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High Five Academic Challenge

Portland, Oregon's long-running high school TV quiz show — where the best and brightest teams of the Pacific Northwest tested their wits from 1993 to 2009.

📺 Portland, Oregon 🗓️ 1993–2009 🎙️ Host: Wayne Faligowski 🏫 OR · WA · BC

About the Show

High Five Challenge — often remembered as the High Five Academic Challenge — was a locally produced high school quiz television program based in Portland, Oregon. Created and hosted by Wayne Faligowski under his company Faligowski Productions, the show pitted two teams against one another in a fast, buzzer-driven trivia format covering a broad range of academic categories.

Contestants were usually drawn from high schools across Oregon and Washington. According to the show's own promotional materials, more than 8,000 young people appeared on High Five over its run, competing for prizes the producers valued at up to $400,000 across the series.

Full name
High Five Challenge (High Five Academic Challenge)
Origin
Portland, Oregon, USA
Run years
1993 – 2009
Host
Wayne Faligowski
Co-host
Jeremiah Stroup
Announcer
Bill Deiz
Production
Faligowski Productions
Eligible region
Oregon · Washington

How the Game Worked

Two teams of five players competed in each episode. Four members stood at podiums with individual buzzers, while a fifth player served as the "Wild Card" who could ring in to steal on any question. Each team started with 2,000 points.

Scoring & Rounds

  • The game was played in two rounds.
  • Each round showed five categories of five questions; a computer selected which category was played.
  • Per category: two questions worth 10 pts, two worth 20 pts, one worth 40 pts — asked in random order.
  • Correct answers added points; incorrect answers deducted them.

Final Category & Prizes

  • The final category was played for double value (20/20/40/40/80 points).
  • A Wild Card "steal" let the fifth player answer on any question.
  • Both teams received an appearance prize; the winning team received the larger reward.
  • Weekly format: 50 questions across 10 categories of five.

Where It Aired

Over its 16-year life the show moved among several Portland-area broadcast and public television stations:

StationApprox. yearsNotes
KPTV (Ch. 12)1993 – 2001Original home of the series
KWPB / KWBP2001 – mid-2000sPortland WB affiliate era
KOIN & OPB2006 – 2008Public/commercial broadcast run
KPDX (cable Ch. 13)2008 – 2009Final broadcast home; Sunday 12:30 pm

Station call letters and dates are compiled from the Game Shows Wiki and Wikipedia's list of televised academic quiz programs; some transition dates are approximate in surviving records.

Champions & Runners-Up by School Year

A note on this table: No complete, publicly published list of High Five Challenge season champions and runners-up is known to exist. But between contemporary newspaper reporting for the earliest seasons and two surviving weekly programming logs (see the Episode Database below), the championship finals for eleven consecutive seasons, 1993–94 through 2003–04, are now documented and filled in here. The 2004–05 final (Grant vs. LaSalle) is listed but its winner was not recorded in the source. For the KOIN/OPB era, Mountain View (2005–06) and Bellevue (2006–07, over Columbia River) are now documented from newspaper reporting; the KPDX-era 2007–08 and 2008–09 champions remain unknown pending further records.
Season-by-season championship record — a work in progress. "Season #" reflects the show's own annual-championship numbering (Season 1 ≈ 1993–94, inferred from a 1998 broadcast citing the "fifth annual championship").
School Year Season # Champion Runner-Up Other Playoff Teams Notes / Source

Season numbering and school-year alignment are approximate and inferred; the show's exact championship calendar has not been verified against primary records. In the “Other Playoff Teams” column, green chips mark teams that won a playoff game but did not qualify for the championship, and red chips mark teams that lost their playoff match. If you have episode tapes, yearbook clippings, or contestant records, they would help complete this table.

Season Standings (1998–99 – 2004–05)

High Five ran as a single-elimination tournament: each team that appeared on a regular-season show played (in most seasons) a single qualifying game, and winners advanced toward the playoffs. These standings list every team that appeared in a regular-season show for each season below, with its win–loss record, total points scored and allowed, and whether it advanced to the playoffs. Teams are ordered by total points scored, then by point differential. Built directly from the Episode Database; a few games have no recorded final score and show “—” for points.

Full Episode Database (1996 – 2005)

This is a broadcast log of 411 matchups spanning ten seasons, transcribed from a surviving weekly airing schedule. Each row lists the air date, both teams, their final scores (the higher score wins — shown in green), and the round type. Playoff, championship, and college-special rounds are tagged. Rerun/encore airings are omitted to avoid duplicates.

