The KYVE Apple Bowl is a televised single elimination competition between high school students. Over a period of one to three weeks, 20-30 high schools come from all over Central Washington

Central Washington

Central Washington is a region of the United States defined as the western half of Eastern Washington, or those counties lying east of the Cascade Mountains but west of the 119th meridian west....

 to compete at the Apple Bowl studio, which is located on the Central Washington University

Central Washington University

Central Washington University, often abbreviated CWU, is a public university in Ellensburg, Washington in the United States.This location was selected by the state legislature as a consolation prize after Ellensburg lost its bid to be state capital...

 campus in Ellensburg, Washington

Ellensburg, Washington

Ellensburg is a city in, and the county seat of, Kittitas County, Washington, United States. The population was 18,174 at the 2010 census. The population was 18,250 at 2011 Estimate from Office of Financial Management. Ellensburg is located just east of the Cascade Range on I-90 and is known as the...

. The first and second place team members receive checks from Washington Apple Education Foundation. Many of the teams also participate in Knowledge Bowl and Quiz Bowl.

The competition is co-produced by Central Washington University and airs on PBS

Public Broadcasting Service

The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....

 station KYVE Yakima each spring. The program reaches an audience of over 200,000 families in the Central Washington area.

Format

Apple Bowl is played between two teams of three members each, with all six individuals using a lockout buzzer

Buzzer

A buzzer or beeper is an audio signaling device, which may be mechanical, electromechanical, or piezoelectric. Typical uses of buzzers and beepers include alarm devices, timers and confirmation of user input such as a mouse click or keystroke....

 system to answer questions. Each team has a captain who is required to answer the questions in some of the rounds. A host reads the questions and determines the correct responses, although off-camera judges are used when an answer is contentious.

The competition consists of three rounds:

• The Toss-up Round does not involve active teamwork; rather, an individual on either team can buzz in and collect 10 points for his or her team for a correct response. If one member of the team answers incorrectly, no other members of that team can buzz in, although a member of the opposing team can still offer an answer. This round lasts 10 minutes, after which the host takes a short break to "get to know" the contestants Jeopardy!
  Jeopardy!
  Griffin's first conception of the game used a board comprising ten categories with ten clues each, but after finding that this board could not be shown on camera easily, he reduced it to two rounds of thirty clues each, with five clues in each of six categories...
  
  style by asking personal questions that were created by the players before recording.

• The Lightning Round does not require use of the buzzers and instead provides the teams with four categories of questions from which to answer. The team with the fewer points is allowed to choose the first category it wishes to answer on, with the moderator asking a series of up to 15 questions for the team to answer. During this round, team members are allowed to confer but only the captain can give an answer unless he or she "defers" to a teammate. For each category, the responding team has three minutes to answer as many of the 15 questions they can, with each question worth 5 points. After the first team has either completed its set of questions or run out of time, the other team may choose a question set from the remaining three categories.

• The Bonus Round integrates the other two rounds by allowing contestants to answer questions individually, as in the Tossup Round, but also requires the team to confer on a set of four bonus questions if the initial answer was correct. These bonus questions are read out by the host successively, with the team members answering all four questions in a row after up to 15 seconds of conference. The bonus sets are not related to the initial question. For example, a tossup question about a species of whale
  Whale
  Whale is the common name for various marine mammals of the order Cetacea. The term whale sometimes refers to all cetaceans, but more often it excludes dolphins and porpoises, which belong to suborder Odontoceti . This suborder also includes the sperm whale, killer whale, pilot whale, and beluga...
  
  s may be followed with four bonus questions on "Obscure World Capitals." The tossup question is worth 10 points while each of the bonuses are 5 points. Like the Lightning Round, only the captain can answer the four bonus questions.

History

Apple Bowl first began in 1980. The program does not have a regular host, although that position has been filled by community member Pedro Bicchieri from 2007 to present.
The winning team for the 2011 season was the West Valley High School

West Valley, Washington

West Valley is a former census-designated place in Yakima County, Washington, United States. The area has been annexed by the city of Yakima...

 team, which received $1500 in personal checks. The runner-up team of Moses Lake

Moses Lake

Moses Lake is a lake and reservoir along the course of Crab Creek, in Washington state, USA.Moses Lake is part of the Columbia River basin, as Crab Creek is a tributary of the Columbia River....

 received $500 in checks. Before 2008, first and second place teams received savings bonds from the Washington Apple Education Foundation.

