The quiz was a fundraiser for Gorthaganny National School for, as the headmaster said at the end of the quiz, it’s now a case of “back to the ’80s” in the schools sector with fundraising events becoming common once again.  The money raised at this event will go towards the purchase of the this very buzzer system.  If it provides the school children with as much entertainment value as we got on Friday night, it will be money well spent.

The quiz itself was broken up into four sections: 40 trivia questions, 10 picture questions, 40 trivia questions and 10 music questions.  The trivia questions were, as I predicted, just like questions on Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, with four options.  The picture round was funny but a tad easy, as each question showed a famous person and a professional look-a-like, with us having to enter A or B to identify who was the real deal.  The music round showed off another of the buzzer’s modes.  Each of the songs featured a number in the title and we had to type this number into the device.

On the whole, it was a very enjoyable quiz which is testament to the school staff who created it.  The first 40 questions dragged on a bit as no time limit was enforced on the participants.  However, after the interval, they did introduce a limit of 30 seconds on each question so they obviously had noticed the slow pace themselves.

All eyes were on the big screen to see each question's options listed.

As each question was asked, the options appeared on the big screen, along with a list of which tables had yet to submit an answer.  This is what caused things to dawdle in the first half of the quiz as the quiz-mistress patiently waited for every team to enter an answer.  Embarrassingly for those involved, the system did identify three teams as being the last to enter an answer on almost every occasion.  That’s something you don’t have to worry about in a regular table quiz!

"Who was mortally wounded by an arrow fired by Paris?" You can also see the tables who have yet to submit an answer listed on the left-hand-side.

At the end of each round, the questions were cycled through once again with a pie chart indicated how many teams entered each answer (and the correct answer being shown as a green wedge).  Finally, the system then showed what the overall team scores were – albeit these were, unusually for a quiz, presented as a percentage.  I can see how that would make more sense in the classroom, of course.

In the first of two quizzes, here are a selection of the trivia questions asked on Friday night.  I will post the music round, as an interactive quiz, tomorrow sometime.

Remember, log in first to have your score entered into our quiz rankings.*

* Coming soon.

I must tell you all how I’m quite excited about a quiz I’m due to attend this evening.  It’s for the local national school and it’s taking place in the local golf club but neither of those facts is very interesting.

No, what will make this quiz special is: buzzers! As part of its teaching equipment the school has 30 buzzers, each containing four answer buttons.  I haven’t seen them yet so I don’t know if they’re different colours or A-B-C-D. At tonight’s quiz, each table will have one of these devices and will be asked to simply press a button after each question is called out from the floor.  Presumably there’ll be a time limit on each one as the system will have to move on to the next question.  Calls of “Could you repeat question four again please?” will notably be absent tonight.

While enforcing a time limit on teams might seem hard, this will be offset by the fact that each question will be followed by four potential answers.  I feel sorry for the poor question setter who, after coming up with each question, also had to think up three other (believable) answers!

Of course, I’ll report on how it went over the next few days.

Right, here are the answers to the picture round:

1. Rihanna
2. Brian Dowling
3. George Clooney
4. Matt Damon
5. Rosanna Davison
6. Adam Clayton
7. Katie Price
8. Kevin Walsh
9. Arnold Schwarzenegger
10. George Clooney (again!)
11. Pippa Middleton
12. Alan Shatter

Dang and blast, the same person appearing twice in a picture round always throws me. It’s a mental block clearly.  My brain thought “Number 10 can be anyone in the world except the people who were already on the sheet”. Well, there’s no such rule!

We had all the table quiz regulars – even a raffle!  Still, when push came to shove the quiz was the same as ever, with questions being provided in a humorous manner by Joe, the night’s host. The fact that he won a raffle prize himself during the night only added to his good mood.

I was teamed up with Aidan and Andrew and our three heads did quite well, as we ran out winners on a terrific score of 93/102.  A good start was half the battle and we didn’t get a question wrong until #7 of round three!

Back to the blog and I’m going to try something new in this post.  Our new system allows for the creation of interactive quizzes so, instead of my normal posting of the questions today and then the answers whenever tomorrow, I’m going to use the system to both provide the answers and to test you all out.

