From the Stevens Point Journal April 16, 2007:

Trivia brings far-flung residents back to town

What does it mean when a 24-year-old pizza delivery man, armed with only a blanket, a cell phone and a Nintendo Game Boy, camps out for more than 16 hours in front of a theater to see a movie whose title isn't even on the marquee?

"It means I'm a geek," said Kevin Grimstad, who planted himself in front of Rogers Cinema, 2725 Church Street, at 4:50 a.m. Friday to guarantee himself a ticket for the midnight Saturday showing of this year's trivia movie, "Live Free or Die."

Photo: Kevin Grimstad sits outside Rogers Cinema on Friday afternoon waiting for the first showing of the Trivia movie at midnight. THOMAS KUJAWSKI/STEVENS POINT JOURNAL

And maybe he's right.

But it also means Trivia is upon us. With less than a week until "Trivia Returns," Stevens Point's 38th annual celebration of obscure knowledge, tireless researching gusto, and endless junk food, if you haven't started getting ready, you're already late.

For months, Trivia die-hards have been dutifully taking notes on television show premieres, collecting outdated cereal boxes and amassing other pop culture details that regularly feature in the yearly festival's slate of questions. Now, as Trivia teams enter the final week, preparations are reaching a fever-pitch.

"Tomorrow night, we have to camp out for registration," Rick Bamberg said Saturday, referring to the yearly ritual of arriving for the festival's registration a full day early to nab a copy of "Trivia Times," which includes a small cache of Trivia picture clues.

"We don't have to; we want to," said someone from Rick's Trivia team, "Dad's Computers," a family-based team of 30 or so Trivia veterans who operate out of the basement of Rick's house in Plover. On Saturday afternoon, there were already several cars parked on Rick's lawn, and his basement was strewn with team members, aged anywhere from 6 to 60, who were clearing the basement for gameplay.

For many teams, however, the biggest part of preparation is simply getting here.

"Trying to get all the bodies back to Stevens Point is the biggest thing we do this week," said Tim Kung, 37, a resident of Whittier, Calif., who returns home every year for Trivia. Kung's team, "Tin Man," is SPASH graduates who have moved during the past two decades. This year, one team member is flying from Turkey.

Madison Wiza, a Pacelli student, quit her job at McDonald's because they wouldn't give her Trivia weekend off. Madison plays for "The Franklin Street Burnouts," one of the oldest and more storied Trivia teams in the city. Her father, Mike Wiza, spent Saturday building a float for this week's parade and readying the second floor of his house, where he has a personal library of Trivia-themed books and movies, some of them basic, such as "Grey's Anatomy" and various almanacs; others more obscure, which Wiza requested not be revealed in this article, lest they compromise his team's competitive advantage.

"Everything since the election has been this," said Wiza, who completed a bid for mayor early this month. "Trivia is the big event of the year ... I'm four months behind."