Reach for the Top Totally Explained

Everything about Reach For The Top totally explained

Reach for the Top is a Canadian game show in which teams of high school students participate in local, provincial and eventually national trivia tournaments. The non-televised tournaments held at high schools throughout Canada during the year are known as Schoolreach; both are commonly referred to simply as "Reach".
Some districts also have "Intermediate" level competitions, where the questions are written with a lower level of difficulty to provide experience to new, younger players. Intermediate level champions don't move on to national finals.
In Canadian universities, Quiz Bowl is the dominant form of trivia competition, often played by those who participated in Schoolreach and Reach For The Top in high school.

History

The televised Reach for the Top series was first shown on CBC affiliate CBUT in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1961, based on the BBC series Top of the Form. The first national Reach for the Top tournament took place in 1965, and was won by Vincent Massey Collegiate Institute from Etobicoke, Ontario. The series was filmed at locations across Canada with the national championships held in Montreal, Quebec. In 1968 a short-lived Trans-World Top Team series was created by the CBC and BBC, in which teams from the United Kingdom played teams from Canada. Alex Trebek hosted the Toronto version for several years. Shelagh Rogers, later a host for CBC Radio, was a contestant on the original broadcasts of the show. Bill Guest hosted the National Finals on CBC from 1969 to 1985. Miles MacDonell Collegiate in Winnipeg Manitoba won the most provincial championships in Reach For The Top history winning a record six times in the 1970s and 1980s but never the national championship.
   The CBC stopped airing Reach for the Top in 1985, but it continues to be shown under the aegis of Reach for the Top Inc. on several private and public networks. Currently, the national championship is shown on Canadian Learning Television, hosted by Dave Kelly of Citytv Calgary's Breakfast Television. Games at the provincial level are broadcast on stations unique to their respective provinces, among them Ontario on TVOntario with Nicole Stamp of TVOKids (and produced and directed by Sidney M. Cohen), British Columbia with Tamara Stanners on the Knowledge Network, and Alberta with Dave Kelly on Access. Local tournaments may air on private television stations, or on cable community channels.
   In 1985, Reach for the Top Inc., a private company, was established by Sandy Stewart, on agreement with CBC. Mr. Stewart then joined with his wife, Patricia Stewart, in partnership with Robert Jeffrey and Paul Russell of Paulus Productions Inc. to create Schoolreach, an in-school version of Reach for the Top available across Canada by subscription. Schoolreach is organized among the different school boards in Canada, and monthly tournaments are played, culminating in a district final each spring. The winner in each district participates in the provincial finals (often, but not always, televised), and the provincial winner competes in the televised national championship.
   Reach for the Top Inc. produced a season of programming out of Toronto in 1986 and 1987. The Reach for the Top National Finals were revived in 1988. In 1995, Sandy and Pat Stewart retired from Reach For The Top. Reach For The Top and Schoolreach were then taken over by Paulus Productions Inc. under the direction of Paul Russell and Robert Jeffrey.
   CBC revived the format in the program Smart Ask which was cancelled in 2004. From 1973 to 1997 the CBC's French language network, Radio-Canada, aired a program called Génies en herbe, ("Budding Geniuses"), which was the French language equivalent of Reach for the Top. Competitions continued after the cancellation of the program, and teams from other francophone countries around the world often participated.

Format

The game is similar to Quiz Bowl, the high school and university trivia game played in the United States, but with some significant differences. Reach questions include "snappers," the same as "tossups" in Quiz Bowl, which can be answered by any of the four players on either team. There are also "Who am I?" or "What am I?" questions and "shootout" questions, also open to any player. "Relay" questions are directed at only one of the teams, and "assigned" questions are directed to a single player. Questions are typically worth ten points, but can be worth up to forty points. Points are not deducted for a wrong answer.
Every game lasts for three rounds, with one minute breaks in between. Each game consists of 96 questions (80 questions in Intermediate games), plus four sudden-death tiebreakers in the case of a tie game after regulation. Contestants may answer a question before the reading of it's completed; however, a correct, anticipated guess doesn't earn extra points.
The tournament is divided into three different levels. At the regional level, local high school teams compete against each other to determine who goes on to the provincial level. The winners of the provincial championships then go on to the National Reach for the Top tournament. The winner is then declared the national champions.

Types of questions

Snappers: Snappers begin and end every round, and are called "snapstarts" and "snapouts" respectively. They are usually found in sets of four (10 points each, for a total of 40 points); however, at the end of every game, there's a snapout consisting of 8-12 questions. (If there's any time left in the game, more snappers are asked.)

Open Questions: These types of questions are open to both teams. Open questions are found in sets of two, three or four. Each correct answer is worth 10 points. Audio and visual questions follow the same rules.

Team Questions: A Team Question is actually a set of questions, worth a possible total of 40 points. When a team question is announced, both teams have an opportunity to answer the first question, called a "scramble". The team that answers the scramble first will have an opportunity to answer the remaining three questions, whereas the opponent will not. In the event that neither team answers the scramble, the remaining questions are open to both teams. However, in some leagues, the team question is forfeited completely.

Who/What/Where/What Word am I? Questions: The purpose of a Who/What/Where/What Word am I? question is to guess a person/place/thing. Clues are provided by the reader, and are read, one at a time. Between clues, both teams have an opportunity to guess the person/place/thing. If both teams provide incorrect guesses, the next clue will be read. This continues until the fourth and final clue is read. If neither team can provide a correct answer, the answer will be revealed, and no points will be awarded. What Word am I? questions provide up to four quotes with a missing word common to each. If a team provides the correct answer after being provided with one clue, that team will earn 40 points. Each subsequent clue reduces the question's value by 10 points.

