Getting On a Game Show

About.com has an excellent article titled Want to Be a Game Show Contestant? I don't know how often they will be updating the page, but it currently holds an excellent collection of information and advice for Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?, Don't Forget the Lyrics, Jeopardy!, Trivial Pursuit: America Plays, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, and several non-trivia television shows. Good luck!

Catch 21 - Random Trivia Answers

• A1) A) Chignon. It's a roll of hair by the neck. A ganache is a type of icing, while an aperitif means an appetizer.
• A2) B) Citizen Kane. Site and Sound concurs, ranking the movie #1 every decade from 1962 to 2002.
• A3) B) Bob Dylan. The eleven-time Grammy winner earned a Special Citation for his "profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power" earlier this year.
• A4) Tyra Banks. The Californian was also the first to grace the cover of GQ.
• A5) C) Pees Outside. Kutcher and Moore, 15 years his senior, tied the knot on September 24, 2005.
• A6) C) Dumped Water on Her Ex's Lawyer. She also shouted at Fiona Shackleton, "You're a traitor to your sex! How could you do this to another woman?" and other things that aren't repeatable here.
• A7) A) Bob. In addition to being a singer, the Barbados native is also a model and fashion designer.
• A8) C) Flying Fence Post. John Slattery's character lasted for most of the 2007 season before his unusual exit.
• A9) A) Florentine. The second choice should have been the cooking term "julienne", not the female name.
• A10) Samantha. PR agent Samantha Jones is a non-stop flirt who neither seeks nor offers commitment.
• A11) B) Labrador Retriever. One contestant buzzed in before any choices were given, and just missed with "Golden Retriever".
• A12) B) UFO. The Ohio representative joined other famous UFO sighters Jackie Gleason, Jimmy Carter, Muhammad Ali, and William Shatner.

Catch 21 - Random Trivia Questions

This week's quiz features an unbiased, random sample of questions from recent episodes of the new Catch 21 game show.

Catch 21 Questions

• Q1) Which [of the following] is a hairstyle?

  A) Chignon

  B) Ganache

  C) Aperitif

• Q2) In 2007, which movie ranked number on in the American Film Institute's Top 100 movies of all time list?

  A) The Godfather

  B) Citizen Kane

  C) Finding Nemo

• Q3) Who is the first rock musician to win a Pulitzer Prize?

  A) Neil Young

  B) Bob Dylan

  C) Sting

• Q4) Who was the first African American to appear solo on the cover of a Sports Illustrated edition? [question cut off]

• Q5) What does Hollywood heartthrob Ashton Kutcher say he does to feel like a caveman?

  A) Eats Raw Meat

  B) Throws Demi Moore over His Shoulder

  C) Pees Outside

• Q6) What did Paul McCartney's ex, Heather Mills, do when she was awarded fifty million dollars during their divorce proceedings?

  A) Kissed Her Attorney on the Lips

  B) Sobbed Uncontrollably

  C) Dumped Water on Her Ex's Lawyer

• Q7) Grammy-winning singer Rihanna is best known for what hair style?

  A) Bob

  B) Beehive

  C) Bouffant

• Q8) On the show Desperate Housewives, Victor, Gabrielle's second husband, was killed by what?

  A) Runaway Car

  B) Food Poisoning

  C) Flying Fence Post

• Q9) Which name refers to a dish made with spinach? [choices were read first]

  A) Florentine

  B) Julianne [sic]

  C) Al Dente

• Q10) What character on Sex and the City calls herself "trisexual" because she'll try anything? [question cut off]

• Q11) According to the American Kennel Club, what has been the most popular breed of dog in the U.S. for the past ten years?

  A) Yorkshire Terrier

  B) Labrador Retriever

  C) Shih Tzu

• Q12) During a 2007 Democratic presidential debate, Dennis Kucinich admitted he had seen what?

  A) Angel

  B) UFO

  C) Hillary in a Skirt

Catch 21 Review

Name	Catch 21
Original Run	July 2008 to present
Host	Alfonso Ribieiro
Length	Half hour
Currently On	GSN (check your local listings)
IMDB	Main entry

Description: Catch 21, like Card Sharks (1978-89 and 2001-02) alternates between trivia and card game play. Unlike the older show, however, Catch 21 asks its contestants trivia questions and features a much more interesting card game. Each correct answer allows the player to keep or pass the revealed playing card in an attempt to reach a total of 21 points, blackjack-style. When in control of the cards, a player can also freeze his or her total to avoid being busted by an opponent. If all but one contestant is frozen, that player continues to receive cards until reaching 21 or over.