Green marks the winning team. For a few early games the score wasn’t recorded — in those rows the winner is still shown in green with both score cells left blank, based on the outcome noted in the source schedule.

Air DateSchool YearTeam 1ScoreTeam 2ScoreRound

Source: a surviving weekly programming schedule supplied by the site maintainer. Team names are transcribed as recorded; minor spelling and state-suffix variants have been left largely as-is in this raw log. Dates are the Saturday air/record dates listed in the source. A blank score means the source did not record a final tally for that matchup.

Schools Who Appeared — Index

Rebuilt from the episode log: This index is generated directly from the surviving weekly programming schedule (1998–99 through 2005–06) — 0 high schools, with separate tables below for Colleges, Military Teams, and All-Star & Special Exhibitions. For each school the “Seasons Appeared” column lists every season they were on the show, and the “Opponents Faced” column lists every recorded matchup with the season, round type, and final score. Name spellings and state suffixes from the source have been merged (e.g. “Battleground,” “Battle Ground,” and “BattleGround” are one entry). Coverage is roughly eight of the show’s sixteen seasons, so hundreds of earlier and later participants remain undocumented. Locations are best-effort identifications; team nicknames are known only where a broadcast announced them.
High schools sorted alphabetically. Each row lists every logged matchup with season, round type, and score.
School Location Team Nickname Seasons Appeared Opponents Faced (season · round · result)

Colleges (0)

College quiz teams that appeared in special college-round episodes — Oregon State, the Universities of Oregon, Washington, and Portland, plus PCC, PSU, MHCC, Clackamas CC, Clark College, and Canada’s Brentwood College. Same columns as the high-schools table.

Colleges sorted alphabetically.
Team Location Nickname Seasons Appeared Opponents Faced (season · round · result)

Military Teams (0)

Armed-forces specials — U.S. Navy vs. Canadian Navy and related exhibitions.

Military teams sorted alphabetically.
Team Location Nickname Seasons Appeared Opponents Faced (season · round · result)

All-Star & Special Exhibitions (0)

Media, All-Star, and youth-organization exhibitions — Media All-Stars, High School All-Stars, College All-Stars, 4-H Clubs, Cub Scouts, and the College Championship special.

All-star and special-exhibition teams sorted alphabetically.
Team Location Nickname Seasons Appeared Opponents Faced (season · round · result)

Team nicknames are recorded only where a surviving broadcast announced them; most remain unknown. Locations are best-effort identifications and should be verified. A handful of source entries (e.g. “Washington,” “St Mary’s”) are ambiguous as to which specific school is meant and are left without a confirmed location.

Help Fill In the Gaps

Do you remember an episode, have a tape, a yearbook clipping, or know a matchup, air date, champion, or team nickname that's missing above? Please share it. Every detail helps rebuild the record of this partially lost show.

Submitting opens your email app with the details pre-filled, addressed to the site maintainer. If your device has no email app set up, use Copy details instead and paste them wherever you like.

Legacy & Lost Media

For many Portland-area students of the 1990s and 2000s, appearing on High Five was a memorable rite of passage — complete with branded merchandise like commemorative watches. Yet the series is now considered partially lost media: only a scattering of episodes survive publicly, most on a fan/producer YouTube channel, and local stations have reportedly retained little to no archive.

The show sits alongside other Portland academic-TV traditions such as KGW's High Q and the earlier On the Spot High School Challenge. Efforts by former contestants to locate recordings — especially championship episodes — remain active on forums like Reddit's r/lostmedia and r/askportland.

Documented Episodes & References

Documented Episodes & Matchups

These are individual matchups that survive on video or in reliable accounts. They are regular-season episodes, not confirmed championship finals, unless noted.

MatchupYear / DateResultSource
Reynolds vs. Charles Wright Academy1996Reynolds won, 2320–2230IMDb cast listing; YouTube video
Glendale (Pirates) vs. Ilwaco (Fishermen)1998 (Glendale's 1st show)Ilwaco won, 2160–1990YouTube video
Oregon Episcopal (Aardvarks) vs. Hockinson (Hawks)Show #108 · aired 1/4/2008Oregon Episcopal won, 2200–2260*YouTube replay #108
Faith Bible vs. PutnamApr 11, 2009 (2008–09)Putnam won, 2370–2260YouTube video
Aloha vs. GrantDec 2, 2006 (2006–07)Aloha won, 2190–2150YouTube video
Fort Vancouver vs. ReynoldsDec 16, 2006 (2006–07)Reynolds won, 2330–2100YouTube video
McKay vs. SkyviewDec 9, 2006 (2006–07)McKay won, 2420–2190YouTube video
Benson vs. WoodburnJun 13, 2009 (2008–09)Benson won, 2430–2200YouTube video

*The transcript of the #108 replay shows a late-game score of Oregon Episcopal 2200 vs. Hockinson 2260, with the host congratulating Hockinson on the comeback win — surviving transcript wording is slightly ambiguous, so this result should be treated as documented-but-imperfect.

