The 48th annual Great Midwest Trivia Contest took place this last weekend starting at 10:00:37 p.m. Jan. 25 and ended at midnight Jan. 27. After 50 hours of intense trivia and action questions, the team Shrek Out of Ten: It Isn’t Ogre won with 1275 points.
On-campus and off-campus teams listened in for the trivia questions and then searched madly for the answers. Most teams used the Internet to find the answers, but there were some cases where the answer could not be found on the online.
Some questions were “action questions.” This is when instructions are given for teams to perform a task. While every team gains points, trivia masters decide which answers earn teams the most points. Action questions only apply to on-campus participants.
Some action questions this year included creating a radio drama, creating a comic and going on a scavenger hunt. In addition, there were also “theme hours” such as “viola hour” or “zombie hour.”
Sunday night, a series of especially difficult questions were asked. These “Garradas” are worth more points than any other question. The last question asked is the “Super Garruda,” and 20 minutes are allowed for solving, rather than the usual three minutes. The Super Garrada is also the first question to be asked at the beginning of the next year’s contest.
In addition to coming up with the questions, the trivia masters are also the ones to read them out over the radio. They are overseen by the Trivia Grandmaster. This year’s Trivia Grandmaster was junior Ethan Landes. The new Grandmaster, junior Addy Goldberg, was named at the closing ceremony.
Shrek Out of Ten: It isn’t Ogre, the winning team, included members from Art House and Sinfonia. During the action question, which involved giving the Delta Tau Delta party a theme, Shrek out of Ten chose the theme: Delta Airlines. This involved setting up chairs and having stewardesses give people directions.
In reference to the outcome, a member of the winning team said, “While I’m really glad we won, the best part for me was the experience of everyone madly trying to figure out the answers and going off to do action questions. It’s all about the fun that was had and the win is just a perk.”
The contest was founded in 1966 by J.B. deRosset, and it took place in April for the first run. Once it was decided that the cold of winter needed to be broken up by trivia more than the rain of April, the contest was moved to the last week of January in 1973.
When commenting on the endurance of the contest, Trivia Master Colin Huggins said that part of the continuous success of trivia is because “there is an amazing enduring audience of off-campus teams. Also, it passes through personal relationships and generations.”
The Great Midwest Trivia Contest began in 1966 and has been going on annually since then. Questions are broadcasted out of Lawrence’s very own radio station, WLFM.