Skip to main content

Pork Roll sandwiches (Taylor Ham's version) with Amy Rey

I recently caught up with Pop Solos Friendly Coordinator Amy Rey. She made OQLUSA TOTW in Week 7.  She also plays on my Regions team and live trivia octet Boyz II Menehune.  We competed at Quizzo Bowl XVII and XVIII finishing second and fourth. I still cannot get over losing the one in 2022. 


Rich: How did you first get into OQL? Did you ever think online quizzing would be this popular?



Rey: I had no idea the world of online quizzing even existed! Like a few other folks, I started with an appearance on Jeopardy! and then saw a post in the WOJ (Women of Jeopardy) FB group about forming teams for OQL, and became part of the amazing Boss Ass Bitches (BABS). It came in the heart of the pandemic, when my extroverted self was struggling mightily with being trapped at home, and I truly believe my new community helped save my sanity.

I hope the popularity of online quizzing continues to grow - whenever I tell people who don’t know about it that these leagues exist, they always seem excited. 



Rich: Online quizzing saved my sanity as well during the pandemic. Do you play bar trivia regularly every week? If so, where?



Rey: I don’t play in person trivia weekly, but I do as often as I can! Sometimes with family when they are visiting from out of town, sometimes with WOJ when I’m traveling for work, sometimes with OQL buddies in NYC, and occasionally with fellow OQLer Jeffrey Seguritan, who lives in my town. Unfortunately, the pickings are slim in the Princeton area.




Rich: What was it like being on Jeopardy!? How has it changed your life?




Rey: It was honestly one of the best days of my life. Even though I was on during the pandemic (before the vaccines were widely available), and so instead of a green room, we ate granola bars 10 ft apart in an alley outside the HVAC! But it was a dream come true, and I focused on truly enjoying the moment. And as I mentioned, Jeopardy introduced me to a wide, wonderful community of trivia lovers! 



Rich: Any other gameshow aspirations?



Rey: I’ve tried for a couple since. Got fairly far with Trivial Pursuit, but was ghosted after I was told I made it. We formed an awesome team to audition for Pop Culture Jeopardy - so fingers crossed for the Pawnee Goddesses. 



Rich: Besides trivia, what are your other hobbies?



Rey: I love completing Lego sets - I probably have 20+ sets around the house. I have a full Lego town with a movie theater, French restaurant, and more (I’m building the grand hotel right now); a Lego Disney castle; Sesame Street and Simpson houses; and a Lego Starry Night folks can see when I play Zoom trivia.

I’m also a big Broadway fan, and I try to see at least one show a month.

I guess running is also a hobby, as I do it regularly and have done a couple dozen half marathons (and one full), but to be honest, it’s not something I truly enjoy - I do it mostly for health. 



Rich: What are the top five highlights of your trivia experience, either as an individual or as part of a team?



Rey:

  1. Jeopardy!

  2. Playing with my amazing OQL team, BABS! 

  3. Both SporcleCons

  4. Coordinating the Pop Solo Friendlies each week. I get to interact with lots of amazing trivia folks, and I love to see the enthusiasm of the writers and the players!

  5. Being on the founding committee for a new trivia league - QuIP - with an amazing group. We are so excited to create a fun, inclusive, and welcoming trivia community with a new spin on format. 



Rich: Who is your favorite Star Wars character; who is your favorite Disney character, who is your favorite Marvel character?



Rey: My favorite Star Wars character is Darth Vader. His story arc, particularly the redemption in Return of the Jedi was such an impactful movie moment for me as a kid.

As you know, I am pretty Disney-obsessed, so it’s really hard for me to pick one favorite. My favorite movie is Up. I think Rapunzel and Mulan are probably up there in my favorites. I also love Goofy!

I love so many characters in the MCU - Spider-man, Cap, Antman. But my favorite is probably Rocket Racoon. So funny, and I’m a sucker for a gruff exterior with a heart of gold.




Rich: What are your 5 favorite Broadway musicals of all time as well as your 5 favorite plays?

I’m definitely more of a musical vs. play fan, but here goes:




Rey: Les Mis (I’ve seen it almost 20 times)

Hamilton

Avenue Q

West Side Story

Little Shop of Horrors


Jerusalem

The Farnsworth Invention

The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?

12 Angry Men

Art



Rich: If you could have dinner and play trivia with any five people from history (dead or alive), who would they be? 




Rey: Well, for me, trivia is all about FUN, so I think I’d want to play with some of my favorite comedians (some might also be pretty decent at trivia). Hard to narrow it, but let’s say George Carlin, Tina Fey, John Mulaney, Hasan Minhaj, and a new favorite - Dulcé Sloan.




Rich: What movies did you see in 2024 and which of them deserve Oscars?



Rey: We’re only halfway through, so I’m not sure I’m handing out Oscars yet. And I’m pretty behind on my movies - Civil War, The Challengers, and I Saw the TV Glow are all on my list, but I haven’t gotten to them yet. 

I really enjoyed Hitman, and it won me over to Glen Powell. Furiosa was good, but not great. Fall Guy was a very enjoyable comedy, but not Oscar material. I saw Dune 2, and it was beautiful, but not engaging for me.





Rich: Who was on your SporcleCon Battle of the Brains team and what was that experience like in 2022 and 2023? 