Trivia Rounds: Play begins with three players. Each question has three multiple choices, with the options sometimes being read before the question and sometimes not at all if a contestant buzzes in early. Correct answers are worth 100 points, while winning a round with 21 or the highest score under 21 is worth 500 points. The two players with the highest scores after two rounds advance to the head-to-head round, which follows the same rules.

Bonus Round: The winner of the heads-up round earns $1,000 and a chance at $25,000 in a non-trivia round. The contestant simultaneously tries to complete three hands of 21, with one power chip, the option to pass on a card, for each early round won. Getting 21 once wins $1,000, twice wins $5,000, and thrice wins $25,000, but busting on any of the hands forfeits all bonus money.

Conclusion: Catch 21 adds a fairly strong strategic element missing from most trivia game shows. Although the prizes are small -- the odds of winning the maximum are very slim -- the trivia contains a mix of easy and medium-difficulty questions, and the game play is reasonably complicated (around the order of proper Final Jeopardy betting technique). The show asks questions about recent poll results from magazines and web sites occasionally, but if you're a Card Sharks or Family Feud fan, the break from real trivia won't bother you at all.

Trivial Pursuit: America Plays - Random Trivia Answers

• A1) Australia. Also known as Uluru, the sandstone slab juts up over a fifth of a mile and covers nearly six square miles.
• A2) Wilson. Wilson was the Gipper's mother Nelle's maiden name.
• A3) Blue whale. The huge mammal's buoyancy allowed it to grow larger than even the biggest land-bound dinosaurs.
• A4) Arrows. The verb "quiver", meaning "to shake", is etymologically unrelated.
• A5) St. Croix, St. John, and/or St. Thomas. This question ended the episode it appeared on. Because the contestant was more than $5,000 behind the America team, the final question was never asked (shortening the show but denying the team a chance at some extra money).
• A6) Dana Carvey. The Church Chat hostess was the breakout hit for the Montana-born comedian.
• A7) Elvis Costello. The English musician combined Elvis Presley's first name (his manager's idea) with his great grandmother's name.
• A8) Usher. "Moving Mountains" reached #18 on the Billboard R&B charts while "My Way" peaked at #4 and topped the Singles Sales chart.
• A9) Jamaica. Jamaican Marcus Garvey is considered to be a prophet of the religion.
• A10) Annapolis. The city of only 36,000 people is home to the U.S. Naval Academy.
• A11) Ford. India's Tata Motors acquired the luxury car company on June 2, 2008.
• A12) Korea. The "foot fist way" has been an Olympic sport since 2000.

Trivial Pursuit: America Plays - Random Trivia Questions

This week's questions are an unbiased sampling of questions from recent episodes of the new television game show Trivial Pursuit: America Plays. Enjoy.

Trivial Pursuit: America Plays Questions

• Q1) The World ($450): What country are you visiting if you're standing at Ayers Rock?
• Q2) History ($400): What was President Ronald Reagan's middle name?
• Q3) Hot Pursuit [no category] ($500): What species of whale is the largest animal ever to inhabit the planet?
• Q4) Hot Pursuit [no category] ($500): What items are usually found in a container called a quiver?
• Q5) Islands ($4000): Name 2 of the United States Virgin Islands.
• Q6) Entertainment ($450): What comedian played the character Church Lady on "Saturday Night Live"?
• Q7) Hot Pursuit [no category] ($500): What singer and songwriter's real name is Declan McManus?
• Q8) R&B ($2000): Which R&B superstar recorded the songs "Moving Mountains" and "My Way"?
• Q9) Whatever ($400): In what country did the Rastafari movement begin?
• Q10) Travel ($350): What's the capital of Maryland?
• Q11) Hot Pursuit [no category] ($500): What American car company sold off its Jaguar division in 2008?
• Q12) Martial Arts ($2000): In what country did the martial art tae kwon do originate?

