BOMO triumphantly returned after a 34-year interval to host their fourth contest.
BOMO used an audio stream from wavestreamer.com, and unfortunately the contest was beset by streaming issues all night long. The stream would stutter, it would die, and have to be reset frequently. BOMO tried several different things, including taking two breaks to resart their computer. At least the stream never died completely (ala Worker and Parasite), so teams may have been frustrated, but the contest always came back.
Few teams got the Ultra Bonus, which was "Tonga". It was a hard one.
The odd appearance of an Amherst bonus in a Williams Trivia contest can be explained by the Gardner family's split loyalties. Tom, who has been the prime architect of BOMO's rebirth, and its link to the past, is a Williams alum ('79), as is daughter Allie ('10). But his wife Wendy and other daughter Kristy are Lord Jeffs ('79 and '12). Tom points out that BOMO won several Amherst trivia contests in the 1970s, so turnabout is fair play.
This was another contest without call-in lines to answer questions. Only a few players now bemoan the loss of the old back-and-forth of hints and guesses for the on-air questions. (Your archivist is chief, and perhaps alone, among the nostolgiacs.)
The members of BOMO were:
A few contributions from the Trivia mailing list, following the contest:
This incarnation of BOMO was led by Brandon, your DJ for all eight hours! He was based at Penn with our daughter Kristy and five other Philly folks, Colin, James, Nick, Sage and Nathaniel. They were joined by Wendy and I in our home in Bedford, New York, and at the University of Illinois by our daughter Allie and her boyfriend, also named Brandon. The "Penn" Brandon's parents and brother, Justin, chipped in from their home in Armonk, NY, so while it was largely a family affair, it was a far flung enterprise!
We are thrilled with the turnout. 18 teams scored more than 100 points, which is the MOST EVER for a May contest! And 12 teams turned in the last Beatles bonus, so we are grateful so many of you stuck it out.
Of course we are aware of the streaming issues. Not having access to a radio station, we streamed the contest, and all testing prior to the event indicated no issues. But trouble was apparent an hour before the contest started, which we now attribute not to the number of players, but rather to a faulty internet connection in the room that served as Mission Control (which was not where the testing took place). Hopefully the fixes along the way helped.
The winner, we have since discovered, was—wait for it— ONE GUY! Yes, a one-man team won the contest, Jack is da Bomb. Jack is a college student from Olympia, Washington. He has already appealed to us for help, so suffice to say Jan '13 will resemble the "Stick, Stank, Stunk" contest a few years back and come this fall I will be reaching out to you for boni (Jack can handle all the questions and songs) and commitments from some of you to join me as an IM'er/bonus grader.
I spent most of the night doing IM's with Des (he and Dom's on air team was Plop Plop), my old BOMO pal Mitch (Geezers), Occum, Broken Feet and the Treebiters, so somehow the older gang found me, which was a blast. I also had fun with the Mystic Team (Steller's) and Inspector Spacetime. At the end I got in some time with Moose, after Steve Homer left, and that team kept threatening to win despite Steve's exiting pleas otherwise (they came in 2nd!). FYI, Des and Dom would have won by 46 if they combined their on air team with their boni team (Gashouse).
All in all, a fun night for us. Comments welcome!