The World's Largest Trivia Contest
Never Trust a Baby with a Mustache is just one of more than four hundred teams that compete in the self-proclaimed "World's Largest Trivia Contest", held each April in and around the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. The contest itself is a fundraiser for the campus radio station, WWSP 90fm.
Trivia Teams
Beginning the Monday afternoon before the contest, representatives of each team visit the studios of 90fm on the campus of the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point to register their team. Teams can be of any size, any skill level, and any level of seriousness; registration costs each team costs $30, regardless of size. At the time of registrations, teams receive a copy of the New Trivia Times, which includes information about the Trivia Format and other rules, the pictures for the Picture Questions, coupons and other specials from local businesses, answer blanks for the Music Questions, and schedules for the Trivia Stones. Inter-team collaboration, including posting questions or answers on the internet, is grounds for disqualification.
The Trivia Kickoff Movie
The weekend prior to the contest, a local movie theater shows a very obscure movie for a reduced fee. This movie will be used as a source for several questions throughout the contest, and is usually unlikely to be widely known.
Trivia Format
The trivia contest officially starts at or around 6pm on Friday, and ends at midnight, Monday morning. The bulk of this fifty-four hour contest is broadcast over 90fm and over the internet.
Typically eight questions per hour are read, and each team is given one attempt to answer each question in the allotted time by calling into a phone bank at the radio station. Teams are given the length of two (typically oldies, or other similarly short) songs in order to answer each question. Each question is worth 2000 points, and for the teams who have answered correctly, points are distributed in a pari-mutuel manner, with each correct answer receiving an equal share of the total, with a maximum of 500 points, and a minumum of 5 points. Naturally, questions when no correct answers are given are worth no points. All print and digital resources, including the internet, are open for teams to exploit, but in case of a discrepancy, two non-internet resources must be used to disprove the official answer.
Picture Questions
In addition to questions of a strictly audio nature, some questions have a visual component. In each team's copy of The New Trivia Times there are (somewhat crude) copies of two dozen or so pictures, icons, photographs, cartoons, album art, advertisements, pop culture references and other graphics. Questions throughout the contest may relate to these photographs. Each "picture question" is worth as much as a regular question. The New Trivia Times is received by each team at registration, so teams have as much as a week to research and prepare for the picture questions.
Music Questions
In addition to regular questions and picture" questions, there are three "music questions". Each music question is made up of several very short segments of songs. After the snippets are aired, teams typically have less than an hour to identify artist name and song title for each (in order), and then bring the answers to the radio station. Each segment of the music questions are worth the same amount as a regular question.
Running Questions
On both Saturday and Sunday mornings at a specific location in Stevens Point there is a series of "running questions". Representatives from each team literally run around in the vicinity of the original location to gather information related to the hunt. Running questions are worth 150 points each.
The Trivia Stone
There are three "Trivia Stones", which is a car-based rally scavenger hunt throughout Stevens Point and surrounding towns. Clues are broadcast, and then representatives of each team hop in their cars and drive around, trying to find the end. If teams successfully complete the Stone, they receive a stamp in their copy of The New Trivia Times. All three stamps are worth 300 points, two stamps, 150 points, and one stamp is worth 50 points.
Point Standings
At the end of each hour, the top ten teams are read off, and then a piece of "news of the weird", then the next hour begins in earnest. However, twice during the contest, four questions an hour are read, to allow the trivia staff to read the complete standings. Standings are also updated periodically on the Trivia website.
Contact us! nevertrustababywithamustache at yahoo dot com
90fm Trivia 41 (April 16-19, 2010) starts in exactly
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