Trivial Pursuit: America Plays Review

Name	Trivial Pursuit: America Plays
Original Run	September 2008 to present
Host	Christopher Knight (yes, Peter Brady all grown up)
Length	Half hour
Currently On	Syndicated (weekdays at 4:00 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. on WFXT in Boston, Massachusetts)
IMDB	Main entry

Description: Trivial Pursuit: America Plays brings the current trivia boom full circle, returning to the original board game for its theme. Three studio contestants compete against each other and a "team" made up of the general public, who pose short-answer trivia questions through video recordings (a live "captain" also asks a question, but otherwise has no special power). To win, a contestant needs to not only defeat the other two competitors but outscore the "America" team. Every question has its dollar value added to the Studio pot on each correct answer and to the America pot on each incorrect answer.

Opening Round: A toss-up "All Play" question from the America team is shown, with the first contestant to buzz in getting a shot at answering. A correct answer earns a pie wedge and first shot at answering the next question. If nobody responds correctly, another toss-up question is asked. The first two studio contestants to earn wedges in three different categories advance.

Hot Pursuit Round: The two surviving contestants compete to fill in the three remaining wedges in their pies, but categories are no longer important (I suppose they made that change from the original board game to speed play up). The winner advances, and the loser goes home.

Final Round: In the Head-to-Head versus America round, the questions still have category names, but there are no wedges to earn. Six categories are randomly selected to match a fixed set of dollar amounts: $500, $1000, $2000, $3000, $4000, and $5000. The remaining contestant attempts to end up with a larger pot than the America team. The game ends when there are no more questions or the contestant can no longer catch America.

Conclusion: Trivial Pursuit: America Plays is a fun game show that gives everyone a chance at winning a little bit of cash. Because the questions are asked by people around the country, the entertainment category is heavily overweighted. The difficulty levels cover a reasonable Who Wants to Be a Millionaire gamut from super-easy-$100-ish to fairly-difficult-million-dollar-ish questions, leaning toward the easy side. The prizes are small by modern game-show standards; in-studio contestants can earn around ten to twenty thousand dollars, while players on the America team can split that amount ten to twenty ways or roughly $1,000 each.

Like The Weakest Link, the contestants work together to build the Studio pot while still hoping to win the race for pie wedges. As a viewer, you may find yourself rooting for a particular contestant or against all of the studio competitors and for America, especially if one of the video questioners hails from your area.

You can try to become a contestant if you live near Los Angeles or are willing to travel there, or you can try to join the America team by submitting a video of your question.

New Who Wants to Be a Millionaire - Random Trivia Answers

• A1) A) Air conditioner. Contestant Ellene Weber of Minneapolis, Minnesota had to Ask the Audience here, probably because the pressure of the 15-second timer got to her. Ninety-five percent of the audience set her straight.
• A2) D) The Love Guru. Chopra claimed the critics were bashing the movie based on only its 150-second trailer, but he is rather biased by having a cameo appearance in the film.
• A3) B) Javier Bardem. The Spaniard was named Best Supporting Actor for his role as Anton Chigurh in No Country for Old Men.
• A4) B) The Lone Ranger. The Lone Ranger television series used Gioachino Rossini's music as its theme song.
• A5) D) Sudan. Weber crashed out on this question after her Phone a Friend dad Lloyd waveringly claimed he was 100% sure it was Somalia.
• A6) C) 1926. "Sesquicentennial" means every 150 years.
• A7) B) Justice Alito. The four justices are John Paul Stevens, Samuel Alito, David Souter, and Stephen Breyer.
• A8) A) Professional fighter. Mixed martial artist Kimbo Slice, born as Kevin Ferguson, is won his first three professional MMA fights, but was dropped in a mere 14 seconds by last-minute substitute Seth Petruzelli on October 4, 2008.
• A9) C) New York Jets. The New York audience only barely favored the correct answer with 37% of the votes, but stand-up comic Lawrence Thomas trusted their local knowledge.
• A10) B) Clam. Californian Lawrence Thomas relied on his Ask the Expert lifeline, but Bill Nye (the Science Guy) was only able to incorrectly guess Sausage.
• A11) B) Minneapolis, MN. Contestant Eric Cunningham from Brooklyn, New York, used his Ask the Expert lifeline to poll Nye, who gave a 50% to 90% confidence rating to what turned out to be the correct answer.
• A12) C) John Milton. Cunningham decided to bail here instead of guessing.