References & Links

  1. WikiHigh Five Challenge — Game Shows Wiki (Fandom) — most detailed format, rules, hosts, stations, and sponsors.
  2. DatabaseHigh Five Challenge (TV Series 1993–2009) — IMDb — cast, run years, production company, 1996 contestant list.
  3. WikiList of televised academic student quiz programs — Wikipedia — station/region/premiere-year summary.
  4. VideoHigh Five TV Game Show — official YouTube channel — surviving full episodes and matchups.
  5. Video#108 High Five: 5-min Replay — Hockinson vs. Oregon Episcopal (aired 1/4/2008)
  6. VideoHigh Five Challenge — Glendale HS 1st Show, 1998 (vs. Ilwaco) — references the "fifth annual championship."
  7. Forumr/lostmedia — "[partially lost]: PBS Game Show 'High Five'" — lost-media discussion, Centennial HS c.2003–04.
  8. Forumr/askportland — "Anyone Remember … High Five Challenge?" — contestant memories: Sandy High School (c.1995), Benson, Dallas HS.
  9. SiteHigh-Five.com — official/successor site — current landing page for the brand.
  10. ForumGame Show Forum — High School "Quiz Bowl" Shows thread
  11. NewspaperThe Oregonian — "New KPTV quiz show showcases teens" (Sep 24, 1993, p. 75) — Portland, OR; launch-era coverage; clipping via Newspapers.com (subscription required for full text).
  12. NewspaperThe Clackamas Print — (Oct 20, 1993, p. 6) — Oregon City, OR; Clackamas Community College student paper; notes a 1993–94 regular-season High Five matchup between Oregon City and Sherwood; freely readable on the Historic Oregon Newspapers website (University of Oregon).
  13. NewspaperThe Columbian — "Bay team makes quiz playoffs" (Mar 10, 1994, p. 3) — Vancouver, WA; reports Hudson's Bay defeating Lakeridge 2540–2280 in the 1993–94 regular season to reach the High Five playoffs; clipping via Newspapers.com (subscription required for full text).
  14. NewspaperThe Oregonian — "High 5" (Apr 4, 1994, p. 21) — Portland, OR; clipping via Newspapers.com (subscription required for full text).
  15. NewspaperThe Oregonian — "Hudson's Bay High will face Lincoln in quiz competition" (Apr 12, 1994, p. 2) — Portland, OR; clipping via Newspapers.com (subscription required for full text).
  16. NewspaperThe Columbian — "Bay's 'High Five' triumph televised by KPTV" (Apr 14, 1994, p. 5) — Vancouver, WA; clipping via Newspapers.com (subscription required for full text).
  17. NewspaperThe Oregonian — "Hudson's Bay to honor its knowledge team" (Apr 18, 1994, p. 2) — Portland, OR; clipping via Newspapers.com (subscription required for full text).
  18. NewspaperThe Oregonian — TV listing, "Daytime Highlights" (May 7, 1994, p. 99) — Portland, OR; clipping via Newspapers.com (subscription required for full text).
  19. NewspaperOregon Daily Emerald — (Apr 11, 1995, p. 4) — Eugene, OR; University of Oregon student paper; describes the University of Oregon team losing a college-division High Five match in the 1994–95 season; freely readable on the Historic Oregon Newspapers website (University of Oregon).
  20. NewspaperThe Oregonian — student-honors feature (Jun 1, 1995, p. 62) — Portland, OR; notes David Douglas and Jesuit High Schools' participation on High Five in 1994–95; clipping via Newspapers.com (subscription required for full text).
  21. NewspaperThe Register-Guard — TV listing, “High Five” finals (May 20, 1995, p. 70) — Eugene, OR; TV grid entry giving the air date of the 1994–95 final, “Wilson High (Portland) meets Hudson's Bay (Vancouver, Wash.)”; clipping via Newspapers.com (subscription required for full text).
  22. NewspaperThe Oregonian — “In it toget…” [headline truncated in clipping] (Jun 1, 1995, p. 63) — by Sura Rubenstein; Portland, OR; clipping via Newspapers.com (subscription required for full text).
  23. NewspaperThe Daily Astorian — “Astoria School District Student Recognition” (Sep 5, 1995, p. 8) — Astoria, OR; notes Astoria High School's participation on High Five in 1995; clipping via Newspapers.com (subscription required for full text).
