SCP-656-A

## **`DESCRIPTION`**

SCP-656-A appears to be a board game box labeled “Quiz Tastic Home Edition”, where Quiz Tastic is presumably the name of a game show. No such game show is known to have existed, although the host, Chuck Woolery, is an established personality and host of a number of other game shows. SCP-656-A was purchased from the New to You thrift store in Solvang, California, by an off-duty Foundation agent. Contained inside SCP-656-A is a recordable VHS tape with “Quiz Tastic Home Edition” written on the label in black marker. The box contains nothing else.

When SCP-656-A is inserted into a VCR attached to a television, it plays a taped episode of Quiz Tastic which, according to the show's credits, aired in 1982. The recording begins during the theme music, cutting an unknown amount of time from the beginning. The show follows a quiz show format, where three contestants answer trivia questions to win money. All of the contestants are confirmed to be living, although none have records suggesting that they competed on a game show.

If all viewers remain silent, the recording will proceed as expected. The third player, Louie Blackwell, will win with a sum of $25,000. However, if at any point any viewer vocally answers a question before a contestant, the contestant will give the same answer as the viewer.

SCP-656-A appears to be able to distinguish between attempts to answer and discussion between viewers. Playing a recording of an answer will not cause the contestant to give the answer specified in the recording. The contestants will give anything as an answer if properly prompted, regardless of whether they could know the answer given, or content of the answer. The contestants, host, and audience will have no visible reaction to profanity, vulgarity, or racial slurs given as an answer.

The questions appear to be randomly selected, and are different every time. Questions can be about any topic, and from any time period, even information from after the apparent recording of the show. The only apparent limitation on the questions is that the answer must be known by at least one person viewing the tape. Questions will occasionally be of a deeply personal nature; questions have in the past revealed extramarital affairs, illegitimate children, drug addiction, and murders. Anything known to any viewer can become a question.

Copies of SCP-656-A do not share its unique properties. Any copy of SCP-656-A will play the recording as it appears when no viewers speak during play. Once a playthrough of SCP-656-A has begun, it cannot be paused, rewound, or fast-forwarded.

Three commercial breaks occur during the show, all advertising known products commerically available at the time of viewing, with the correct advertisements. After a commercial break, the camera view sweeps over the audience. Upon closer analysis, the audience consists entirely of people who have viewed the tape, as well as those currently viewing it. In addition to the Foundation personnel known to have viewed the tape, six unknown people appear in the audience. At the end of the taping, after the host announces the winner of the three contestants, the "Audience Winner" is announced, and a member of the audience comes forward and is given a copy of SCP-656-A. The "Audience Winner" always corresponds with the current viewer who answered the most questions correctly. The tape cuts off soon after this point, during a disclaimer regarding the awarding of prizes. The disclaimer contains nothing of note. The recording runs for a total of twenty minutes and three seconds. There is an additional five hours and forty minutes of blank tape after the disclaimer cuts off. No anomalies have been detected within the blank portion of the tape.

It is known that any viewer who wins the game will receive, after a number of days equal to the number of questions answered, a copy of SCP-656-A in the mail. All copies received by Foundation personnel have displayed the address of Site-15 as the return address. All copies received by winners are fully functional. The Foundation is currently in possession of 81 additional instances of SCP-656-A.