"You've logged on to Virtual Memory! The game that challenges your Bible knowledge!"
—Intro to every episode
The one and only Game Show from Trinity Broadcasting Network, two teams of three competed to see who knew The Good Book better. It consisted of five rounds.
- Round 1: The Speed Round - One contestant from each team would come up to the center podium, and host Jamie Alexander would ask a question. Buzzing in with the right answer won 100 points, in which case the next contestants from each team would come up. (If both players missed it or time ran out, the contestants would stay to play the next question.) One question would be designated as a "Bonus Questions" worth 200. This continued until time ran out.
- Round 2: Contemporary Christian Music Videos - A Christian music video would play, and whoever buzzed in with either the artist or song title scored 100 points. Naming both won 150. If nobody buzzed in, Jamie would give the title and a list of three possible choices for the artist. Again, this continued until time ran out.
- Round 3: Crosswords - Jamie would pick a line from an 8-word Crossword Puzzle to ask a question from. If a team buzzed in with the correct answer, they would score 150 points, getting it wrong allowed the other team the chance to confer. If nobody got it right, Jamie would read a second clue for the word; if they missed that, it's automatically filled in and Jamie picks another line. Getting it right allowed the team to pick another line and confer on a follow-up question about it. Getting it right scored an extra 150 points, getting it wrong allowed the other team to hear a clue and try their luck with it. Regardless of how the follow-up question went, Jamie would pick the next line himself. The round continued until time was called and/or all the lines were filled in.
- Round 4: Categories - Four categories were displayed, and the team in the lead picks one to be played. In the 1st category chosen, each correct answer is worth 150 points. In the 2nd category, questions are worth 200 points; in categories 3 & 4, each correct answer is worth 250 points. 5 questions were asked in each category, and each one had one "Bonus Question", worth twice the category value. Play continued until time was called or all four categories are used.
- Round 5: Team Clues - Each captain was given a card with a list of 15 secret words. They then had 45 seconds to give as many clues to get his/her teammates say as many of them as possible. For each secret word guessed correctly, the team would score 200 points, but each time the captain passed or committed a foul, 100 points were deducted. Whichever team was in the lead after this won the game and a prize package of Biblical swag; runners up would get a smaller prize package of said swag.
The show ran in the wee hours of the morning from spring 2000 to March 14, 2004. After 13 months of reruns it returned on April 16, 2005 with an all-new graphics package, then ended for good on March 20, 2011.
Game Show Tropes in use:
- Consolation Prize: Losing the game still netted you a decent amount of Christian-themed gifts.
- Personnel:
- The Announcer: One who went uncredited, oddly enough. (In fact, nobody BESIDES Jamie got credited; from beginning to end, the credits consisted solely of whoever provided the prizes!)
- Game Show Host: Jamie Alexander
- Studio Audience
- Rules Spiel: Necessary when all five rounds play completely differently from each other.
This show provides examples of:
- Company Cross References: Jamie made sure to name the TBN & JCTV programs where you could see the music videos used in round 2. Many JCTV personalities competed in Celebrity episodes, as well.
- Crossword Puzzle: Round 3 involved filling one in.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: The earliest episodes had the Music Video and Categories rounds swapped. Also, Crosswords' questions were worth 200 instead of 150, and the Category round questions were 100/150/200 instead of 150/200/250.
- Every Episode Ending: Before announcing the day's winners, Jamie would tell viewers which sections of the Bible to study up on for next week's episode. Subverted in the final episode (which otherwise played out like any other), when Jamie simply told a joke in its place.Jamie: Hey guys, remember that reading the Bible is an awful lot like taking a shower...if you don't do it every day, you're just gonna stink!
- Genre Mashup: It's straight trivia, then it's Name That Tune, then it's The Cross Wits, then straight trivia again, then it finishes with Pyramid.
- Large Ham: Half the fun of the show came from Jamie's antics. From imitating a salmon leaping through the water, to pretending to call someone on a contestant's cell phone, to playing with a toy reindeer throughout a Christmas episode, nothing was off-limits to him. Also evident in the skits between rounds where he plays Zip Buzz B, who exists to give the contestant plug, and Mega Bite Mike, who introduces the prize plugs and has random misadventures with technology.
- Long Runner: Lasted 11 years, albeit with a 13-month hiatus from 2004-2005.
- Non-Indicative Name: With a title like "Virtual Memory" and a PC-themed set, you'd expect computers to factor into the format somehow...but nope, everything's all-Biblical, all the time. It didn't even apply much to Mega Bite Mike's segments, since his technological antics were fantastical and silly instead of educational.