  24. NewspaperThe Oregonian — TV column, “'High Five' on hold” (Sep 22, 1995, p. 73) — Portland, OR; clipping via Newspapers.com (subscription required for full text).
  25. NewspaperThe Oregonian — "Centennial High's Larsen is Outstanding Science Teacher" (Dec 14, 1995, p. 131) — Portland, OR; clipping via Newspapers.com (subscription required for full text).
  26. NewspaperThe Columbian — "And the answer is — Lawson Fite" (Feb 18, 1996, p. 102) — Vancouver, WA; notes Hudson's Bay vs. Roosevelt (WA) in the 1995–96 season; clipping via Newspapers.com (subscription required for full text).
  27. NewspaperThe Columbian — Hudson's Bay Knowledge Bowl team feature (May 8, 1996, p. A8) — Vancouver, WA; documents Hudson's Bay defeating Lakeridge for the 1995–96 High Five title; clipping via Newspapers.com (subscription required for full text).
  28. NewspaperSeaside Signal — "Squad moves in 'Jeopardy-like' competition" (Oct 10, 1996, p. 1) — by Cat Mauldin; clipping via Newspapers.com (subscription required for full text).
  29. NewspaperThe Columbian — "Hudson Bay retains its High Five title" (Mar 19, 1997, p. B5) — by Tom Vogt; Vancouver, WA; clipping via Newspapers.com (subscription required for full text).
  30. NewspaperSeaside Signal — "Classroom" (Apr 24, 1997, p. 19) — clipping via Newspapers.com (subscription required for full text).
  31. NewspaperThe Columbian — "Bay wins quiz event three years in a row" (Mar 18, 1998, p. 7) — by Tom Vogt; Vancouver, WA; reports Hudson's Bay defeating Corvallis for the 1997–98 title (Evergreen finished third); clipping via Newspapers.com (subscription required for full text).
  32. NewspaperChinook Observer — "IHS students on TV show Nov. 30" (Nov 19, 2002) — Ilwaco, WA; reports Ilwaco High School appearing on High Five for the sixth year in a row, facing Forest Grove in an episode taped at KWBP (Portland) and airing Saturday, Nov 30, 2002, at 11 a.m.; freely readable on the paper's website.
  33. NewspaperOregon Daily Emerald — "Oregon's High Five team falls to OSU" (Apr 16, 2006) — Eugene, OR; University of Oregon student paper; reports the UO Robert D. Clark Honors College team losing to Oregon State University's honors team in a college-division High Five match; freely readable on the paper's website.
  34. NewspaperThe Clackamas Print — front page (Apr 19, 2006, p. 1) — Oregon City, OR; Clackamas Community College student paper; reports Clackamas Community College defeating Mt. Hood Community College in a college-division High Five match in 2006; freely readable on the Historic Oregon Newspapers website (University of Oregon).
  35. NewspaperThe Columbian — "Battle Ground a 'High Five'" (Apr 29, 2007, p. 35) — Vancouver, WA; reports Battle Ground High School qualifying for the High Five playoffs in the 2006–07 season after 11 years of trying; clipping via Newspapers.com (subscription required for full text).
  36. NewspaperThe Columbian — "Team" [continuation from D1] (Apr 29, 2007, p. D7) — Vancouver, WA; continuation of the Battle Ground High Five feature; notes Mountain View as the 2005–06 champion and lists the 2006–07 final as Columbia River vs. Bellevue (aired May 27, 2007), with Battle Ground, Central Catholic, and Oak Hill also reaching the playoffs; clipping via Newspapers.com (subscription required for full text).
  37. NewspaperThe Whirlwind — "What is, High Five Quiz Club?" (Nov 29, 2023) — by Braxton Bullard; West Albany High School student newspaper, Albany, OR; retrospective on West Albany's High Five Challenge quiz club, noting the team filmed in Portland and that host Wayne Faligowski was a West Albany alumnus (per former advisor Kelli Backer); freely readable on the paper's website.
  38. ArchiveWayback Machine snapshots of the official high-five.com site — schedules and season score pages captured over the show's run:

Compiled from publicly available sources. Where sources conflict or are incomplete, the discrepancy is noted in-line. This page is offered as a starting reference for a show with limited surviving documentation.