New Who Wants to Be a Millionaire - Random Trivia Questions

The following questions were all taken from episodes of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire that aired this week.

New Who Wants to Be a Millionaire Questions

• Q1) Appliances ($300): Room size, sun exposure and ceiling height are all factors to consider when selecting a what?

  A) Air conditioner	B) Vacuum cleaner
  C) Microwave oven	D) Washing machine

• Q2) Recent Movies ($2,000): In 2008, writer Deepak Chopra publicly defended what comedy film against claims that it was insulting to Hindus?

  A) Hellboy II	B) Hancock
  C) Baby Mama	D) The Love Guru

• Q3) The Oscars ($4,000): In a 2008 Oscar speech, what actor joked that their award-winning role had required "one of the most horrible haircuts in history"?

  A) Tilda Swinton	B) Javier Bardem
  C) Daniel Day-Lewis	D) Marion Cotillard

• Q4) Famous Quotes ($8,000): Dan Rather once famously defined an intellectual as "someone who can listen to the William Tell Overture and not think of" whom?

  A) Superman	B) The Lone Ranger
  C) Captain Kirk	D) Perry Mason

• Q5) African Geography ($8,000): Darfur is located in what African country?

  A) Angola	B) Nigeria
  C) Somalia	D) Sudan

• Q6) Anniversaries ($16,000): In what year did America celebrate the sesquicentennial anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence?

  A) 1826	B) 1851
  C) 1926	D) 1951

• Q7) The Supreme Court ($16,000): What Supreme Court justice could accurately introduce himself using the famous Dr. Seuss line "I am Sam, Sam I am"?

  A) Justice Stevens	B) Justice Alito
  C) Justice Souter	D) Justice Breyer

• Q8) Who Am I? ($25,000): Who is Kimbo Slice?

  A) Professional fighter	B) Heavy metal drummer
  C) U.S. Army general	D) Celebrity chef

• Q9) Sports ($25,000): Airing thirty-five years apart, the first and last ABC Monday Night Football games both ended with what team losing 31-21?

  A) Miami Dolphins	B) Green Bay Packers
  C) New York Jets	D) Dallas Cowboys

• Q10) Jazz ($50,000): Which of these terms do jazz musicians use to refer to a musical mistake, such as a missed or wrong note?

  A) Squash	B) Clam
  C) Sausage	D) Cabbage

• Q11) Politics ($100,000): In 2008, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama squared off in Democratic presidential debates in all but which of these cities?

  A) Austin, TX	B) Minneapolis, MN
  C) Cleveland, OH	D) Philadelphia, PA

• Q12) Word Origins ($250,000): Who coined the word "pandemonium" as a name for the capital of Hell?

  A) St. Augustine	B) Dante Alighieri
  C) John Milton	D) William Blake

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire Review

In 2008, the syndicated version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire made some changes to help contestants win the grand prize, which has remained elusive since Nancy Christy became a millionaire over five years ago (May 8, 2003).

Name	Who Wants to Be a Millionaire
Original Run	September 2002 to present
Host	Meredith Vieira
Length	Half hour
Currently On	Syndicated (weekdays at 12:30 p.m. on WCVB in Boston, Massachusetts; check your local listings)
IMDB	Main entry

Description: Who Wants to Be a Millionaire debuted in the U.K. in 1998 and moved to the U.S. in 1999 with Regis Philbin hosting. Meredith Vieira took over in 2002 for the syndicated version, which dropped the Fastest Finger contest for selecting contestants. In 2008, the show briefly used a 10-question format, starting players with a guaranteed $1,000, then went to the format presented here.

