Skate Scout

“The Karate Kid” by Iguanasan is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

I was scrolling through Instagram one day and came across a video that consisted of a group of skateboarder contestants attempting to skateboard down a spiraling narrow ramp over a body of water to make it to the finishing platform at the bottom. Because of my love for skateboarding and game shows, I was extremely intrigued by the combination of the two worlds.

This infatuation made me delve into the comments section to see what this show was called. It turned out to be a Japanese game show called “KASSO”, which has a similar style to a show I am quite familiar with, “American Ninja Warrior”. I discovered the Japanese game show’s Youtube channel which contained a full length airing of one of their episodes along with multiple interviews and street clips of professional Japanese skateboarders, including competitors of the Tokyo Olympic Games.

I watched the full length episode on the KASSO YouTube channel which I have embedded in this article below. The game show presents multiple different rounds, with each round having a different obstacle course associated with it. The skaters were all competing for a cash prize of one million yen which is just shy of six thousand five hundred US Dollars. I thoroughly enjoyed myself while watching the show. I was refreshing to see a show about skateboarding that was not overly competitive in the way that contests are. All participants seemed to be having a good time skating and watching the other contestants compete. The show is lighthearted and there are plenty of smiles and laughs to be had.

The show consisted of three primary rounds followed by a final challenge. Each challenge was focused on a specific skill. The first challenge was about speed, the second focused on precision and balance, and the third was centered around technical prowess.

The first obstacle course featured in KASSO was titled “Midoriyama Downhill” which was a large downhill course that stretched four hundred meters and went down in elevation by thirty meters. In this round, skaters compete for the fastest time to get from the start down to the finish line where there is a red button that stops the run timer. Midoriyama Downhill had kickers, rollers, dropdowns, boxes, gaps, a weaving section, and tight turns. The other skaters’ reactions to the current competitor were very positive and encouraging. It was refreshing to see a game show that showcased people competing while still having fun and supporting each other.

The second stage was the one I saw in the Instagram video, called “Uzushio”. This stage was a spiraling course over water that is forty meters long and progressively gets narrower towards the bottom, starting at 70 centimeters, then 60, 50, and finally 45. At the end, there is a two meter long rail that leads to a floating platform. The objective of this stage is to make it as far as you can, measured as a percentage of the stage’s length.

The third round was named “Tokyo Upside Down”. In this challenge the competitors must finish the 130 meter long course within 31 seconds in order to make it to the final stage. The first part of this stage requires that the skater must ollie up ten consecutive steps. The steps are followed by a long flat stretch. At the end of the stretch, there is a 180 degree turn followed by a few gaps on a downwards slope and a parabolic shaped ramp that dips down and back up, launching the skater onto the finish platform.

The final challenge in order to win the prize of one million yen was called “The Million Gate”. The course starts off with a bank ramp followed by an eight-meter rail with green spikes on either side. At the end of the stage, there is a gate that lowers as the contestants’ timers count up. In order to win the million yen, a contestant must make it past the closing gate without touching it and while keeping their feet on their skateboard.

Overall, KASSO was entertaining to watch as it combined two things that I enjoy, game shows and skateboarding. It was interesting to see skateboarding incorporated into a game show format, adding a new layer of excitement to the activity. While the contestants were mainly focused on going the fastest or making it the furthest, they still occasionally performed some tricks to show off their skill and style, adding to the thrill of this unique form of entertainment. The challenges were creatively designed to emphasize different aspects of skateboarding, from technical sections to speed focused sections, allowing for the highlight of multiple different aspects that make up each skater’s individual skill. I look forward to seeing the future of KASSO and the creative challenges that will be presented in upcoming episodes.