Winners

Year	Winner	Runner-up
2011	West Valley High School West Valley, Washington West Valley is a former census-designated place in Yakima County, Washington, United States. The area has been annexed by the city of Yakima...	Moses Lake High School Moses Lake High School Moses Lake High School is a public high school in Moses Lake, Washington serving 2,100 students in grades 9-12. The current principal is Josh Meek.-Demographics:...
2010	Ellensburg High School Ellensburg High School -Academics:Qualified 11th and 12th grade students may take classes at Central Washington University and earn both high school and college credit through the Running Start program.-Famous alumni:*Gary Lee Conner - Musician, Screaming Trees...	Riverside Christian School Riverside Christian School Riverside Christian School is a private Christian Fundamentalist school in Yakima, Washington. It currently provides education for Pre-school through 12th Grade students....
2009	Wenatchee High School	Riverside Christian School Riverside Christian School Riverside Christian School is a private Christian Fundamentalist school in Yakima, Washington. It currently provides education for Pre-school through 12th Grade students....
2008	Wenatchee High School	Zillah High School
2007	Riverside Christian School Riverside Christian School Riverside Christian School is a private Christian Fundamentalist school in Yakima, Washington. It currently provides education for Pre-school through 12th Grade students....	Sunnyside High School
2006	Moses Lake High School Moses Lake High School Moses Lake High School is a public high school in Moses Lake, Washington serving 2,100 students in grades 9-12. The current principal is Josh Meek.-Demographics:...	Eastmont High School Eastmont High School Eastmont High School, locally referred to as Eastmont or EHS, is a four-year public high school located in East Wenatchee, Washington, USA. The school has 1,390 students in grades 10-12....
2005
2004	Sunnyside High School
2003	West Valley High School West Valley, Washington West Valley is a former census-designated place in Yakima County, Washington, United States. The area has been annexed by the city of Yakima...
2002	Wenatchee High School	Eisenhower High School Eisenhower High School (Yakima, Washington) Dwight David Eisenhower High School in Yakima, Washington is a school named after U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower. It is one of four high schools in the Yakima School District with the others being Davis High School, Stanton Academy and O.I.C. Alternative...
2001	Ellensburg High School Ellensburg High School -Academics:Qualified 11th and 12th grade students may take classes at Central Washington University and earn both high school and college credit through the Running Start program.-Famous alumni:*Gary Lee Conner - Musician, Screaming Trees...	Wenatchee High School
2000	Ellensburg High School Ellensburg High School -Academics:Qualified 11th and 12th grade students may take classes at Central Washington University and earn both high school and college credit through the Running Start program.-Famous alumni:*Gary Lee Conner - Musician, Screaming Trees...	Prosser High School Prosser High School Prosser High School is a school in Prosser, Washington. It is the main high school in the Prosser School District, though there is also an alternative Prosser Falls Education Center. The school has around 920 students attending in grades 9 through 12...
1999	Ellensburg High School Ellensburg High School -Academics:Qualified 11th and 12th grade students may take classes at Central Washington University and earn both high school and college credit through the Running Start program.-Famous alumni:*Gary Lee Conner - Musician, Screaming Trees...	Westside Christian School
1998	Cle Elum/Roslyn High School
1997	Sunnyside High School
1996	Sunnyside High School
1995	Wenatchee High School
1994	Wahluke High School
1993	Toppenish High School Toppenish High School Toppenish High School is a public high school in Toppenish, Washington. It enrolls about 800 students in grades 9-12. The school colors are cardinal and grey and the school mascot is the wildcats....
1992	Liberty Bell High School
1991	Wenatchee High School
1990	Sunnyside High School
1989	Grandview High School
1988	Selah High School Selah High School Selah High School is a public high school located in Selah, Washington, serving students in grades 9–12. It is part of the Selah School District and has approximately 772 students yearly. The school colors are blue, gold, and white, and the mascot is the Viking.-Notable alumni:* Garret Dillahunt,...
1987	Naches High School
1986	Wenatchee High School
1985	Highland High School
1984	Ellensburg High School Ellensburg High School -Academics:Qualified 11th and 12th grade students may take classes at Central Washington University and earn both high school and college credit through the Running Start program.-Famous alumni:*Gary Lee Conner - Musician, Screaming Trees...
1983	Ellensburg High School Ellensburg High School -Academics:Qualified 11th and 12th grade students may take classes at Central Washington University and earn both high school and college credit through the Running Start program.-Famous alumni:*Gary Lee Conner - Musician, Screaming Trees...
1982	A.C. Davis High School
1981
1980