Monday, June 27, 2005
Small Town Miami
Lately, in a vain attempt to create something of a life for myself outside the world of science education, I got involved in a local pub trivia competition. Normally, I meet a few of my friends (teachers mostly, but it's not like we're an exclusive teachers-only group) on Wednesday nights around 10 for a match and a watering hole near one of the major universities in town. First time we went, we won the whole thing...since then we've averaged around 3rd. The place is very crowded...to give you some idea they don't let you order water during the trivia unless you get bottled. Apparently there had been some abuse of the water and complimentary peanuts in the past. So now the water is $1.
Anyhow, the downside of this trivia competition is it starts closer to 10:30 than 10 proper and ends sometime around FAR TOO LATE. So, for a change of pace, my friends and I decided to try a new quiz competition held on Sunday nights over near the art museum. The contrasts were stunning.
Old place: Jam packed on trivia night. 20 teams--par for the course.
New place: There were 5 teams. Maybe 6.
Old place: Sarcastic M.C. with an Irish accent wielding a microphone.
New place: Sarcastic M.C. with an American accent. No microphone. (There were only 5 teams!)
Old place: Charged a dollar per head to play.
New place: No charge! (and the water was free!)
Old place: 4 written rounds: 3 regular 10 question rounds, 1 speed round (10 questions)
New place: 3 rounds: 1 regular 10 question round, a speed round (last night had around 18 questions), 1 round robin. (more in a moment)
Old place: Joker round allows you to double point value of any one round.
New place: Round robin...
Let me cut in for a moment here because I've now mentioned the round robin twice. In the original trivia game I attended, there was a possibility of earning 50 points (51 if the moderator threw in a bonus question of some sort.) That's 10 for each round, with one round being doubled. In the new game, it really all boiled down to the round robin. The teams are given a single question with a slew of answers. Imagine something like "Name the last 30 Nobel Prize winners in physics." Teams are seeded in an order based on their previous performance in earlier rounds. The teams each take turns answering the question. The first go round, questions are worth 2 points. The second, they increase to 3. The third, they go to 4 points each, but if you guess wrong you lose 2. The fourth, 6 points if correct, 3 points off if incorrect and so forth. Each team has 2 passes and play proceeds until all answers are given.
Well, I thought I would do very well for myself and my team since the round robin question was name the top 28 cities in the U.S. in population, based on the 2000 census. Obviously, the first few went very quickly: New York, L.A., Chicago, Houston, Philadelphia, and so forth...
But the second or third go-round, we started getting into trouble when we said Miami.
NOT on the list.
Nor was Atlanta, New Orleans, or St. Louis.
But Columbus, Ohio turned out to be there. So was Louisville, KY. And what was worse, my friends on the other team (we had split into smaller groups) seemed to know all these...
Needless to say, we still turned out a respectable second place finish and didn't end up having to pay for our drinks, but losing on a geography themed trivia round was rather frustrating. Damn municipal planners.
So yeah, Miami. Smaller population than Columbus. (At least within city limits.)
Oh and for those who care, here's the full list:
1. New York
2. Los Angeles
3. Chicago
4. Houston
5. Philadelphia
6. Phoenix
7. San Diego
8. San Antonio
9. Dallas
10. Detroit
11. San Jose
12. Indianapolis
13. San Francisco
14. Jacksonville
15. Columbus
16. Louisville
17. Austin
18. Baltimore
19. Memphis
20. Milwaukee
21. Boston
22. Washington, DC
23. Nashville
24. El Paso
25. Seattle
26. Denver
27. Charlotte
28. Fort Worth
(based on http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0763098.html and http://www.census.gov/popest/cities/SUB-EST2003.html )
Lately, in a vain attempt to create something of a life for myself outside the world of science education, I got involved in a local pub trivia competition. Normally, I meet a few of my friends (teachers mostly, but it's not like we're an exclusive teachers-only group) on Wednesday nights around 10 for a match and a watering hole near one of the major universities in town. First time we went, we won the whole thing...since then we've averaged around 3rd. The place is very crowded...to give you some idea they don't let you order water during the trivia unless you get bottled. Apparently there had been some abuse of the water and complimentary peanuts in the past. So now the water is $1.
Anyhow, the downside of this trivia competition is it starts closer to 10:30 than 10 proper and ends sometime around FAR TOO LATE. So, for a change of pace, my friends and I decided to try a new quiz competition held on Sunday nights over near the art museum. The contrasts were stunning.
Old place: Jam packed on trivia night. 20 teams--par for the course.
New place: There were 5 teams. Maybe 6.
Old place: Sarcastic M.C. with an Irish accent wielding a microphone.
New place: Sarcastic M.C. with an American accent. No microphone. (There were only 5 teams!)
Old place: Charged a dollar per head to play.
New place: No charge! (and the water was free!)
Old place: 4 written rounds: 3 regular 10 question rounds, 1 speed round (10 questions)
New place: 3 rounds: 1 regular 10 question round, a speed round (last night had around 18 questions), 1 round robin. (more in a moment)
Old place: Joker round allows you to double point value of any one round.
New place: Round robin...
Let me cut in for a moment here because I've now mentioned the round robin twice. In the original trivia game I attended, there was a possibility of earning 50 points (51 if the moderator threw in a bonus question of some sort.) That's 10 for each round, with one round being doubled. In the new game, it really all boiled down to the round robin. The teams are given a single question with a slew of answers. Imagine something like "Name the last 30 Nobel Prize winners in physics." Teams are seeded in an order based on their previous performance in earlier rounds. The teams each take turns answering the question. The first go round, questions are worth 2 points. The second, they increase to 3. The third, they go to 4 points each, but if you guess wrong you lose 2. The fourth, 6 points if correct, 3 points off if incorrect and so forth. Each team has 2 passes and play proceeds until all answers are given.
Well, I thought I would do very well for myself and my team since the round robin question was name the top 28 cities in the U.S. in population, based on the 2000 census. Obviously, the first few went very quickly: New York, L.A., Chicago, Houston, Philadelphia, and so forth...
But the second or third go-round, we started getting into trouble when we said Miami.
NOT on the list.
Nor was Atlanta, New Orleans, or St. Louis.
But Columbus, Ohio turned out to be there. So was Louisville, KY. And what was worse, my friends on the other team (we had split into smaller groups) seemed to know all these...
Needless to say, we still turned out a respectable second place finish and didn't end up having to pay for our drinks, but losing on a geography themed trivia round was rather frustrating. Damn municipal planners.
So yeah, Miami. Smaller population than Columbus. (At least within city limits.)
Oh and for those who care, here's the full list:
1. New York
2. Los Angeles
3. Chicago
4. Houston
5. Philadelphia
6. Phoenix
7. San Diego
8. San Antonio
9. Dallas
10. Detroit
11. San Jose
12. Indianapolis
13. San Francisco
14. Jacksonville
15. Columbus
16. Louisville
17. Austin
18. Baltimore
19. Memphis
20. Milwaukee
21. Boston
22. Washington, DC
23. Nashville
24. El Paso
25. Seattle
26. Denver
27. Charlotte
28. Fort Worth
(based on http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0763098.html and http://www.census.gov/popest/cities/SUB-EST2003.html )
