The "Scratch Tom and Ben News" phenomenon represents a massive creative subculture within the Scratch coding platform, where users recreate and remix the popular 2011 mobile app by Outfit7 . Originally a digital pet game featuring Talking Tom and Talking Ben as news anchors, the concept has evolved into a staple of the Scratch community through fan-made interactive projects. The Evolution of Tom and Ben News on Scratch While the official Talking Tom & Ben News app was released for iOS in 2011, it found a second life on Scratch. These fan projects allow users to interact with the characters directly in a web browser, often adding features not found in the original mobile version. Interactive Studios: Thousands of projects are organized into dedicated hubs like the Tom and Ben News Official Studio and The Talking Tom and Ben News Studio v5 . Viral Remixes: The "remix" culture is the backbone of this trend. Popular versions, such as those by creators like AnthonyScratcher831 and tomybenluis11 , have spawned dozens of iterations, including "HD" versions and "Extended Edition" remixes. Enhanced Performance: Because Scratch projects can sometimes lag with many assets, many users play these "news" games through TurboWarp , a specialized mod that runs Scratch projects faster using JavaScript. Gameplay Mechanics in Scratch Versions Scratch recreations typically mimic the classic "news anchor" setup where Tom and Ben sit behind a desk. Standard interactive features include: Character Interactions: Clicking on the characters to make them fall off their chairs or tapping "paw" buttons to trigger specific animations. Combat & Rivalry: Many versions include a "sword" button that forces the two characters to fight, a popular addition in fan-made projects. Easter Eggs: Advanced projects, such as the collab by SimonsCat27IsBack20 , hide collectable pins, posters, and trophies within the newsroom for players to find. Custom News: Some versions allow users to upload their own photos or videos to appear on the news screen, mirroring the "create your own news story" feature of the original app. Why the Trend Persists Scratch - Search
The Palimpsest of Information: On the Phrase “Scratch Tom and Ben News” At first glance, the phrase “Scratch Tom and Ben News” appears to be a nonsensical jumble of names and actions—a random verb, two common first names, and a generic noun for media. Yet, within its awkward assembly lies a profound metaphor for the contemporary crisis of information. To “scratch” is to scrape away a surface, to excavate, or to delete. “Tom and Ben” evoke the everyman (Tom, Dick, and Harry) as well as the archetypal trickster (Tom Sawyer whitewashing a fence) and the rational printer (Benjamin Franklin). “News” is the sacred text of the secular age. Together, the phrase invites us to consider a radical act: defacing the messenger and the message, and in doing so, revealing the unstable foundations upon which our shared reality is built. The Act of Scratching: Erasure as Revelation In the digital age, “scratching” has two primary meanings. The first is the DJ’s art of scratching a vinyl record—manually moving the disc back and forth to create a new, percussive sound from an existing recording. This act does not destroy the original signal but recontextualizes it, introducing noise, rhythm, and the palpable presence of the human hand. To “scratch” Tom and Ben News, then, is to interrupt the smooth, algorithmic flow of information. It is the act of the citizen-journalist who pauses a cable news clip to point out a logical fallacy, or the meme-maker who splices a politician’s words into a jarring remix. Scratching is the sound of skepticism. The second meaning is the literal one: to scratch a surface, such as a palimpsest—a manuscript where original text has been scraped away to make room for new writing. In this sense, “scratch Tom and Ben News” suggests an archaeology of media. Beneath the current headline (News) lies a previous layer: the biases of the reporter (Tom) and the editorial constraints of the institution (Ben). To scratch is to recover what was erased, to ask: What was here before this story? Whose voice was silenced to make room for this narrative? Tom and Ben: The Collapse of Authority Why “Tom and Ben”? If we read them as archetypes, Tom represents the vernacular, the unreliable narrator, the charismatic source. Think of Tom Sawyer, who convinces his friends that whitewashing a fence is a privilege. In news terms, “Tom” is the viral tweet, the eyewitness account, the populist pundit—charismatic, engaging, but structurally unconcerned with verification. Ben, by contrast, is Benjamin Franklin—the printer, the inventor, the rational empiricist. Franklin’s Poor Richard’s Almanack is a precursor to modern fact-checking, blending utility with moral instruction. “Ben News” would be legacy media: the New York Times , the BBC, the institution of journalistic objectivity. The phrase “scratch Tom and Ben” implies that these two modes—populist authenticity and institutional authority—are no longer distinct; they have been scratched together. The news cycle is now a hybrid monster: Ben’s fact-checking department is overruled by Tom’s viral outrage; Tom’s raw feed is packaged into Ben’s slick broadcast. To scratch this composite is to recognize that the dichotomy is false. Both are fragile surfaces. Both can be damaged by a fingernail. The Subversive Grammar of the Phrase Linguistically, the phrase is deliberately ungrammatical. There is no “the” before “news.” No preposition connects “scratch” to “Tom and Ben.” It reads like a command in a forgotten language or a note left behind by a conspiracy theorist. This opacity is its strength. In an era of clickbait headlines and algorithmic predictability, a phrase that resists immediate parsing forces the reader into a state of hermeneutic alertness. We must work to interpret it. That labor mirrors the work of critical media consumption. Moreover, the