QUIZ RECAP

Last night was the triumphant return of King Trivia at 4525 Calle Mayor, Torrance, CA 90505. However last time we were there (in the “before times”), the place was known as Hey 19. Unfortunately Hey 19 wasn’t able to survive the COVID-shutdown, but a new place has risen in its place: The End - and it is awesome!

Last night was also my triumphant return to hosting quiz after a 5-year hiatus. It was quite moving to see old friends/quizzers from my previous life and so great meet new quizzers/make new friends. I didn’t realize how much I missed hosting until I took the mic and started bantering with the quizzers. Hosting quiz is so much more than just reading questions and answers…for me it’s about getting to know each other and for our community to become better connected/related. 🙂

The restaurant was full with 8 amazing teams taking part in our relaunch. I was quiz impressed with how well the new contactless/digital scoring system work. And like with any good quiz, we all learned a little something (and laughed at some of the more ridiculous questions and answers).

It was really quite amusing to have a question in the very first round about the standard QWERTY keyboard given that everyone is now using that keyboard in order to answer all questions. That question was soooooo 2019… but I mean, I guess technically it’s not cheating given everyone was operating from the same level playing field. (It just would have been so embarrassing if any teams got it wrong - not just embarrassing, but after asking the question, I did declare that any teams who got the question wrong would not be allowed to win, even if they got every other question right - thankfully no teams got it wrong. 😉 )

My own intellectual curiosity was piqued by the question regarding the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery, which has also been adapted into a philosophy. I had never heard of Kintsugi (and apparently I wasn’t the only one). However one team came so close with their answer of Kintsokuri. The similarity in the words was just too coincidental to me, so I took a few extra moments researching both of them. Interestingly, both do mean “golden repair/joinery/mending”, but only Kintsugi has taking that act and built a philosophy around it. Being a spiritual person, I look forward to learning more about it.

The biggest controversy of the night came from our matching round. The online scoring system had “Panthera leo” listed being the genus for a panther even though it’s clearly for a lion (“leo” - DUH!!!). Btw, the genus for a panther is “Panthera pardus”. #TheMoreYouKnow

And lastly, my fave wrong answer of the night came from a team who couldn’t remember if Spiro Agnew or Nelson Rockefeller were among the last 10 Vice Presidents we’ve had - so they answered “Spiro Rockefeller”. <lol>

The competition for the top spots was fierce. Plush Monkey started off strong, especially with successfully doubling the first two rounds. But then they played it safe with the final round, getting the first and last names of all 10 VPOTUSes correct, but not doubling. This created an opening for We’re Not Here To Make Friends to go from 4th to 1st by doubling the last two rounds. Even though both teams doubled two rounds, doubling the first two rounds yielded 28 points and doubling the last two round yielded 40 points…and interestingly, those 12 points is the precise margin between 1st & 2nd. (I don’t think Plush Monkey will make that same strategic mistake again. 😉 )

I look forward to seeing everyone next Wednesday, 11 August, at 8pm.

Stay curious, my friends!

~shadan "aka, the long winded persian"