Guild Games PSA: Make The Grade Scholarship Edition

[CrystBalfast]

Hello, everyone. AnimusHelixRebirth here of the Mermaid Princess RP Guild!

Here is a PSA about the characters explaining about Make The Grade

This is for those who are unfamiliar with the Nickelodeon TV Show that ran from 1989 to 1991 where if you can answer a series of General Knowledge Questions, then you got what it takes to... MAKE... THE. GRADE!!!

This section is also outside the main IC for the guild.

PSA OOC Time: 1-22-2022 to 2-15-2022

PSA Segments:
= Make The Grade: Rules of the Game

In Progress Visits:
Elsa & Grant
Anna & Rodney


Completed Visits:


Player's Room:


Background Theme: My Room


NOTE: Some of the characters may visit the viewers.  

[CrystBalfast]

Grant
Tipa Adventurer (Enchanter)
"The six great elements heed my call."


Rodney
Tipa Adventurer (Red Mage)
"Can't you just feel the magic?"

...

...

[Player's Room]
The Guild Owner watches an Episode of Make The Grade on his Computer as we see 2 Engaged Couples use the Gate Spell to enter the Player's Room with their sweethearts.


Guild Owner's Computer: "What Magazine features A Person of the Year Title?"
If you can answer this and a bunch of other questions, maybe you got what it takes to...
*Audience: MAKE... THE... GRADE!!!*

Hello again, Mr. Narrator. Me and Elsa have something to discuss with the viewers.


The thing is that Educational shows & software are sometimes Double-Edged Swords as I mentioned before when I talked about the Carmen Sandiego Games on PBS earlier. But PBS wasn't the only one to do so. As Nickelodoen made one as well. Unlike the Carmen Snadiego games, this game in 1989 laid the foundations of what we would see in Who Wants to be a Millionare, Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader & Brain Surge.
One that is not only fun and exciting, but fun for adults and children of All Ages.


We look back on the Kids Games that the Narrator talked about from 1986 to 1989.
Nickelodeon began life on April Fools Day 1979 which was a spinoff of an Experimental Cable system called Qube from 1977.
Nickelodeon's Honorable Beginnings were sort of like a Second PBS Station where they finished Last in the Ratings. We had shows like "Mr. Wizard's World" & "Pinwheel" that were good in some ways.
By 1988, Nick Jr. Renewed the Preschoolers Block. But 2 years ago, Nickelodeon Struck Gold in 1986 with a Children's Game called Double Dare which became an Overnight Success that gave Nickelodeon the profits they needed to succeed.
The Second Nickelodeon Game was Finders Keepers which was a Hidden Object Game but felt like a Premature Wake Up Call for some people but some thought it was pretty good.
By 1988, Nickelodeon took a break from Kids Games to focus on other projects.

Queentintin

 

[CrystBalfast]

Grant
Tipa Adventurer (Enchanter)
"The six great elements heed my call."


Rodney
Tipa Adventurer (Red Mage)
"Can't you just feel the magic?"

...

...

[Player's Room]

In 1989, Nickelodeon had 2 New Games which had Benefits.
The First was Think Fast, which I talked about earlier. Think Fast took the Stunt Challenges and added a Twist of Brain Power to the Mix. The Sets of Think Fast had a Classroom Feel to it along with tearing up the Locker Room Endgame. Think Fast was pretty fun to play.
The Second Game in 1989 would be fun but lead to other games such as Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader and so on...
Which would be Make The Grade that got its start in Halloween 1989.

Grant gives the Magic Mirror to Elsa.
The Rules of the Game are Pretty Simple to understand. Show me the Sound Stages of Make The Grade... The Mirror glows and a slideshow of Make The Grade Sound Stages are shown

Quite...
Make The Grade is played with 3 Players going Head to Head in 3 Team Colors, Red, Blue & Green in a game of General Knowledge.
Questions appear on a Game Board split into 7 Categories & Difficulty Levels.
The Categories change from show to show with other Categories to fill in the Mix that are Fun in several ways such as Cartoons. Here's an example of one... How about "Cartoons Difficulty 5". Mr. Narrator, care to tell us one example?

The Narrator asks a sample question to Elsa & Anna
Narrator: Sure. Cartoons Difficulty 5 it is...
"Which Comedy Sketch on Rocky & Bullwinkle features silly children parodies on Public Domain Fairy tales & Folklore?"

Queentintin

 

[CrystBalfast]

Grant
Tipa Adventurer (Enchanter)
"The six great elements heed my call."


Rodney
Tipa Adventurer (Red Mage)
"Can't you just feel the magic?"

...

...

[Player's Room]

*Gameplay & Honors Round*
Narrator: You got it.
The Goal of Make The Grade is to Answer at least one Question of each Category & in each Difficulty as doing so lights the icon on the Player's Game Podium which can be done in any order a player sees fit to do so such as Randomly, Diagonally, Horizontally or Vertically. If a Player lights up his or Podium entirely or has the most icons lit due to Time Constraints, that player wins the game, is awarded $500 and advances to the Honors Round where the player answers 7 Different Questions for a shot at $1,000 & the Grand Prize.
The Way I plan to do the Honors Round is an updated version where each question is worth $100 & a great prize.

