Game show

doubles the scrambles
By Frank Ruggiero
ruggiero@wataugademocrat.com

“Ebolud geesni.”

That’s “Sqrambled Scuares” speak for “seeing double,” something viewers now experience when tuning in to the High Country’s own game show.

Due to its increasing popularity, “Sqrambled Scuares” has doubled its recording sessions to accommodate the ever-growing pool of contestants.

“We have people who want to be on the show, but with only two contestants each week, we want to be able to offer more,” executive producer and host Buzz Berry said. “We’re rather blessed, actually, to have this problem.”

The contestant criteria, or “tricirea tenttnocas” as Berry would phrase it, is surprisingly simple: live in the High Country. From there, folks simple fill out an application at the studio, by phone or online.

The program nets a wide variety of contestants, ranging from college students to workers to senior citizens, and affords them the opportunity to walk away with the grand prize – the Piedmont Federal Super Sqramble Super Stash of Cash – or a plethora of gift certificates to area restaurants and businesses.

To get there, however, contestants must unscramble a series of word puzzles.

“And now it’s twice the fun with twice the shows,” Berry said.

Starting in February, tapings will take place every Tuesday at 6:30 and 7:30 p.m., and audiences can stay for both shows – something Berry and producer Carrie Brown gladly encourage.

Berry and Brown strive to make the program as interactive as possible for the studio audience, with audience members able to solve puzzles themselves for the chance to win prizes of their own. And that’s not to mention the table full of palatable goodies from the Golden Corral, one of the show’s sponsors.

Last January, the program celebrated its 200th episode, having first aired as “Scrambled Squares” in 1999 on WBFX in Greensboro. There, it was a short-lived sensation, airing for only two episodes. Berry and wife Autumn Taylor, along with the game show, settled in Boone that same year. Seventeen episodes were aired on a local station, leading Berry to found his own production company, BZB Productions.

BZB is now looking down the mountain, hoping to scramble a city called Hickory. In March, Berry and Brown will begin filming a Hickory edition of “Sqrambled Scuares,” featuring Hickory residents as contestants and airing in Hickory, Lenoir and Gastonia. Plus, arrangements have already been made with the Broyhill Inn & Conference Center to offer complimentary lodging to off-the-mountain contestants.

“We’re real excited about it,” Berry said. “The whole show is designed to be compatible in different markets, and the idea to take it down to Hickory was something we could do ourselves. It made sense – a natural fit for the Hickory market.”

Once production begins in March, the Hickory edition will be taped along with the Watauga episodes, with recording sessions at 6, 7 and 8 p.m.

Berry hopes the Hickory contestants will have just as much fun as Boone contestants and, for that matter, himself and his crew, consisting of Brown, technical assistant Taylor, director Patrick McCollum, scorekeeper and camera operator Brian Lambeth, camera operator Meghann Miller and audio technician Fox Kinsman.

“For contestants on the show, it’s not only fun during the show, but also afterwards — watching it the next week on TV, and then spending the gift certificates over the next few months,” Brown said.

That type of fun is the crux of “Sqrambled Scuares.” Berry will openly admit BZB’s not in it for the money, but rather for the community.

“For us to have survived in this non-television market is a statement,” he said. “The show has become part of the community.”

Or would that be “munyticom?”

“Sqrambled Scuares” airs Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 7 and 7:30 p.m. and Tuesday and Thursday at 10 and 10:30 p.m. on Charter Cable Channel 14. Episodes are also available online at www.sqrambledscuares.biz. BZB Productions is located at 245 Winkler’s Creek Road, Unit B, in Boone. For more information, call (828) 268-9898 or e-mail bzb@charterinternet.com.