Jeff Carlisle

Students currently have the chance to try out for an OCCC college team to compete in a televised game show offering up to $200,000 in scholarships and more.

Airing on KSBI, “Mind Games” is a statewide academic competition between teams from 16 different colleges.

The show airs on KSBI Wednesday nights from 8 to 9 p.m.

The fall portion of the KSBI “Mind Games” is airing now, so anyone considering joining the team should tune in to get an idea of what it’s all about, suggested history Professor Jeff Carlisle, who is in charge of organizing the team and selecting team members.

OCCC is getting a team together to compete in the spring section of the games, Carlisle said. The winner of the fall games will compete against the winner of the spring games to determine a grand champion.

According to KSBI’s website, the questions will be in a toss-up or bonus format in which players answer questions by buzzing in. The first team to buzz in gets to answer. If the question is answered incorrectly, the opposing team is awarded a chance.

The questions will be drawn from all topics of collegiate knowledge. Science, humanities, and literature will make up the bulk of the questions, but they will include such topics as pop culture and current events.

Each game consists of two halves of up to seven minutes or 12 unit questions, in which two teams participate against each other.

The team with the most points at the end of the game will be the winner. The competition is set up in bracket format, in which the winning team goes to the next round to face the winners from the two teams next to them. Each round further into the competition will have harder questions than the one before.

In order for OCCC to participate in the spring games of 2012, OCCC will need to put a team together by December or early January, Carlisle said. To be eligible to try out for the team, students must be enrolled for at least six credit hours in the spring semester of 2012. Any student, from any degree program, is eligible to sign up.

The try-out dates and locations are listed below:

• Tuesday, Nov. 15, 9 to 11 a.m. in CU1
• Tuesday, Nov. 22, 9 to 11 a.m. in CU3
• Tuesday, Nov. 29, 9 to 11 a.m. in CU3
• Thursday, Dec. 1, 9 to 11 a.m. in CU1
• Tuesday, Dec. 6, 9 to 11 a.m. in CU3
• Thursday, Dec. 8, 9 to 11 a.m. in CU1
• Tuesday, Dec. 13, 9 to 11 a.m. in CU3

Three contestants and two alternates will be chosen to compete.

“I hope to make my decision by the end of the semester,” Carlisle said.

Students who are selected must be free on Tuesday afternoons during the spring semester for the taping of the show.

For more information, contact Jeff Carlisle at 405-682-1611 ext. 7391, or send him an email at jeffery.d.carlisle@occc.edu. More information can also be found on the KSBI “Mind Games” website, www.ksbitv.com/mind-games.

To contact Michael Denton, email onineeditor@occc.edu.