TALKING TRIVIA

  I recently caught up with Ann Gavaghan who made TOTM in August for USA Regions. She plays for the Philly Jawns in that league as well as The Motley Crew in OQL USA. We met up at The Tasty, a vegan diner in South Philly for a yummy breakfast where I also interviewed her on trivia and other topics. Tim: Please tell me about your TOTM Regionals performance in August. What seat were you and what stood out? Ann:  I was seat 3B, and thanks to my captain for putting me there. The new Regions structure of pairing certain categories was a help this month, because I lucked out with two categories that happened to fall in my wheelhouse of pop culture. Trivia is about knowing many things, but a lot of quizzing is about getting the right questions at the right time.  Tim: How did you first get into trivia as a hobby? What are your first memories of it? Ann: I did Academic Decathlon in high school, although that combined straight trivia alongside things like public speaking and inter...

I recently caught up with Bern Samko of Plush Toys Of the Apocalypse.She made TOTW in Week 11 and Week 12.  She has played numerous friendlies that I have been a part of as well as other online games. One of the best was the Big Quiz Thing food quiz where I had the pleasure of playing with her, Jayanthi, Mykal and Taryn. Rich:  You made TOTW in Week 11. Was that your best score ever? What did you like about the set? Also you got 16(7) in the cup Week 1. Which question caused you to miss the full house? Samko: The Week 11 TOTW was a complete surprise. I played well, but Josh Heit was the real star of our team that week with 21(6) and I certainly didn’t think my 11(5) was exceptional. My favorite pairs in that set were the sideline reporters and the short scrabble words. It definitely wasn’t my best score ever, which was a 17(7) way back in season 7. I’ll never forget it because the answer to my last direct was “Georgetown” and I said “Jonestown”. Two very different things! In t...

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...