phrase can be read as a verb-noun collision. “Scratch Tom” could be a nickname for a petty criminal who defaces newspapers. “Ben News” could be a local broadcast call sign. But the lack of punctuation collapses these possibilities into a single, frustrating whole. It is a koan for the information age: a riddle that has no single answer, only the act of grappling. The Deeper Crisis: The Death of the Second Draft Journalism is often called the “first draft of history.” But a first draft is meant to be scratched—edited, corrected, rewritten. The crisis of “Tom and Ben News” is that we no longer agree on who holds the pen. Scratching used to be the editor’s job, done quietly behind the scenes. Now, scratching happens in public, in real time, by everyone. A presidential tweet is scratched by fact-checkers within minutes. A breaking story is scratched by citizen video from the scene. A decades-old reputation is scratched by a single viral post. This democratization of scratching is both liberating and terrifying. It liberates because it exposes the lies and omissions of institutional Ben News. It terrifies because it allows Tom—the charismatic amateur—to scratch out inconvenient truths and replace them with pleasing fictions. The phrase “Scratch Tom and Ben News” is thus a mirror: it reflects our own agency and our own vulnerability. We are all scratching the news now. But are we revealing a deeper truth, or just defacing the only map we have? Conclusion: The Sound of Static Ultimately, “Scratch Tom and Ben News” is not a solution but a diagnosis. It names the condition of living in a media environment where every surface has been scratched, remixed, and scratched again. The clean, authoritative broadcast of Walter Cronkite (“And that’s the way it is”) has given way to a cacophony of scratches—the hiss of a needle on a damaged record, the scrape of a key on a car door, the frantic back-and-forth of a DJ’s hand. To sit with this phrase is to accept that there is no pristine original. There is only the palimpsest. The task of the responsible citizen is not to stop scratching—that is impossible—but to learn to read the scratches. To distinguish the vandal’s mark from the archaeologist’s tool. To hear, in the noise, a pattern. For beneath the scratched surface of Tom and Ben News lies not a final truth, but the endless, imperfect, and utterly human process of making sense of a world that resists sense. And perhaps that is the only news worth having.
Since "Scratch Tom and Ben News" is a popular style of project on the Scratch platform (mimicking the Talking Tom & Ben News app), the best feature to create is the core mechanic: The "News Desk" Interaction System . Here is a design for a feature you can implement in Scratch to make the project interactive and fun. Feature Name: The "Breaking News" Reaction System Description: This feature allows the user (the "Viewer") to click on Tom or Ben to interrupt their broadcast. When clicked, the characters react dynamically—Tom might try to speak, and Ben might attempt to silence him, or vice versa. This mimics the chaotic nature of the original app. How it Works (The Logic) The system relies on Broadcasts and Costume Changes to create the illusion of a live, reactive TV studio. 1. The Setup You need two main sprites: Tom and Ben .
Tom Sprite: Needs costumes for Idle , Talking , Annoyed , and Holding-Ear . Ben Sprite: Needs costumes for Idle , Typing , Laughing , and Pointing . scratch tom and ben news
2. The Code (Scratch Blocks) Part A: The User Interaction (The Trigger) When the user clicks on Tom, it triggers a "Breaking News" event. When this sprite clicked broadcast [Interrupt Tom v] start sound [Boing v] // A funny sound effect
Part B: Tom's Reaction Tom reacts to being poked or interrupted. When I receive [Interrupt Tom v] switch costume to [Talking v] say [Breaking news! I'm the best anchor!] for 2 seconds wait 1 second switch costume to [Annoyed v] say [Hey, stop poking me!] for 2 seconds switch costume to [Idle v]
Part C: Ben's Reaction (The "Co-Anchor" Dynamic) To make it feel like a real duo, Ben should react to Tom's interruption. This is the "magic" feature that makes the project feel alive. When I receive [Interrupt Tom v] // Ben stops working to look at Tom switch costume to [Looking-Up v] wait until <[Tom] is not talking> // Logic to wait for Tom to finish The "Scratch Tom and Ben News" phenomenon represents
// Ben mocks Tom switch costume to [Laughing v] start sound [Laugh v] say [Haha, you're funny, Tom!] for 3 seconds switch costume to [Typing v]
3. Advanced Feature Add-on: The "News Ticker" To make the news desk look authentic, add a scrolling text bar at the bottom of the screen. The Logic: Create a new sprite that is just a long thin rectangle with text on it (the news headline). When green flag clicked go to x: (180) y: (-130) // Start off-screen right forever change x by (-3) // Scroll speed if (x position) < (-180) then go to x: (180) y: (-130) // Reset to the right side end end
Why this is a great feature:
Interactivity: It turns a passive animation into a game where the user controls the chaos. Character Personality: It establishes the relationship between Tom (the goofball) and Ben (the serious one who mocks him). Expandability: You can easily add variables like a "Happiness Meter" that changes based on how often you poke them.
tutorial on how to code these newsroom interactions yourself? AI can make mistakes, so double-check responses Copy Creating a public link... You can now share this thread with others Good response Bad response 8 sites Scratch - Search There are several Scratch projects related to Talking Tom and Ben News : * Talking Tom and Ben News HD * **Talking Tom and Be... Scratch Scratch - Search There are several Scratch projects related to Talking Tom and Ben News : * Talking Tom and Ben News HD * **Talking Tom and Be... Scratch Talking Tom and Ben News with More Activities by ... Sep 4, 2025 —