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A BUNCH OF MINDLESS JERKS WHO'LL BE FIRST UP AGAINST THE WALL WHEN THE REVOLUTION COMES

The 60th Semi-Annual Williams College Trivia Contest May, 1996

QUESTIONS

SUPER BONI

  1. (12:00): Clue (questions only) -- Mindless Jerks' hypothetical investigation into the mystery murder of Hank Payne. Using various images and references to fill in letter slots, teams needed to name the killer, the location, and the weapon-- just like the "Clue" board game.

  2. (4 AM): Maps (questions only) -- The second Maps Bonus in four contests, this one leaned much more heavily on imaginary science fiction/fantasy maps than had the first. Unlike the first, it followed its visual section with a lengthy collection of geographical questions.

HOUR BONI

  1. (12:00): Advertising (questions only) -- 17 print ads, 25 product slogans, 3 jingles (+ a 4th in sheet music format), 30+ cereal spokescreatures, 17 "Saturday Night Live" ad parody Q's, a write-a-jingle section, and two essay questions made this an enjoyable (if stuffed to the gills) collection of trivia.

  2. (1 AM): Opera and Musical Theater (questions only) -- First Lines of Songs, Complete the Couplet, Fill in the Missing Characters from Wagner's "Ring," Fill in the Missing Numeral (from lyrics), Name and Complete the Opera Plot (from an Act One summary), ID the Libretto, and ID the Score. And the sun DID come up tomorrow.

  3. (2 AM): Numbers Audio -- Numbers, as sung in various songs

  4. (3 AM): Sports, Games, and Leisure (questions only) -- Over 150 questions on baseball, football, chess, hockey, Risk, Axis and Allies, Computer Games, and so much more.

  5. (4 AM): Movies Video (answers only) -- A videotape was distributed to teams with 36 movie clips. Teams had to ID the film, the character shown, and the actor portraying each.

  6. (5 AM): Immortals (questions only) -- Questions on gods, wizards, and other larger-than-life characters from (mostly) literature.

  7. (6 AM): Powders -- Each team got small samplings of various powders, some edible, some quite possibly toxic, that needed identification. (I felt the Fab detergent did NOT taste lemony-fresh as promised.)

  8. (7 AM): Food (questions only) -- Ingredients, recipes, comestibles, flavors, spices, brand names, short order cook lingo, logos, the usual Potent Potables section, and other topics that involve the digestive tract.

ACTION TRIVIA

  1. Sam and Frodo's Bogus Journey

  2. Do the poison scene from "The Princess Bride" starring Arnold Schwarzenneger and Rick Moranis

  3. Create an Action that includes the following dialogue: Person #1: "Thou hast committed....." Person #2: "Fornication? Aye, but that was in another land, and besides, the wench is dead." (Teams were further warned that they might be handed a mystery prop at any time during their performance, which they were expected to seamlessly incorporate into their tableau.)

  4. Do either a day in the life of Satan or Cyber-Faust

  5. Be a Rube Goldberg machine

  6. Shakespeare as done by either Jackie Chan or Jackie Mason

  7. Come down and explain the causes of World War I using mime or interpretive dance

THE ULTRA BONUS

FINAL SCORES (including analysis of the tie)