• # of Questions: 15 ($100-$200-$300-$500-$1,000-$2,000-$4,000-$8,000-$16,000-$25,000-$50,000-$100,000-$250,000-$500,000-$1,000,000). The category names of all of the questions are now provided to the contestant at the beginning of the game. This can greatly impact the use your lifelines and the decision to go on or quit.
• # of Lifelines: 4
  • Ask the Audience: The original lifeline remains especially useful for lower-valued, entertainment, and current events questions.
  • Phone a Friend: The contestant's three potential choices are now displayed with their pictures on the screen before the thirty-second telephone call is made.
  • Double Dip: This new lifeline, which gives the contestant two shots at the answer to a question, had been introduced during Who Wants to Be a Super Millionaire in 2004 and replaced the less useful 50/50 lifeline (which, by the way, was intentionally unhelpful during Regis's run but supposedly completely random during Meredith's).
  • Ask the Expert: This new lifeline, earned by correctly answering the $1,000 question, replaced the Switch the Question lifeline. Bill Nye was this week's celebrity expert.
• Timer: A clock has been added to speed up the show. The timer, which is stopped while the question is being read (but not the choices) and when lifelines are being used, has the following limits:
  • $100 to $1,000 questions: 15 seconds
  • $2,000 to $25,000 questions: 30 seconds
  • $50,000 to $500,000 questions: 45 seconds
  • $1,000,000 question: 45 seconds PLUS all time saved on previous questions.

Conclusion: The recent modifications to Who Wants to Be a Millionaire will certainly increase the chance of someone winning big both by speeding up gameplay, therefore allowing more contestants per show, and by providing more useful lifelines. Unfortunately, the quality of the contestant pool will remain lower than during Regis's version as long as auditions are mostly restricted to New York City and the prizes aren't raised (the second guaranteed payout used to be $32,000, so figuring in inflation, it should have been raised to $40,000 instead of dropped to $25,000). The next logical step will be to reduce the difficulty of the questions, so I hope there's a million dollar winner soon before that happens.

Russian Roulette - Random Trivia Answers

• A1) Dolly Parton. The country Tennessee titan topped the Billboard Country Singles chart with the song in 1974.
• A2) E. "A" is a dot followed by a dash, and "T" is a dash.
• A3) The DeFeos. Jay Anson's book was published in September 1977, and the first movie version was a box-office smash two years later.
• A4) Ionosphere. The highest level of the atmosphere is named for the ionization of the air caused by the sun's radiation.
• A5) The Cotton Club. Fletcher Henderson and Duke Ellington both gained fame with their bands at the club in the 1920s.
• A6) June. Chicago dentist Bernard J. Cigrand first held the first observance in 1885 and later pushed for national recognition, which was unofficially granted by Woodrow Wilson in 1916 and officially as law in 1949.
• A7) Younger. Cole, John, Jim, and Bob Younger joined the James brothers and other confederates in crime.
• A8) Broccoli. On January 20, 1998, President George H.W. Bush admitted on The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, "I do not like broccoli. And I haven't liked it since I was a little kid and my mother made me eat it, and I'm President of the United States. And I'm not going to eat any more broccoli."
• A9) True. Apparently there weren't any signs in the Russian Roulette studio because the contestant counted nine letters and promptly disappeared.
• A10) Nathan Hale. British General William Howe ordered Hale hanged on September 22, 1776 for espionage.
• A11) Bonzo. In the 1951 movie Bedtime for Bonzo, the actor's character Professor Peter Boyd borrows a chimpanzee from his school's science department to prove to his potential future father-in-law that nurture can overcome nature (Boyd's father was a criminal).
• A12) German Measles. The viral disease usually is not very serious, passing in one to five days.

Russian Roulette - Random Trivia Questions

This week's quiz comes from two very early episodes of the game show, both of which aired on June 3, 2002 according to TiVo. The first dozen odd-numbered questions (running to the middle of the second episode) are given below. Would you have kept your feet under you?