Let’s hope it works.  As an added little something, if you do the quiz whilst logged-in, it files your score away.  I’ll then collate all the scores throughout the year and produce a ranking table.

As we’re about to get all technological, I’ll actually start with the picture round.  Nothing fancy here, same as always.

Now, here’s your chance to see how you would have done!

All these snazzy new features are available following my (belated) decision to move the site from WordPress.com to a stand-alone host.  However, a slight drawback to this move is that your username and password from the last site (which were only used for comments anyway) are no longer valid.  (Well, strictly speaking, they are still valid for your WordPress.com account.) You will have to register here. Just once, I promise, and it will allow you to do way more than just comment on articles!

The site is now three-and-a-half years old and I’m still finding stuff to talk about.  That said, the new system will allow anyone to bring something to the party: a web page or site, a video, a tricky question, almost anything. Let’s hope we all enjoy it!

Talk soon,
John.

Right, as trailed at the end of my earlier post, here is a list of my plans for the future of the site – and perhaps for quizzing in Ireland.  I know that probably sounds a bit grandiose but read on. Judge me afterwards.

I drew up this to-do list over the Christmas holidays:

• Enter the Pioneer Superbrain competition.  Alas this one is already a non-runner.  I got in contact with Michael Keane, Chairman of the Association’s National Leisure Committee, and it turns out that the competition is no longer open to non-members of the PTAA. It used to be open to all comers but the rule was changed in 2009.  Unfortunately, their website hadn’t been updated to reflect this (it will be now).  Anyway, I’m afraid I’m no Pioneer, so that’s the end of this particular road.
• Report on Mastermind Ireland. Well, it is happening.  I had a chat with one of the production staff involved in the show. It is due to be filmed during the month of March.  If you were hoping to give it a shot, I’m afraid you’re probably out of luck*.  It’s going to be Celebrity Mastermind.
• Enter the Scór quiz.  This is happening.  I’ve been in contact with Hugh, the local GAA club’s Scór organiser, and he’s keen on my taking part. It will be happening from mid-February on.  I’ll keep you informed.
• Host an Irish heat of the World Quizzing Championship. I’ve volunteered to be the organiser of an Irish heat for the World Quizzing Championships.  This event happens in June each year with quizzes taking place in several venues throughout the world on the same day (32 countries last year).  I’d hope to have an event in a central, easy-to-reach location.  Whether that will be Dublin, Athlone or Limerick Junction, I haven’t decided yet. If anyone would like to help out (or take part in the discussion over venues), please mail me at quizmaster@tablequiz.net.
• Set up an Irish quiz federation.  Our trip to Bruges last November was put together in a very ad-hoc fashion. We were willing to go and they were glad to have us.  There is no Irish quiz body which can select an Irish team to travel to such an event.  Up to last year, one could have selected one based on the results of the Rehab All-Ireland table quiz.  Alas, that has gone now. So let’s get a group together and fill this vacancy.  A volunteer body which could organise national quizzing championships for both individuals and teams and also nominate (and perhaps even fund, all going well) a team or teams to travel to the European championship. I had figured I’d get the wheels rolling on this right away.  I’ve since reconsidered and now think that perhaps the evening of the Irish heat of the World Champs would be the best time for an inaugural meeting.  Surely, we’ll have more Irish quizzers in the one place that night than on any other?! Again, if you’d like to contribute, contact me on quizmaster@tablequiz.net.
• Return to the European Quizzing Championship. If things go to plan with the previous point, I guess I’ll have to try and qualify!

* I say “probably” but perhaps I’m discounting the site’s heretofore silent celebrity readership?

I don’t have anything else to tell you… so let’s get on with it!

