Crepes with Ezgi Üstündağ

by Timmy Rich

After trips to cold weather states in Ohio and Michigan, I ventured south to meet up for crepes at a virtual Shoneys with Ezgi Üstündağ who recently made TOTW with a score of 27(6) in OQLUSA.

I asked her if she liked Turkish Delight and she said yes. Coincidentally, she happened to pick a Geography pair in a friendly I wrote and it revealed Turkey was the fourth most visited country in the world according to some tourism rankings.

 As the Secretary of Friendlies, I get to interact with the top Quizzers in America and play a lot of informal friendly matches with them.  She is a regular play tester and will be releasing a Friendly with her teammate Danielle Santos for Week 7 and a Regions Oscar themed friendly in March as part of a collab with other OQL players including recent interviewees Dan Blim and Randall Eng.

Tim: I grew up a big Duke fan in the 90's when they won back to back titles. Who was your favorite men's basketball player at Duke when you attended?

Ezgi: Oh no, I don't know actually anything about Duke Basketball. I will say Quinn Cook because he was there when I was studying at Duke and we had a class together. He was nice!

Tim: How did you first get into trivia as a hobby?

Ezgi: I suppose my first official foray would’ve been getting ready for my middle school’s geography bee in the

8th grade, with a well-worn copy of Stephen F. Cunha’s The Geography Bee Complete Preparation Handbook. Tragically, I thought that “where America’s day begins” referred to Puerto Rico and not Guam and came in

second place! 

Tim: How did you first get into OQL? Also can you tell us how you formed your team for USA and Regions.

Ezgi: I heard about the wider “OQL family” through COQL, which someone in my Facebook network had posted

about. That led me to watching Only Connect and then convincing my COQL teammates Danielle and Pam to

join me in signing up (we were all hooked on Only Connectby this point so it was not difficult to convince them). 

After one season of COQL, we decided we’d also try OQL USA. My team was originally composed of mostly

my high school classmates (hence our original team name “Little Cyclones”)

but after one season, we decided to add some of our other friends into the mix. 

OQL Regions was entirely a happy accident - we’re all from Iowa, and I’m so happy that our team came together the way it did. I love playing with Emily, Sarah, Shelly, Laura, and Iris each month!

Tim: You played some OQL UK friendlies with my team and I was looking to recruit you but alas a highly ranked team got to you first.

Ezgi: I also want to give my OQL UK team (Victoria Phoenix) a shoutout. They are all phenomenal quizzers and

it’s been a lot of fun playing against a (mostly) different cohort of players than OQL USA and seeing how many

UK sitcoms and counties Jeff King and I can keep in our heads.

Tim: Have you ever been on a game show and if not, are you trying out for any?

Ezgi: I was fortunate enough to appear on Jeopardy! in the fall of 2015. I’ll admit that I did not prepare for my appearance at all – which I would do differently now in hindsight – but it was still a blast and I carry many wonderful memories of the day. I’m not currently trying out for any game shows – just chasing bragging rights in the OQL-verse!

Tim: How do you put the special punctuation marks on your last name with an American keyboard?

Ezgi: I have a Turkish keyboard setting that I toggle to on all my devices. Once I’ve toggled to the Turkish

keyboard, on an American QWERTY keyboard, the Ü is the “]” (closed bracket) key and the Ğ is the “[”

(open bracket) key.

Tim: Do you play bar trivia every week and if so, where?

Ezgi: I do try to play bar trivia once a week but my friends and I change locations in the Raleigh-Durham area

based on the specific weeknight we’re all available in a given week. 

Tim: Last year I recall during a friendly, you mentioned you had seen my friend John Walker at one of your trivia nights.   You have been one of the best OQL Players in recent seasons. What did you think of your nomination for All Things Quiz Breakthrough Quizzer of the Year?

Ezgi: I was extremely honored to be considered among the other nominees and to just be on the same ballot as

some of the all-time greats in our community. Thank you, once again, to Gareth and the All Things Quiz team

for putting this together for our community each year.

( I would have liked to have seen her win and I had encouraged a lot of my friends and colleagues to vote for her. )

Tim: What are your other hobbies besides trivia?

Ezgi: “Reading” is probably not the most original answer for someone who likes trivia, but I would say that’s

my favorite activity besides testing my own knowledge. I also try to volunteer at the Food Bank of Central and

Eastern North Carolina as much as possible. And my COQL teammate Danielle and I see a lot of regional and local theater productions – we are lucky to have many great companies and theaters in the

Research Triangle area.

Tim: What movies did you watch in 2023 and which are your favorites? Who do you want to win in this year’s

Oscars?

Ezgi: I still have a bit of work to do before the Oscars, but of what I’ve seen, I think I most enjoyed watching

The Holdovers. At the risk of sounding cliche, I like movies that can make me laugh and cry, and Paul Giamatti and

Da’Vine Joy Randolph’s performances gave me moments of both. But, as I said, I haven’t seen more

than half of the Best Picture Noms, so take my review with a grain of salt!

(personally I think Godzilla Minus One deserves more recognition.)

Tim: If you could play trivia and have dinner with any five people in history dead or alive, whom would you

choose?

Ezgi: This is definitely your hardest question, Tim! I guess one answer (of many) to this question would be to

pick five badass women whom I’ve learned about and researched more thanks to my trivia hobby:

Wilma Mankiller, Sophie Germain, Lynn Conway, Marian Anderson, and Yayoi Kusama. And I think they’d

make for a very well-rounded trivia team!

Tim: Are you going to 2024 SporcleCon and if so, can you be on Cognoscenti Concinnity if they happen to go?

Ezgi: I am not sure if I’ll be able to attend, but I would be honored to join Cognoscenti Concinnity if so.

(As of this writing, Ezgi Ustundag signed a deal to play for CON TC in the Quiz Nations Global league).