Chain Snappers: Chain snappers are similar to snappers, but each question is somehow related to the preceding answer.

Assigned questions: Assigned questions are found in sets of eight--four questions per team. A question is assigned to each person; if the person can't answer the question correctly, his/her opponent (sitting directly across from him/her) will have an opportunity to answer. Players may not consult with their teammates when they're assigned a question.

Relay questions: Each team is presented with four questions, one team at a time. The first three questions are worth 10 points each, while the last question is worth 20. If a team provides an incorrect answer at any point in the relay, the remaining questions assigned to that team are forfeited. Consultation is allowed.

20-point special: A correct attempt at a 20-point special will earn 20 points. Some 20-point specials require more than one answer while others are a bit more difficult than the regular 10-point questions.

Shootout questions: Shootouts consist of 12 snappers, and are open to both teams. If a participant provides a correct answer, he/she won't be able to answer any further questions in the shootout. A team will be awarded 40 points if they provide four correct answers before their opponents do. This will end the shootout. If neither team provides four correct responses before the end of the shootout, no points are awarded. Prompting and consultation amongst the players is forbidden.

List questions: List questions are open to both teams, and are worth a possible 50 points. The reader will introduce the theme of the question, and ask for five items relating to that theme. For example, if the theme were "Chemical elements", the reader could ask for the first five elements of the periodic table. Teams alternate responses; if one team provides an incorrect response or repeats an answer, then the other team shall have an opportunity to name the remaining items in the list unless they too make a mistake in giving a wrong answer or repeating.

Eligibility

Participants must be attending a high school in Canada to be eligible for participation in Reach for the Top. The age limit restricts participants to those who are 19 or younger at the beginning of the school year.(External Link

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Notable teams

In 1978, Vincent Massey Collegiate Institute became the first high school to win the National Championship twice. They played their first game in March of 1978 against Richview Collegiate Institute and current Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper in the first game of the Etobicoke, Ontario flight. Vincent Massey Collegiate easily won by a score of 445-160, with Mr. Harper scoring 80 points for Richview Collegiate in his first and only appearance on the show. Interestingly, Nicole Stamp, who has been the host of Reach For The Top's Ontario Championships since 2004, is also an alumna of Richview Collegiate.
In 2003, the University of Toronto Schools, based in Toronto, Ontario, became the only school in Reach for the Top history to win back-to-back national titles. In 2004, St. George's School, in Vancouver, British Columbia won the national championships, the first non-Ontario team to do so since 1995 and the first Western Canadian team to win since St. George's last win in 1991.

National champions

1965-1966 Vincent Massey Collegiate Institute, Etobicoke, Ontario

1966-1967 Rideau Collegiate Institute, Ottawa, Ontario

1967-1968 Oak Bay Secondary School, Victoria, British Columbia

1968-1969 Neil McNeil Catholic Secondary School, Toronto, Ontario

1969-1970 Kelvin High School, Winnipeg, Manitoba

1970-1971 River East Collegiate Institute, Winnipeg, Manitoba

1971-1972 O'Leary High School, Edmonton, Alberta

1972-1973 Lorne Jenkins High School, Barrhead, Alberta

1973-1974 Gonzaga Public High School, St. John's, Newfoundland

1974-1975 Queen Elizabeth High School, Halifax, Nova Scotia

1975-1976 Central Peel Secondary School, Brampton, Ontario

1976-1977 Glenlawn Collegiate Institute, Winnipeg, Manitoba

1977-1978 Vincent Massey Collegiate Institute, Etobicoke, Ontario

1978-1979 Banting Memorial High School, Alliston, Ontario

1979-1980 Hillcrest High School, Ottawa, Ontario

1980-1981 Cobequid Educational Centre, Truro, Nova Scotia

1981-1982 Dakota Collegiate Institute, Winnipeg, Manitoba

1982-1983 Roland Michener Secondary School, South Porcupine, Ontario

1983-1984 Deloraine Collegiate Institute, Deloraine, Manitoba

1984-1985 Kate Andrews High School, Coaldale, Alberta Between 1984-85 and 1988-89, no national tournament was held.

1988-1989 Tagwi Secondary School, Avonmore, Ontario

1989-1990 Memorial High School, Sydney Mines, Nova Scotia

1990-1991 St. George's School, Vancouver, British Columbia

1991-1992 Saunders Secondary School, London, Ontario

1992-1993 St. Joseph's High School, Renfrew, Ontario

1993-1994 Bell High School, Nepean, Ontario

1994-1995 Fredericton High School, Fredericton, New Brunswick

1995-1996 Saunders Secondary School, London, Ontario

1996-1997 Earl Haig Secondary School, Toronto, Ontario

1997-1998 Gloucester High School, Gloucester, Ontario

1998-1999 Frontenac Secondary School, Kingston, Ontario

1999-2000 Merivale High School, Ottawa, Ontario

2000-2001 Gloucester High School, Ottawa, Ontario

2001-2002 University of Toronto Schools, Toronto, Ontario

2002-2003 University of Toronto Schools, Toronto, Ontario

2003-2004 St. George's School, Vancouver, British Columbia

2004-2005 Cobequid Educational Centre, Truro, Nova Scotia

2005-2006 Woburn Collegiate Institute, Toronto, Ontario

2006-2007 London Central Secondary School, London, Ontario

Trivia

Reach was parodied as "High-Q" on the Canadian comic sketch show SCTV, with Eugene Levy starring as "Alex Trebel". The contestants, however, were often very dimwitted. There was also a "Night School" version.

Reach was also one of the competing events in the now defunct Scarborough-Indianapolis Peace Games, known in the United States as Brain Games.

In 2007, after being hit with a boom, the national trophy broke into two pieces just before the final game against Kennebecasis Valley and London Central.Further Information

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