TALKING TRIVIA

I recently virtually ventured down to Austin, Texas to meet up with Jayanthi Martins of Plush Toy of the Apocalypse.  She is one of my favorite people in Quizzing, a good friend, and made TOTW in Week 9 of Season 12 of OQL-USA. Rich: Congrats on TOTW. What about the seat you were in stood out to you?  Martins:  Thank you. There were 2 “level 3/4” questions in the seat that really suited me- Maison Margiela  and Aya Nakamura .  Even though I am not necessarily a fashionista, I like keeping up with fashion news, and I enjoy world music, and Nakamura is on my Spotify playlist. I believe cracking these two helped me get on the podium. I had no shot on Jujitsu Kaisen or  Starfield.  I hope to score a full house one day. I came close in regions once with 7, but this feat continues to elude me. Rich: How did you first get into OQL? Martins: My path to OQL is very similar to many others in the group. I did things in reverse, and learned about it in the Je...

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 alw...

by Tim Rich Mr. Grant DeYoung made TOTW in OQLUSA S12 WK 3 the same time he appeared on TV on Jeopardy! After my jaunt to Canada, I flew down to Prescott, AZ and met up for pizza with the four time recent champ.  Rich:  How did you first get into trivia? DeYoung: I’ve never not been into trivia. Some of my earliest memories revolve around it, mostly through the lens of game shows.  I remember watching Jeopardy! very young and being excited when the background of the set changed from blue to red before the second round. I’ve seen home movies of me using a Sit-n-Spin toy to host mock Wheel of Fortune games (Big Money! Big Money Pat - peeeeeeeeooooooooowww [Bankrupt Wedge noise]).  We would spend summers with my grandparents when I was young, and they would put the Regis Philbin-lead Who Wants to be a Millionaire? on in the living room and its knockoff rival Greed on the bedroom TV, and watch with great delight as five-year-old me raced down the long hallway separatin...