You DO know that there's more than General Knowledge Spaces. Rodney said to Anna

*Wild Cards*

Free Space


Lose Space


Take Space


Fire Drill Space

Narrator: True. There's 4 Wild Card Spaces.
First up is the Free Space where you get that space lit up on the Podium without answering the Question.
Next we have the Lose Space where a Player returns a space to the game board.
There's the Take Space where the player takes a lit space from another player.
The Last Space is called a Fire Drill. Do you know what the Fire Drill Spaces do in Make The Grade, Anna & Elsa? The narrator asked the characters

Queentintin

 

[CrystBalfast]

Grant
Tipa Adventurer (Enchanter)
"The six great elements heed my call."


Rodney
Tipa Adventurer (Red Mage)
"Can't you just feel the magic?"

...

...

[Player's Room]

*Wild Cards*

Fire Drill Space

Narrator: The Fire Drill Spaces are the Stunt Challenges of Make The Grade. All 3 Players would compete in a Stunt Game such as tossing crumbled papers into a waste bin, carrying a stack of notebooks, etc.
Other times, it would be Carnival style games or puzzles.

The Reward for that space would be if a Player can choose which podium to go back to, so that player can take another player's podium along with his or her progress as a Fire Drill can change the outcome of a Make The Grade Game such as a player skyrocketing to First if he or she is behind while another player gets dumped to 3rd place who was leading.

The Fire Drills are the Core of Make The Grade since the Wild Card Spaces are random from Game to Game, so its possible to be found Too Early like the Daily Doubles in Jeopardy. The Narrator paused before continuing

Narrator: Make The Grade Seasons 1 & 2's residing Host was Lew Schindler, a former Comedian with a sense of humor making jokes sometimes. While the announcer was Maria Milito, an NYC Radio Host. Make The Grade Seasons 1 & 2 were filmed in New York City. The Pacing is hard to gauge as someone could win the Game in a Minimum of at least 7 Questions. When this happened, some extra time would be filled in with some Post Game scenes.

On the other hand, Fire Drills are played until someone finishes 1st and 2nd.
Micheal Klinghoffer was a solo Creator of Make The Grade and the 4th Game he worked on since it would also be his last as he would move to Comedy Central in 1990.

Since some Kids Games did not have to be all messy. Some of the Games we'll talk about later such as Nick Arcade, GUTS, Global GUTS, My Family's Got GUTS, just to name a few. But like Double Dare, Finders Keepers, Think Fast, they are all games that everyone can have fun in.

Season 2 of Make The Grade introduced a Secondary Bonus Round called the University Round which gave the player addition questions to answer Millionaire Style where after at least one question is answer correctly, a player can choose to Stop and keep what he or she has added or Continue to add to that total where as so much as one Wrong Answer can cause a player to lose the money gathered in the University Round, however, money and prizes gathered from the Base Game & Honors Round are Guaranteed regardless of the final outcome.

By Season 3, Make The Grade was moved to Nickelodeon Studios in Orlando. However, the Residing Host was changed after Lew Schindler left to do Sitcoms as Director, Writer and Producer. Robb Edward Morris took over as the Residing Host, a former Graduate of Chicago Academy of Arts.
More Fire Drill Stunts were also added.

One episode of Season 3 went by Really Fast where Frank won the Game but not the Honors Round, walking out with $1,100 overall. The Post Game, however, lasted 4 Minutes.

Overall, Make The Grade lasted for 160 Episodes across its 3 Seasons from 1989 to 1991. The Narrator said to the characters.

What the Narrator said seemed to hold up well about Make The Grade. It felt like another Nickelodeon Game that deserves another chance to be brought back in a fandom sense. Grant said to Elsa.

Queentintin

 

[CrystBalfast]

Grant
Tipa Adventurer (Enchanter)
"The six great elements heed my call."


Rodney
Tipa Adventurer (Red Mage)
"Can't you just feel the magic?"

...

...

[Player's Room]
So as you can see, Make The Grade may be the last Nickelodeon Game to wrap up the 1980s & that sounds like a plan. Ready to head back? Grant said to Elsa.

Narrator: That is true, Elsa & Grant. I will think about making an OOC Pilot Game of Make The Grade & thank you for your time.
When I find out more about the Nickelodeon Games of the 1990s, I hope to tell you more about them when I can & maybe I could do a PSA of a Kids Games Marathon. The narrator said to the characters.

Queentintin

 

[CrystBalfast]

Grant
Tipa Adventurer (Enchanter)
"The six great elements heed my call."


Rodney
Tipa Adventurer (Red Mage)
"Can't you just feel the magic?"

...

...

[Player's Room]
Sure thing, Snowflake. Gate! Grant said to Elsa as he cast his Gate Spell then escorted his friends back to the IC.

Narrator: Thanks for visiting, Elsa & Grant. See you in an OOC Game of Make The Grade. The narrator said to the characters.

Queentintin

 

[CrystBalfast]

*End of OOC PSA*


Upcoming OOC Rules of the Game PSAs, Hopefully...
= What Would You Do
= Wild & Crazy Kids
= Get The Picture
= Nick Arcade Revisited
= GUTS/Global Guts/My Family's Got GUTS Revisited
= Legends of the Hidden Temple Revisited
= Figure It Out Revisited
= You're On
= Kids to Adults TV Games Marathon PSA Part 1: Kids Television Games