Rey: I had an amazing team of WOJ (Women of Jeopardy)! It varied a bit from 2022 to 2023, but I played with Kate Waits, Cyndi Mundt, Bridget McNulty, Emily Hogg, Abby Furnish, Lisa Cech, & Jaclyn Chancey. We had a blast and really complemented each other knowledge-wise. In 2022, we tied for the 6th place score, which was AMAZING! (ended up a little lower in ranking on the tie breaker)




Rich: What is the dining scene like in your city and what is your favorite cuisine and beverage?




Rey: I’m out in the suburbs, so not the bustle of the city, but Princeton has a really nice selection of restaurants. The Bent Spoon in Princeton has the best ice cream I’ve ever had.
My favorite cuisine is Mexican, but I’m also highly partial to the NJ favorite of pork roll, egg, and cheese on a hard roll (with ketchup, salt & pepper of course)!

I’m not a drinker, but if we’re having pork roll for breakfast, I’ll sip a bellini :) 





Rich: What are your favorite sports teams and who is your favorite female and male athlete of all time? 





Rey: NY Giants all the way! People think it’s strange, because I’m also a Jets fan, but I always explain that it was easier to get Jets tickets when I was a kid, so my Dad and I ended up at a lot of Jets games. Luckily now he has season tickets to the Giants, so I get to go to a good number of games, but the Jets keep a special place in my heart as perennial underdogs.


Barry Sanders is my all time favorite - not a Giant, but just the best running back I’ve ever seen play the game.


Simone Biles is truly one of the greatest athletes of all time, across all sports. I love her even more for making the hard choice to step away when she needed to for her mental health. I can’t wait to see her this summer!




Rich: Please tell us about your SporcleCon event and how that came to be.



Rey: Thanks so much for asking this. I will be moderating “Quizzing for All: A Roundtable Discussion about Inclusion in Quiz” on the Saturday afternoon of SporcleCon.
Since I joined the quizzing community, it has been my experience that it can sometimes be a challenging place to feel comfortable as a woman (often the only woman in a game). I’ve heard similar feedback, even more so, about participating as a POC. There have also been spirited conversations about how inclusive and representative trivia content is and how (and if) the canon should be expanded. I want to bring this conversation to a wider audience and hear from different voices in trivia. I hope it will be a powerful discussion and one that will be valuable in exposing folks to a wider range of perspectives.



Rich: How has your experience with Regions been so far?




Rey: This year has been great! I love having you, Jeffrey, Liz, Mykal, and Jillian on my team! I enjoyed it last year and really liked all of my teammates, but as a lower-performing player, I felt stress playing with folks I didn’t know as well - I was always worried about disappointing. Playing with a team I know and am comfortable with has allowed me to do what I prefer in trivia - make it all about the fun! I also thought the June “twist” was really interesting.



Rich: I think in the June "twist", you made TOTM. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pho with Scott Blish

  By Tim Rich I recently caught up with Scott Blish of Taco Belly Rubs. He is The Man in the quizzing world, having led OQLUSA in scoring on seven occasions. I’ve played in friendlies and league matches against his team and it's astounding how many facts the man knows. In Week 5, he posted a 25(7) although I would’ve settled for the eye pleasing 24(7). I caught up with him in Ybor city recently and we had virtual pho while chatting about trivia. Rich: When did you first get into trivia?  Blish : When I was in seventh grade, the school librarian at Thomas Edison Junior-Senior HS in Elmira Heights, NY, who doubled as the school academic team coach, came and grabbed me out of a classroom and bundled me onto a bus with a bunch of seniors to attend our local televised regional academic tournament. I was very surprised when he designated me as a starter, and even more surprised when I answered half the questions in the game and we defeated a school five times our size for our first...
1 comment
Read more

Burritos and Barbacoas with Jasmine Leonas

  by Tim Rich   I recently caught up with Jasmine Leonas who made TOTW in Week 10. I went out to the Mile High City and sat down and talked about trivia and other viable topics. I had the Korean Beef Barbacoa at Dos Santos in Denver. Rich:  This is your first TOTW in Week 10. How did you like the set and what stood out for you? Leonas: I don’t remember! I tend to immediately dump questions from my brain right after the game ends. I do remember getting the vague sense during the game that the content felt very friendly to my wheelhouses, and thankfully a lot of them fell directly in my seat. I have long argued that all trivia has an element of luck to it. You better your chances by studying and reading and absorbing new information, but you have no control over the questions you’re asked. You can know a little about everything and then a lot about a few things, and then when those few things hit you all at once in a game, it’s a glorious feeling.  Rich:  It must ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Chicken and cheese tamales with Nick Salyers

by Tim Rich   I recently met up with Nick Salyers in San Antonio to chat about trivia and other topics. He recently made TOTW in OQL USA. I decided to have a virtual dinner with him at Biga, the best restaurant on the River Walk. Rich:  How did you first get into trivia as a hobby? Salyers: I would say I first got into trivia as a hobby in early 2020 when I joined LearnedLeague during the pandemic. Prior to that, most of my trivia-related activities were limited to watching game shows (I was a latchkey kid and GSN was my babysitter), going out to pub trivia when my friends felt like it, and attending one quizbowl practice in grad school that I left in the middle of after the captain would belittle us every single time a question went dead. I first found out about LearnedLeague in 2014/2015 when I read a Washington Post article about the league and I thought it sounded cool and wanted to join, but I had zero connections at the time. When the pandemic hit, I was bored one day a...
Post a Comment
Read more