talk 10:36, 6 Jan 2005 (UTC)

 * The usual choice would be a map, but in my opinion if you use anything less than about 60 pixels wide a map of Japan looks more like some ink dribbles. Mt. Fuji is the most identifiable geographic feature in Japan, so it might be a good choice. I've tried shrinking down a number of photos, butnone of them were identifiable as Mt. Fuji after being shrunk. If we could find a simple line drawing of Mt. Fuji, that should be okay. gK ¿? 19:34, 6 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Interwiki :ja
Can anyone confirm if ja:Template:JP-stub is the right intelanguage correspondent in japanese for this template? Thanks Ark25 (talk) 10:10, 6 June 2009 (UTC)

title: Template talk:Japan-stub