Questions we missed:

1. Name the two students who won the 2012 BT Young Scientist & Technology Award last week. A> Eric Doyle and Mark Kelly
2. What is the largest lake in Great Britain? A> Loch Lomond
3. Who played Louise in the movie Thelma & Louise? A> Susan Sarandon
4. Which is Japan’s second-largest city? A> Osaka *
5. Which river forms part of the border between England and Scotland? A> Tweed
6. The space shuttle programme came to an end in July 2011. Which shuttle completed that final flight? A> Atlantis
7. Who was the first Irish person to win the Noble Prize for Literature? A> William Butler Yeats
8. What is the fourth largest country in the world, both in terms of area and population? A> USA **
9. What is the name of the second-highest peak in the Alps? A> Monte Rosa
10. What is the name for a female ferret? A> Jill
11. Who played the Toymaker in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang? A> Benny Hill
12. What flag is traditionally flown by a ship that is about to leave port? A> Blue Peter
13. Rickets is caused by a deficiency of which vitamin? A> D

Picture round (click to embiggen):

1. Linda Martin
2. Gary Lineker
3. Hector Ó hEochagáin
4. Bridie Gallagher
5. Davina McCall
6. John O’Donoghue
7. Justin Bieber
8. Courteney Cox
9. Seán Lemass
10. Anthony Worral Thompson
11. Arthur Griffith
12. Kate Middleton ***

Moving swiftly on, I’ll have another post up later details my plans for the site for the coming year.  Stay tuned!

Footnotes:

* A tricky one as Tokyo hasn’t officially been a city since 1943.  It has a special status: metropolis.

** There’s some contention here over the size by area list.  Both USA and China claim third place!

*** The Duchess of Cambridge was also accepted!

Not so on Tuesday night last, when I attended the weekly quiz night in Gilligan’s, Claremorris.  Question 1 it was.  The very first of what would turn out to be 104 questions.  I doubt anyone in the room got it right.  That said, the team whose answers we were marking did manage to get the first names right so perhaps I’m being quick to judge.

After that, things got considerably easier.  The winning team’s final score of 92 points making this pretty clear.  My team trailed in second, on 88.

Have a look at the questions we did miss:

1. Name the two students who won the 2012 BT Young Scientist & Technology Award last week.
2. What is the largest lake in Great Britain?
3. Who played Louise in the movie Thelma & Louise? *
4. Which is Japan’s second-largest city? **
5. Which river forms part of the border between England and Scotland?
6. The space shuttle programme came to an end in July 2011. Which shuttle completed that final flight?
7. Who was the first Irish person to win the Noble Prize for Literature? ***
8. What is the fourth largest country in the world, both in terms of area and population?
9. What is the name of the second-highest peak in the Alps?
10. What is the name for a female ferret?
11. Who played the Toymaker in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang?
12. What flag is traditionally flown by a ship that is about to leave port?
13. Rickets is caused by a deficiency of which vitamin?

Picture round (click to embiggen):

Alright, off ye go.

Update: answers here.

Footnotes:

* A 50/50 question we managed to get wrong.

** Watch out for this one. It’s finicky.

*** See footnote 1!

I’d like to tell you about one more unpleasant thing that happened at this quiz.

A member of a team who are, apparently, in the hunt for victory each year in this quiz copped on pretty early that we were a serious team.  This chap got in to the habit of coming by our table after each round to see how we’d got on.  We were sitting near the bar so I guess he could claim that he was (always) just on his way up for a drink but we thought his intention was clear enough – he was worried about how well we were doing.

Now, whenever I’m doing a quiz I tend to put my phone out on the table.  I don’t think there’s any need to deny that I own a phone.  Also, I’m not doing anything surreptitious with it, so what have I got to hide?  At the midway interval, your man came over to see how we’d got on with the previous round.  We told him we’d definitely missed the Italian scorer in the Premier League question below.  “Are ye sure?” he asked. “Yeah, we’ve just looked up the answer on the phone,” we told him*. He did a very dramatic ‘Tut, tut’ thing and moved on.

Anyway, so what, you’re asking.

Well, after the picture round, when we weren’t at our most ebulient, he arrives over to see how we’ve done.

“We’re out of it” we tell him. “We only got seven of them.”

“Seven?!” he said, his tone indicating that they’d done much better.  “Well, I guess ye couldn’t look them up on the phone.”

What. A. P&:<k.

