Home » Contents » Timewasters

Tigars Christmas Quiz 2008

Introduction

The Ipswich Gamers' and Roleplayers' Society has a Christmas party with a quiz, set each year by the winner of the previous. This year I had the honour/opportunity/burden... The questions I came up with included some easy ones, some hard ones and even some trick ones, but the goal was to make the harder ones guessable.

Scores were pretty low but well spread, and the feedback I got was that most people felt challenged but had fun. Objectives met, in my opinion! Anyway, a few people couldn't make it to the party and it's even been suggested that a few more outside Tigars might be interested, so here are the questions. I'll post the answers another day.

Format

To fit in lots of topics and make space for breaks I put the questions in 9 rounds of 5. Teams were allowed to declare one round Wild for double points, but I didn't tell them in advance what the topics should be, so they had to decide for each round knowing only what the current one would be and what the previous ones were. After each group of three rounds I gave a printed copy of the questions for that part, so that people could check ones they might have misheard.

Part 1

Round 1: History & Geography

  1. Which is the longest river in Europe?
  2. During the Cold War, what was the capital city of West Germany?
  3. Where does the organisation 'ETA' (Euzkadi Ta Askatasuna) originate?
  4. Who is the patron saint of London?
  5. Who did Elizabeth I succeed to be become Queen of England?

Round 2: Film & Television

  1. If a high-definition television is described as 1080p, how many columns of pixels is it likely to have?
  2. Which incarnation of the USS Enterprise was Excelsior class? Letter, please.
  3. What is the name of Madonna's eldest child?
  4. Of the main four male characters in The Big Bang Theory, how many are PhD?
  5. How much did a television license cost when it was introduced in 1946?

Round 3: Food & Drink

  1. Under EC law, what is the minimum alcohol by volume for a beverage to qualify as wine?
  2. What is a 'tortilla' in Spain?
  3. 'Autumn Queen', 'Brunswick' and 'North Holland Blood Red' are all varieties of what vegetable?
  4. Name one of the English counties that can produce Stilton cheese.
  5. Cocktails: What's the difference between a Gibson and a Martini?

Part 2

Round 4: Music

  1. How many chords or keys are there in a typical 12-bar blues progression?
  2. Next line please: "Where have all the good men gone and where are all the gods?"
  3. How many members comprise girl-band 'The Saturdays'?
  4. Next line please: "I'm a creep, I'm a weirdo."
  5. How many violins are there in a string quartet?

Round 5: Science

  1. What does the Turing Test attempt to measure?
  2. Which element has chemical symbol 'K'?
  3. In humans, what is the name given to the vertical groove in the upper lip?
  4. In binary, how high can you count on your fingers and thumbs?
  5. How many Hands are there in a Yard?

Round 6: Roleplaying Games

  1. In the Empire of the Petal Throne, what would a member of the Association of the Relievers from Life do with a Pa'iya's Kiss?
  2. What's the name of the system behind TSR titles including 'Once and Future King', 'Magitech' and 'Kromosome'?
  3. How many skills does the new edition World of Darkness have?
  4. Name two of the core spellcasting disciplines in Earthdawn.
  5. In HARP, what word do the monk special skills have in common?

Part 3

Round 7: Art & Literature

  1. Name the book from the first line: "I looked at my notes and I didn't like them. I'd spent three days at U.S. Robots and might as well have spent them at home with the Encyclopaedia Tellurica."
  2. How many syllables comprise a line of verse in iambic pentameter?
  3. In Dante's Inferno, which river does the ferryman Charon cross?
  4. Who painted 'La Gioconda', exhibited in the Louvre, Paris?
  5. Name the book from the first line: "Marley was dead, to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that."

Round 8: Other Games

  1. How many different Illuminati organisations appear in the Deluxe Edition of the SJG game?
  2. In the MMO Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures how many player character races are available?
  3. In a traditional Anglo-American deck of playing cards, which King doesn't carry a sword?
  4. Which city was originally used for the US version of Monopoly?
  5. In Poker, how many different versions of the highest hand are possible?

Round 9: Pot Luck

  1. In the US government, by what title is the President of the Senate better known?
  2. What's the average roll on my set of three white d12?
  3. Which company advertised with the slogan 'We sell more cars than Ford, Chrysler, Chevrolet and Buick combined'?
  4. What is the collective noun for a group of peacocks?
  5. What material is associated with a 5th wedding anniversary?

Tie-breakers

I didn't need the tie-breakers on the night (just as well; there really wasn't time). They're things that people are unlikely to get exactly right but that would probably pick a unique closest loser.

Guess closest:

  1. What year did Gengis Khan die?
  2. How many Popes have been assassinated?
  3. How many times is the Sun larger than the Earth (in radius and circumference)?
up
By Matthew at 2008-12-07 12:29 | printer-friendly version