So I Was Playing Bar Trivia Last Night...

[mmb5]

...and this question came up: \"The pilot of Wheel of Fortune was known as what?\".  No problem, wrote down Shoppers\' Bazaar and turned it in.  Because I knew the answer, I was accused of cheating because \"we put one question in that no one would possibly know, and that means you looked it up on your phone.\"  Fortunately I was able to convince him that I was not cheating. 

 

 

[Matt Ottinger]

 Fortunately I was able to convince him that I was not cheating. 

 

I\'m curious, did the convincing include going on your phone to show him that you have an entire website devoted to that particular topic?

[mmb5]

 Fortunately I was able to convince him that I was not cheating. 

 

I\'m curious, did the convincing include going on your phone to show him that you have an entire website devoted to that particular topic?

I discussed the page, but I did not show it.  Which was better than Tuesday, where they gave an incorrect answer to a question.  Several of us protested, and the host said \"could you show me on Wikipedia?\"  I said sure, and I will make sure it has that answer by the time I give you the phone.

[TLEberle]

What\'s the point of putting in a question that \"nobody will know the answer to?\" That\'s very annoying.

[WarioBarker]

...and this question came up: \"The pilot of Wheel of Fortune was known as what?\". No problem, wrote down Shoppers\' Bazaar and turned it in. Because I knew the answer, I was accused of cheating because \"we put one question in that no one would possibly know, and that means you looked it up on your phone.\" Fortunately I was able to convince him that I was not cheating.

Waitasec, was that how the question was worded? Because if so, Wheel of Fortune could\'ve been a reasonable response since the \'74 pilots led to NBC picking up the show. If it had been something like \"What was the original name of Wheel of Fortune?\", no ambiguity and only one answer: Shopper\'s Bazaar (), whose rejection in \'73 led to the Wheel pilots.

In all seriousness, the fact that Shopper\'s Bazaar was the original title of Wheel has been stated several times on various TV shows, including Good Morning America just a few days ago...so an accusation of cheating by the host(?) just makes him look bad.

[clemon79]

What\'s the point of putting in a question that \"nobody will know the answer to?\" That\'s very annoying.

 

It\'s bar trivia, not the Tournament of Champions. The people running these things are more accustomed to hosting karaoke than any sort of serious test of knowledge, and you should adjust your expectations of the quality of the event as such. Half of the time, the material is taken straight out of the copy of Knowledge Dump: 1001 Questions To Ponder Whilst Dropping A Deuce they picked up at Barnes & Noble before heading to work one day.

[mmb5]

What\'s the point of putting in a question that \"nobody will know the answer to?\" That\'s very annoying.

Cheating can be rampant, and at that particular place there\'s $85 on the line (in credit) each week + a progressive jackpot.  Once I took $350 (in more credit).

[Matt Ottinger]

What\'s the point of putting in a question that \"nobody will know the answer to?\" That\'s very annoying.

 

It\'s bar trivia, not the Tournament of Champions. The people running these things are more accustomed to hosting karaoke than any sort of serious test of knowledge, and you should adjust your expectations of the quality of the event as such.

 

All the more reason that the organizers probably shouldn\'t be thinking they\'re so clever that they can use questions \"nobody will know\" in order to ferret out cheaters.

 

I don\'t do a lot of bar trivia, partly because it usually moves too slow, partly because I\'m uncomfortable not knowing that the people I\'m playing against aren\'t cheating, but mostly because nobody asks me.  Of course, the last time I ended up being asked, I played on a team that included Anne Hathaway, so now my expectations are a bit higher.

[PYLdude]

Mike, you\'re a better man than I...I\'d have said F you to the guy running it and walked out.

 

So you break what the guy thinks is a foolproof system, because you\'re the one person (there at the time) who would know the answer to his \"I know something you don\'t know\" question? Reminds me of something that I have dubbed Berger\'s Law.

 

Berger\'s Law dictates that if the creator of the game fails to properly beta test it and weed out anything that might render the game broken, he has no right to complain when people exploit said thing(s) that are making the game broken in the first place.

