Pub Quiz Format Part One.

Hard work, off-licenses!   Just got back from work, which, as you’d possibly expect from a Saturday night, was rather frantic!   Credit crunch or know, it’s doing well.

But which doesn’t stop me thinking I’ve got to catch up with writing for the Harold, and the up-coming Hutton gig’s.   But had to answer my mail first.   Which wasn’t too hard, bar explaining to a friend how to import songs into iTunes.   And how uploading stuff to most sites is tricky, and what open source software to get hold of to convert one audio file format, into another.   There’s a few, by the way, vlc, Audacity, Max, and MpegStreamclip amongst them.   I’ll try and put a link to a couple of handy sites, if I get the chance.

Anyway, back to the action.   At some point, I’m going to be hunting up some lyric search engines, mostly so I can up the proverbial ante on my Name That Tune rounds, which are fairly evil.   I’ve had a few pointers, though, which is handy.

Not having the kind of Multi media kit I’d either like, afford, or could fit into a backpack, and a freezer bag, the Name that Tune rounds consist of me reading out ten lines, from a series of ten different songs.   Answering the question is simply a case of getting the name of the song right.

Or the song, and the artist, if I have both bits of info, and I’m feeling really nasty!   Not as easy to write as you’d assume, when you factor in cover versions …

And not easy to answer, either, because, not being a singer, I READ them out.   Which makes identify them rather hard … *Cackles nastily*

Hmmm.   I suppose I’d better explain exactly what goes on at one of my quizzes, hadn’t I?

Yes, lets!

As you mite have noticed from the quizzes I’ve posted further down, I use a sixty question format, divided into six themed rounds of ten questions each.

The first and last rounds, though, are General Knowledge, and General Ignorance, and generally – a HEM! – varied.   He says, stating the blindingly obvious, there!

What I think of as the the Mid Forty –questions eleven to fifty, if you’re paying attention – literally can be anything, and everything in-between.   Headings include Name that Tune, Sporting Chances, TV Dinners, At The Movies, Blinded With Science, Music And Lights, The Living World, what have you.   Most of which should be pretty obvious, but I do throw in the odd obscure one.

I’ve had requests, as well, over the years.

Not that I think too many people would be interested in rounds on Unix derived operating systems, Nail Technology, or the Life and Times of Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, but you’ve got to at least look like you’re paying attention, haven’t you?

On top of the round structure, about two years back, I introduced a Joker round, which, compared to other quizzes I’ve been to, is a little unusual.

Most of the other quizzes I’ve seen with a joker round tell the participants in advance what the rounds are called, so that teams can make up their minds about which round they play a joker on.

Most QM’s will have vaguely misleading titles, on that front.   Just to spice things up.   And also won’t allow teams to play a Joker round on a General Knowledge Round.

I handle things somewhat differently.

I have never made a habit of pre-announcing the round titles, for starters.

Having anywhere between one and three quizzes on the go at any one given time, and five or six team’s who’ll happily do one of my quizzes, at any given venue means that in order to avoid giving them an unfair advantage, I’ve usually got three or four quizzes prepared for each venue, which could be one to six weeks out of sync with other.   And are then kept in sealed envelopes, and picked on the night by one of the bar staff.

Just to make sure that NO-ONE knows what’s coming, not even me.

Which makes pre-announcing rounds pretty hard!

So, under what I think of as the Nik Nak rules, a team has to hand in their Joker card, and tick the relevant check box, as and when I announce the round.   The pay-off for this is that that round is worth double points, when the answer sheets are marked.

Which is where I’ll leave it, for now, as it’s half past Twelve, at the mo, and my eyeballs are starting to hurt!

I’ll write more in the morning, folks.   Comments to the usual areas,and bless you all for bearing with me.

See you next time!