Russian Roulette Questions

• Q1) "I Will Always Love You", Whitney Houston's hit song from the movie "The Bodyguard", was written by what performer?
  • Whitney Houston
  • Dolly Parton
  • Willie Nelson
• Q2) A single dot in Morse Code represents what letter of the English alphabet?
  • A
  • E
  • T
• Q3) The legend of the "Amityville Horror" house was based on the real-life murder of what family?
  • The DeFeos
  • The Montcliffs
  • The Luscombs
• Q4) What layer of the earth's atmosphere helps wireless communications by reflecting radio signals?
  • Stratosphere
  • Troposphere
  • Mesosphere
  • Ionosphere
• Q5) Once known as Club de Lux, what Harlem nightclub helped launch the careers of countless jazz greats?
  • The Kit-Cat Club
  • The Cotton Club
  • The Blue Note
  • The Tropicana
• Q6) Flag Day commemorates the adoption of the United States flag on the 14th day of what month?
  • February
  • March
  • June
  • September
• Q7) In 1866, Jesse James formed a criminal gang with 3 brothers from what family?
  • Hickok
  • Dalton
  • Hardin
  • Younger
• Q8) Rearrange the letters in "COOL CRIB" to get the name of a vegetable a lot of kids hate.
• Q9) True or False: There are a total of 8 letters in the 2nd word of the title of the game show you are on right now.
• Q10) The quote, "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country", was first spoken by what famous American?
  • Patrick Henry
  • A[lexander]. Hamilton
  • Nathan Hale
• Q11) Long before he was our President, Ronald Reagan played chump to what chimp in a 1951 movie?
  • Cheetah
  • Bonzo
  • Curious George
  • Bubbles
• Q12) The disease Rubella is more commonly known as what?
  • Small Pox
  • German Measles
  • Chicken Pox
  • Whooping Cough

Russian Roulette Review

This could have been the most violent trivia game ever, but no guns are actually involved. However, the thematic elimination of players by a random spinner does add an entertaining element of luck.

Name	Russian Roulette
Original Run	June 2002 to April 2003
Host	Mark L. Walberg
Length	Half hour
Currently On	Game Show Network (weekdays at 6 p.m.; check your local listings)
IMDB	Main entry

Description: Russian Roulette is a four-person trivia game in which correct answers guarantee your survival, and incorrect answers leave your fate up to a Russian roulette-like spinner. Elimination is the highlight of the show, as the floor instantly drops out from under the contestant, leaving just a moment to wave goodbye or scream (my kids' favorite moment in all of television trivia). Each round ends with the elimination of a player, either after a missed question or when time is up (in the latter case, the player with the highest score is exempt and gets to pull the trigger).

Early Rounds: Each question is presented without its multiple choices to the previous question's winner, who selects an opponent to answer the question. The choices (three in the first round and four later) are then revealed to the selected opponent, who has ten seconds to answer. A correct answer earns money, while an incorrect answer forces the contestant to face the spinner. Initially, the spinner presents a 1-in-6 chance of elimination, but this increases by one drop zone with each question (to a maximum of 5-in-6).

Heads-Up Round: When only two players remain, the format changes so that the player in control is given the option to answer the question (before seeing the choices) or to challenge the opponent. As four choices will be available, this generally means answering the question if you think you know the answer and passing it on if you don't, but it's still an effective twist.

Bonus Round: The show's winner can earn extra money in a 60-second bonus round. The contestant needs to correctly answer ten questions (originally five, which proved to be too easy) without any incorrect answers before time runs out and the sixth drop zone opens up to win an additional $10,000. Any $10,000 winner can then elect to gamble the ten grand on one last shot against the spinner for $100,000. However many safe zones are left (usually one or two), this is always a good bet from a pure probability point of view, but most contestants choose to walk, demonstrating the utility curve of money.

Conclusion: Overall, Russian Roulette is a fun game with easy-to-medium difficulty multiple-choice trivia questions, a well-crafted game flow, and an exciting bang (even the show's winner sometimes leaves abruptly).

Bingo America - Random Trivia Answers

• A1) New Jersey. A decade after the Holland Tunnel, the second Hudson River channel opened on December 22, 1937.
• A2) The Golden Rule. The ethic of reciprocity provides the moral basis for many principles of modern human rights.
• A3) Wisconsin. A wheel of cheese and the cow needed to produce it feature prominently on the state quarter released in 2004.
• A4) The Daily Show. Carell had been with The Daily Show for six years and Helms for four before they joined The Office. Both continued their old roles for a season or more.
• A5) Passions. Although the series has won four Daytime Emmy awards, all of them have been for music or sound.
• A6) Mayonnaise. The name of the condiment derives either from the Spanish town of Mahon or the French word manier, meaning "to blend".
• A7) Harrison Ford. The Falcon was his spaceship in the original Star Wars trilogy, while Air Force One opened in theaters two decades later.
• A8) Mecca. The Five Pillars of Islam also include belief in God and the prophet Muhammad, daily prayers, concern for the needy, and self-purification through fasting.
• A9) Pacific Coast Highway. The name officially refers to the section of State Route 1 between I-5 in Dana Point and U.S. Route 101 near Oxnard.
• A10) Queen. When setting up a chessboard, remember that each queen goes on a square of the same color. The white queen starts on a white square and the black queen on a black square. In addition, remember "white on right"; the near right corner square is white.
• A11) True. Actually, this is False. The singer met the actress in 2002, while the song was written in 2000 and released the following year.
• A12) False. Actually, this is True. Air Force One is always used as the air traffic control call sign of whatever plane the U.S. President is flying in.