[clemon79]

All the more reason that the organizers probably shouldn\'t be thinking they\'re so clever that they can use questions \"nobody will know\" in order to ferret out cheaters.

 

Don\'t disagree. I\'m just pointing out that these aren\'t exactly rocket surgeons we\'re dealing with here.

 

Berger\'s Law dictates that if the creator of the game fails to properly beta test it and weed out anything that might render the game broken, he has no right to complain when people exploit said thing(s) that are making the game broken in the first place.

 

How, then, would you propose they solve this problem?

[TLEberle]

It\'s bar trivia, not the Tournament of Champions. The people running these things are more accustomed to hosting karaoke than any sort of serious test of knowledge, and you should adjust your expectations of the quality of the event as such. Half of the time, the material is taken straight out of the copy of Knowledge Dump: 1001 Questions To Ponder Whilst Dropping A Deuce they picked up at Barnes & Noble before heading to work one day.

Certainly good to know: I was mulling over applying with Geeks Who Drink before I took up pursuing my degree.

[Unrealtor]

Geeks Who Drink seems to be a pretty good organization, I\'ve done one of their quizzes here in Austin most weeks for two years now, and they wouldn\'t do that kind of question. Someone on their staff is enough of a game show nerd that they\'ve used prize cues from The Price is Right as background music for speed rounds at their national Geek Bowl event and they\'ve had a couple game-show themed rounds in the time while I was playing.
 
However, if you\'re working for them, you\'re hosting rather than creating the quiz. The questions are edited centrally (by 6-time Jeopardy champ Christopher Short.)
 
/one of the Austin QMs also took Meredith for $250K a few months back, too

[WarioBarker]

Knowledge Dump: 1001 Questions To Ponder Whilst Dropping A Deuce

Some good light reading for my heavy loads, I\'ll tell you that. A few sample questions...

 

0034. Generally speaking, what does the internet forum 4Chan post?

0325. Give me the one word that connects a long-handled gardening tool and an immoral pleasure-seeker.

0555. Why do fools fall in love?

0823. What is 1988 divided by 2358?

0867. Who do you reach if you dial the phone number in the 1981 song that begins with the number of this question?

0922. How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could Chuck Norris?

 

/one of the Austin QMs also took Merideth for $250K a few months back, too

Lucky rich git.

[BillCullen1]

What\'s the point of putting in a question that \"nobody will know the answer to?\" That\'s very annoying.

 

It\'s bar trivia, not the Tournament of Champions. The people running these things are more accustomed to hosting karaoke than any sort of serious test of knowledge, and you should adjust your expectations of the quality of the event as such. Half of the time, the material is taken straight out of the copy of Knowledge Dump: 1001 Questions To Ponder Whilst Dropping A Deuce they picked up at Barnes & Noble before heading to work one day.

Quite true. Here in the NYC area and on the East Coast, a company called Trivia Tryst sponsors trivia nights in various bars in about six states and DC. I was at one last week. Before the contest began, they had a question showing on the TV screen about the original title of the TV series The Big Bang Theory. Sure enough, that was one of the questions asked. Don\'t know if that was intentional or a screw-up, but my team got it right.

 

Trivia nights can be fun as long as you don\'t play with sore winners or losers, which happens occasionally. I\'ve always enjoyed trivia. I always said if they had come out with Trivial Pursuit  when I was a kid, I probably would\'ve paid more attention in school.

[J.R.]

Knowledge Dump: 1001 Questions To Ponder Whilst Dropping A Deuce

Some good light reading for my heavy loads, I\'ll tell you that. A few sample questions...

 

0034. Generally speaking, what does the internet forum 4Chan post?

0325. Give me the one word that connects a long-handled gardening tool and an immoral pleasure-seeker.

0555. Why do fools fall in love?

0823. What is 1988 divided by 2358?

0867. Who do you reach if you dial the phone number in the 1981 song that begins with the number of this question?

0922. How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could Chuck Norris?

 

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