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Is this contest like the
board game Trivial
Pursuit?
No. This contest requires sleeping bags and a coffeepot suitable for a banquet
hall. The UWSP World's Largest Trivia Contest predates
the Trivial Pursuit
board game
by over 10 years. The difficulty factor of the UWSP questions is off the scale—you
need resources to get most of the answers. Trivial Pursuit questions can be answered
“top of your head.” A UWSP contest question usually leads to some
research prior to answering the question. A question from Trivial Pursuit may read "Who
was the partner of Butch Cassidy?" and a question from the World's Largest might read
"What was Butch Cassidy's partner's real name?". And that's a 5-point question.
A tougher question is "What was the New York Yankee batting order by player name for
opening day in 1959?" That's what I mean when I say you need resources.
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How is the World's Largest Trivia
Contest played?
Like Woody Allen said: "Eighty percent of success is showing up." Show up
for 54 hours of this contest and you are successful in being part of an event that takes
over the community of Stevens Point, Wisconsin for one weekend each April. Questions are
broadcast over the University of Wisconsin—Stevens Point's radio station, WWSP (90FM), and teams phone in their answers
to the radio station. Teams need to register (see Register FAQ) prior to
the contest. Teams can be made up of a few players or many players—there is no limit.
Generally, eight questions are asked per hour with a cadence of a question followed by two
songs followed by the answer and another question. Teams usually locate in
private homes or hotels close enough to Stevens Point to hear the radio
station; however, the contest is more fun if some teams claim
to be playing "out of a phone booth near the bus station." Points
are assigned to each question. The team that accumulates the most points over the weekend
wins the contest. If you would like to see the formal rules, visit
the official Trivia website.
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How are each question's points
determined?
Points are assigned to each question after counting the number of teams with
correct answers. A pool of 2000 points is divided by the total of 3 plus the number of
teams with correct answers and the result is rounded up to a number divisible by 5. A
minimum of 5 points and a maximum of 500 points is awarded per single question.
A typical easy question is worth 10 or 15 points. In the past, some
contests had a maximum of 1000 points per question, but those days are
gone.
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What do you win?
Nothing. And no, you're not being punk'd—you really win nothing. The top ten teams
do receive trophies.
Beginning with the 2000 contest, the winning team receives "The
Point Cup" with their team name engraved on the side. The Point Cup
is a traveling trophy. Back in the day, the top finishing teams would win a
stack of vinyl record albums from the radio station, but this tradition
ended long ago. The first place team returns the trophy prior to the
next contest. Every team gets
a certificate acknowledging their play. All members of all teams leave with the
satisfaction that they played a contest that starts Friday night at 6:00 p.m. and
concludes in the early hours of Monday morning (The official end is midnight
on Sunday).
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How do I register to play?
Team representatives must register their team in person at the radio station.
Registration usually starts the Monday prior to the contest or you can
choose to register any day of that week up until the beginning of the
contest. Mondays are long long lines because team members are anxious to get
their hands on a copy of the New Trivia Times
and the pictures in the booklet. Please refer to the official Trivia Website for specific times and dates.
A registration fee of $30.00 (cash or check, no credit cards) is collected from each team. If
you buy enough official trivia merchandise (mugs, shirts, hats, etc.), your
registration fee will shrink. Money collected
from each team goes to the University radio station's general operating fund.
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What resources can I use to win this
thing?
Anything goes (short of cheating as defined by the contest rules.) Teams can use
books, magazines, newspapers, music CDs, video tapes, Internet searches, telephone calls,
personal notes, cereal boxes, fortune tellers, celebrities or acquaintances to get the answer for a question--anything
goes. I've never
heard of a resource ruled out although you might want to be sure that your
resource is reliable and accurate. If your reliable source says the answer
is "x" and The Oz says it is "y", you may need to reach
out to the dreaded "Complaint Line."
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What kind of questions are asked?
Jim Oliva (The Oz) and John Eckendorf write a unique set of questions for each
contest. Questions predictably fall in several categories: movies, television, sports,
music, radio, literature, current events, and product ingredients and advertising. I'm not
sure if a question about a product ingredient is really trivia, but there sure are a lot
of annoying questions about items that sit on grocery store shelves. In addition to the
above questions there are "Running questions," "Trivia Stone
Clues," "Music Snippet questions" and "New Trivia Times
questions."
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What is a "Running
Question?"
A Running Question is a traditional question (actually a group of 6 to 12
sub-questions) that is asked either early Saturday or Sunday morning. Team representatives
gather in one common meeting spot in town and are sent "running" to find answers
to questions about the immediate area. An example of a Running Question sub-question is
"What is the height in inches of the "Open for Business" sign on Terry's
House of Shower Curtains?" Teams carrying tape measures, pencils, paper and sometimes
ladders, will scurry off in search of the answer. Teams are awarded a fixed number of
points for getting the entire Running Question correct.
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What is a "Trivia Stone
clue?"
Another World's Largest tradition. Team members hop in their cars to follow clues
to the World Famous Trivia Stone. Numerous clues are read over the air and teams are
expected to figure out where the Stone is located. Usually the biggest clue is the queue
of 400 cars writhing through the town looking for a rock. Teams that are successful in
finding the Stone are awarded 300 points.
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Who were the winners of the
first 5 Trivia contests (1969-1973)?
I don't know either. If you know, please send me a note. It seems record
keeping was not the best in the early days of the contest. Who would have
guessed back then that the contest would still be played 40 years later?
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Is it possible to see a parade
prior to the contest?
You're in luck! There is a parade prior to the contest! Usually the parade takes
place on the campus of the University of Wisconsin—Stevens Point. It starts a couple
of hours before the contest starts on Friday. Teams are invited to participate by
assembling a float or by just observing. Absurdity and bizarre behavior are common in this
fun parade that started in 1985. Go to The Oz's site to see
this year's parade details.
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What is the
"Complaint Line?"
The Complaint Line is the Trivia equivalent of Small Claims Court
except The Oz is usually not wearing a black robe (it's usually something tie-dyed). At certain times during the contest, the radio DJ will announce that
the Complaint Line is open for calls. Teams call the Complaint Line to plead
for justice regarding Trivia score keeping. The Oz makes his ruling based on
the evidence at hand and wailings such as "We didn't get credit for a
question we answered right!" are addressed. If The Oz has been up
for 30 hours straight, unpredictable resolutions to your complaint may
result. Note: This line is not open to Nebraska residents.
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What is the
"Trivia Kickoff Movie?"
The Trivia Kickoff Movie takes place a week or two before the contest.
The Oz picks a movie and schedules showings starting with midnight on a
Friday. The movie is
really the first official event of the contest as questions will be asked
about the movie. Attendees take notes during the movie so they'll be
prepared for questions a week later. See the list
of Kickoff Movies to get an idea of what movies have been shown through
the years. If you really want to get in the mood for trivia, attend the
Kickoff movie!
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