Here are the answers to the picture round:

1. Marco Pantani
2. Tony Pulis
3. George Berry
4. Sid Waddell
5. Alain Roland
6. Craig Johnstone
7. Gavin Dykes
8. Roberto Mancini
9. Arsene Wenger
10. Jim McGuinness
11. Richie Burnett
12. Manuela Spinelli **
13. A Claremorris runner ***
14. Pete Warren
15. Michael Robinson
16. Henry Coyle
17. Wes Hoolahan
18. Davy Keogh (on right)

Here are the answers to the few questions I can remember:

1. Which former Olympian is now a senator? A> Eamonn Coghlan
2. The battle of Tel-el-Kebir in 1882 gave its name to which Leinster Senior League football team? A> TEK United
3. Name the only Italian player to score for five different English Premier League clubs. A> Benito Carbone
4. Who is the current Chairman of the Galway GAA county board? A> Noel Treacy
5. Kevin O’Brien set a new world record for the fastest 1-day century in Ireland’s victory over England in the Cricket World Cup last year.  How many balls did it take him to reach 100 runs? A> 50
6. Footballer Kevin Cassidy was asked to leave the Donegal panel after the publication of which book? A> This is our year
7. Name the four runners who set the world record for the 4 x 1 mile relay in Dublin on August 17, 1985. A> Eamonn Coghlan, Marcus O’Sullivan, Ray Flynn and Frank O’Meara

If you like your sport, you’ll have enjoyed that challenge.  If you don’t, well fear not, there won’t be another all-sport quiz for a long time.

Footnotes:

* Which surely proves that we hadn’t looked it up on the phone during the round. We’d have gotten it right if so.

** This is Giovanni Trapattoni’s translator, in case you’re baffled.

*** Apologies to this lady.  As I said the other day, I’ve lost my notes since the quiz.

And so it was, at the annual Claremorris AFC Sports Quiz, which took place in the Dalton Inn on the Wednesday before Christmas.  RTÉ’s Martin Carney was the host, for reasons I couldn’t fathom.  He added a little glamour to the whole occasion I guess!

It was my first time taking part in the event but I’d heard great things about it.  The questions were said to be of a very hard standard with a great variety of sporting knowledge needed to prosper.  So, being in contention throughout the night before hitting the front after round 8 would be something to be thrilled about, surely?

In quizzing, as in sport, how a result arrives dominates the memory of the result itself. Who’s more happy with a 2-2 draw – the team that lead 2-0 or the team that pulled back the two goal deficit? Yet, they both finished with the same result, didn’t they?

Alas, from such a great position, we didn’t even get a draw. Our downfall was round 9, the evening’s sole picture round. It was a bad round to struggle on. For a start, it (strangely) featured 18 pictures whereas the other rounds had all included 10 questions.  We performed terribly, and only scored 7 out of 18.

Your only hope after such a pitiful score is that everyone else found it just as hard.  Alas, that was not the case.  A couple of teams scored 15 and there were several more above 12 points.  So, when the scores were called out after round 9, we weren’t even mentioned!

Here’s that particular picture round:

I’m afraid I’ve lost my notes with the other questions we missed.  However, we missed so few, to be honest, that I think I can remember most of them.

1. Which former Olympian is now a senator?
2. The battle of Tel-el-Kebir in 1882 gave its name to which Leinster Senior League football team?
3. Name the only Italian player to score for five different English Premier League clubs.
4. Who is the current Chairman of the Galway GAA county board?
5. Kevin O’Brien set a new world record for the fastest 1-day century in Ireland’s victory over England in the Cricket World Cup last year.  How many balls did it take him to reach 100 runs?
6. Footballer Kevin Cassidy was asked to leave the Donegal panel after the publication of which book?
7. Name the four runners who set the world record for the 4 x 1 mile relay in Dublin on August 17, 1985.

There are only about three or four other questions.  That’s how well we did, aside from the picture round. Oh well.

Update: answers here.

Bob Holness, the host of the 1980s student quiz Blockbusters died last Friday.

My memories of the show are a little vague, to be honest.  This may or may not be dependent on the fact that the British channels didn’t always work in our house during my youth.  What I do remember is: 1. the mascots, 2. I could never understand why it was two versus one (unfair, surely!) and 3. the dance at the end!

Looking at the video above, I can now add the the questions were easy and the hair styles were massive! Funny what you retain, isn’t it?!