The tenth annual World Quizzing Championships will be held June 2, 2012–a week from Saturday!
Game Show Congress founder Paul Bailey helps run the event in the U.S., and he sent me over some sample questions to peruse. The material in the WQC ranges widely from no-sweat to makes-Jeopardy!-look-like-“Jaywalking”-difficult, mostly because of the international nature of the event: the questions will be translated into a dozen or so languages and administered to quizzers worldwide. So there’s a global angle to the material that you probably won’t find at your local bar. Here’s the map showing who will be playing:
Man oh man do they love trivia night in the Baltic.
How would you do in the eight official WQC categories?
Culture
It is considered an unlucky number in Chinese, Korean, and Japanese cultures because, in their languages, it is nearly homophonous to (i.e. sounds like) the word for “death”. This is why many numbered product lines skip it. You won’t find a cell phone number series beginning with this digit and some buildings do not have a floor with this number. In Hong Kong, some high-rise residences don’t use the digit ANYWHERE within its floor numbers – as a result, a building with a 50th floor might only be 35 storeys high! What number is this?
In a rage, the Egyptian god Seth killed Osiris, his brother – quite understandable really since he had sired a son to Seth’s wife, their sister Nephthys. Especially associated with funerals, which deity was this illegitimate son of Osiris and Nephthys?
Entertainment
The score for the recent movie Tron: Legacy was written by the French electronic music duo, consisting of Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter, that in 2009 won Grammys for best dance album Alive 2007 and best dance recording for “Harder Better Faster Stronger”? What is the performing name of this duo?
Entitled ‘u’ and premiering in the Hague, September 2010, it was the first ever opera performed in which language?
History
In 2010, Dilma Rousseff became the first woman President of which country?
Now part of Latvia, this duchy has been a vassal state of the Polish Kingdom, a de facto independent state, and a part of the Russian empire. It was also the smallest European power to attempt a colony in the New World, thanks to an outpost in Tobago. What is the name of this former Duchy?
Lifestyle
The eponymous cheese is made from raw cow’s milk. The leftover whey feeds the pigs used for the eponymous ham. What Italian city are we in?
Among the less well known attractions in what tourist destination are Tim Arnold’s Pinball Hall of Fame and Museum, indoor skydiving (formerly known as Flyaway), a replica of King Tutankhamen’s tomb, and what is billed as the world’s largest gift shop?
Media
What name is given to a poem of 17 syllables arranged in three lines of 5, 7 and 5 syllables each that has been extremely popular in Japan since the 17th century?
Most installments of what horror movie series begin by explaining why Jason isn’t really dead, and ends with him dying, like, totally for real this time?
Science
What measure was originally derived from the distance “Earth’s equator to the Pole divided by 10 million”?
In 2009 Professor Elinor Ostrom, from Indiana University, became the first female winner of what Nobel prize category, jointly with another American, Professor Oliver Williamson?
Sport
In area, what is the smallest country to have ever won an ice hockey Olympic gold medal (1998, Nagano)?
He is the only player to have scored 400 runs in an innings of test match cricket (versus England in 2004). Nicknamed ‘the prince of Trinidad’ and widely recognized as one of the best batsmen of all time, what is the name of this former West Indies cricket player?
World
Camels are often seen eating snow to rehydrate in which desert – the 5th largest of the world – where it is the only readily available form of water?
What name is given to the spherical region surrounding and extending up to 3 light years from our solar system that is thought to be the source of most long period comets?
If this sounds like a good way to spend a couple hours on a Saturday, there may be an event site near you! Here’s the current map of North American venues, and Paul says he’s still trying to secure sites in Atlanta and Kansas City as well. Click on the little “IQ” markers for more information.