This was probably the easiest set of questions ever to appear as a Trivia Why's Random Quiz. Throw in the errors at the end (sadly, during the most important part of the game as far as the contestants were concerned), and you can see why I don't recommend Bingo America.

Bingo America - Random Trivia Questions

This week's random quiz comes from the March 31, 2008 episode (rebroadcast this week) of Bingo America (see my review). The match contained 23 questions, so skipping all of the even-numbered ones leaves the dozen you see (when a round runs long, questions switch format from short-answer to true-or-false [or multiple-choice with two choices]).

Bingo America Questions

• Q1) What state is connected to New York by the Lincoln Tunnel?
• Q2) What rule says, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you"?
• Q3) Which U.S. state is the largest cheese producer?
• Q4) Before Steve Carell and Ed Helms wore ties on The Office, they were correspondents on what fake news show?
• Q5) What daytime soap opera takes place in the fictional New England town of Harmony?
• Q6) What sandwich spread is traditionally made from egg yolk, oil, and lemon juice?
• Q7) Which actor was a carpenter before he took off on Millennium Falcon and Air Force One?
• Q8) According to the Koran, Muslims are asked to make a pilgrimage to what Saudi Arabian city?
• Q9) In 2006, Mel Gibson was pulled over for speeding on what famed California roadway?
• Q10) What is the most powerful and only female piece in the game of chess?
• Q11) True or False: Jennifer Love Hewitt is the inspiration for John Mayer's hit "Your Body Is a Wonderland".
• Q12) True or False: Air Force One is the name of any plane the President flies on.

Bingo America Review

I thought this was going to be a Bingo game when I first heard about it, so it was a pleasant surprise to find out that it's actually a trivia game in disguise. Bingo serves as the overall theme and allows the audience to participate at home filling out game cards.

Name	Bingo America (originally National Bingo Night)
Original Run	May 2007 to present
Host	Patrick Duffy (formerly Ed Sanders et al.)
Length	Half hour
Currently On	Game Show Network (weekdays at 7 p.m. and 11 p.m., weekends at 4:30 p.m.; check your local listings)
IMDB	Current Version and Old Version

Description: Bingo America is a simple head-to-head trivia contest. To win, a player needs to correctly answer a B, I, N, G, and O question to win a round and two out of three rounds to win a game. Each question is preceded by a Bingo ball being randomly drawn from a giant globe, and the letter on the ball dictates what the question will be (the number is used for viewers at home; click on the GSN link above to participate). After the question is read, the players race to buzz in (probably with a Jeopardy!-like lock out system to prevent early clicking) and answer. Correct answers earn the letter on the ball if the player needs it, and the number on the ball is added to the prize pool in dollars.

If the two players split the first two rounds, the third round consists of only five questions, whose answers begin with the letters 'B', 'I', 'N', 'G', and 'O' respectively. Whoever wins three of the five wins the match.

The winner proceeds to a bonus round in which a prize is randomly selected by a process that isn't worth describing. If you think of the shopping round at the end of the original Wheel of Fortune, you have an idea how senseless this part of the show is (well, the advertisers probably like it).

Conclusion: Overall, Bingo America is a nothing-special trivia game that tries to achieve popularity by running a simultaneous contest for home users that has nothing to do with trivia. The questions are fairly simple (approximately $1,000 or lower Millionaire caliber, which makes much of the game a buzzer race), the interruptions for the home game are numerous (before every question), and the prize round is pointless. The show is almost tolerable on a DVR, but its longevity will ultimately depend on Bingo-lovers, not trivia fans.

