I had the good fortune to be asked to join a team featuring three other IQO quizzers last week, for an attempt at the Redhills GAA Club quiz in Cavan. We’d have to have been regarded as favourites, given that the four of us (me, Dan, Kevin and Mark) are all currently ranked in the top 10 of the IQO rankings. So it played out, albeit it was a close-run thing.
The quiz itself took place in the Hotel Kilmore and featured 24 tables facing 10 rounds of general knowledge questions. Well, nine rounds of GK, with a picture round just before the interval.
The quizmaster welcomed us all and spent about five minutes doing something very novel. He explained “the rules”. Most of these were common sense (“No mobile phones”) but some went above and beyond the norm. Firstly, regarding the phones. I’ve been at quizzes before (indeed, I’ve hosted some) where phones had to be put out on the table/in a basket. Here, they provided each team with a large, brown envelope in which our phones had to be deposited and sealed. Yes, sealed. Good job no-one needed to get in contact with me urgently…
Furthermore, he also told us that they answers had to be spelled correctly. Now, that was an annoyance. I’ve always agreed with IQA in their opinion that spelling doesn’t matter so long as it’s clear you know the answer. Spelling can matter, for instance the difference between Burton and Bruton, but in most cases the order of the letters isn’t essential to get across that, yes, you do know the answer. However, once that rule was expressed it tends to put one on edge.
When the questioning began, it did so with brutal force. Clearly the organisers decided we’d all have to really perform here to win the main prize. The opening question was “The use of which device is prohibited in Switzerland on a Sunday?” Whilst we didn’t actually get this one*, unbelievably we did mention the correct answer in our discussions! The first round was one of the tougher ones in the quiz. In fact, at 7/10, it was our joint-lowest scoring round during the quiz.
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Here are the answers to the questions we missed in Cavan on the Sunday-before-last.
