TALKING TRIVIA and SHOP

by Tim Rich   I recently caught up with Ted Van Houten who recently made TOTW in Week 9. It took me awhile to get through the busy Beltway traffic but I met him for a virtual lunch at Deli City in Washington DC. We talked about OQL-USA team of the week, trivia, and other fine subjects. Rich: How did you first get into trivia as a hobby? What are your first memories of it? Van Houten: I’ve always loved game shows, museums, and learning new things. One of my earliest memories was a spelling bee I competed in as a second grader at St. Bernardine’s Catholic School in Forest Park, Illinois. Each grade between first and fourth grades sent two students, and I made the final three with the two fourth graders. I got eliminated when I missed the word “priest”, which was a little embarrassing then but funny now. But I was ultimately proud I could hang with the older kids, and was my first indication I’d be good at stuff like that. Rich: When did you first get into OQL? What team did you join...

by Tim Rich   I recently caught up with Patrick Hope who had a full house and made TOTW in week 7 of OQL USA. Mr. Hope lives in Helena. I ordered the All That Jazz Po' Boy from Cafe Zydeco where we had our virtual interview. Rich: How did you first get into trivia? What are your favorite subjects and least favorite subjects? Hope: The first real trivia competition I got into was the Geography Bee, which I did from 5th-8th grade.  It also ended up being the only time I got to meet Alex Trebek, sadly.  Organized high school quiz bowl in North Dakota was, and still is, pretty much nonexistent.  We had one competition per year with some very byzantine rules like “you will be marked wrong for spelling mistakes or not underlining titles.”  I also got pulled onto our school’s team for the National Science Bowl where we won State, went to Nationals in DC, and then didn’t win a single match.  I didn’t even realize college quiz bowl was a thing until I went to the ...

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...