Duel Game Show

It's been pretty quiet for trivia game shows on television since Grand Slam in September, so I was happy to hear that Duel is airing this week on ABC.

As the game show's name implies, the contest is a head-to-head battle like Twenty-One, but with a couple of well-thought out twists. First, each contestant begins with ten chips (they have a dollar value, but that is mostly irrelevant), which can be placed on one or more of the multiple choice answers to each question. Second, each player has a Pressure button that can be used twice in each game to force the opponent to make a decision in the next seven seconds.

The first person to not cover the correct answer on a question loses. But covering multiple answers may ensure survival at the expense of the incorrectly placed chips, so strategy is fairly complicated based on your relative chip state, your confidence in your answer, and your guess at what your opponent will do.

Overall, Duel is a fascinating new game that so far has been hurt only by the relatively poor quality of the contestants ("confidence and charisma" were more important to the producers) compared to Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and Jeopardy!. For many more details and updated results, the Wikipedia Duel page is a good place to go.

You can also play Duel online by yourself or against other online contestants.

Grand Slam - Random Trivia Answers

• A1) Linguini. Lou Romano provided the chef's voice. Trivia is the core of the first, General Knowledge, round and a significant portion of the final, Mixed, round. In the Grand Slam finals, trivia was also the focus of the additional Contemporary Knowledge round.
• A2) Wild Bill Hickok. The lawman, born as James Butler Hickok, was holding two pairs, aces over eights, in a saloon in South Dakota. The identity of the fifth card is disputed.
• A3) JAVA. The company had been using SUNW, which originally stood for Sun Workstations but later expanded to Sun Worldwide. Sun developed the portable Java computer language in 1995.
• A4) Indian Ocean. The Pacific Ocean lies to the east and the Southern Ocean to the south of the island continent.
• A5) XX. Roman Numerals are a standard Grand Slam category, but contestants only need to know the values (I=1, V=5, X=10, L=50, C=100, D=500, and M=1000) and the order rules (a smaller value on the left of a larger value is subtracted, otherwise all values are added). So LX=60, XL=40, and 60-40=20 gives XX.
• A6) 16.4. Many of the addition and subtraction problems can be solved much more quickly by using a different order. Calculating (11.3+8.8)-3.7 from left to right involves a carry and a borrow, but rearranging to (11.3+(8.8-3.7)) doesn't. Remember the commutative property and convert the minus sign to addition by a negative number if necessary.
• A7) 2. Similar to the above, a simple rearrangement of terms reduces this to a simple division problem. 9x-7=3x+5 becomes 9x-3x=7+5 (subtracting 3x from and adding 7 to each side) becomes 6x=12 becomes 12/6=x, so x is 2.
• A8) 612. There are simple tricks to test for divisibility by the numbers 2 through 12. For the number 9, just add up the digits in the number. If the result is divisible by 9, so is the number. So 412->4+1+2=7 is not. Then just count up, 512=8, 612=9, bingo.
• A9) U. Both Ken Jennings and Ogi Ogas keyed off of the letters E (5), J (10), O (15), T (20), and Y (25), which are the multiples of 5. If you remember EJOTY, you'll know instantly that F is 6, 6+15=21, and the answer is U, the letter after T. Michelle Kitt and Ogi actually memorized all 26 values, practicing translating words into numbers (TRIVIA=20 18 9 22 9 A) until it became automatic.
• A10) (Ulysses) Grant. I don't know any real trick here except to suppress your tendency to split words at the spaces. Scan for words as quickly as you can from left to right as if you're doing a word find puzzle.
• A11) Robin Williams. These are just plain hard. I borrowed this one from Joe Ks site, and browsing through lists like that will help. But if it's an anagram you've never seen before, Ogi Ogas recommends that you "should look slightly to the left or slightly above the word" and "trick you brain into thinking it's reading". Hopefully, the answer will simply pop out.
• A12) Ellen Burstyn. These are simpler than the anagrams above, as the letters are in order, but you still may have to try a few combinations. Start with the first given letter and work to the right: BEL-, BUL-, BER-, BUR- might be enough here. Ogi's anagram technique also applies.

You can also play Grand Slam on the GSN website or try the UK version.

Once again, kudos to Ken Jennings on his terrific tournament. In four games, only Victor Lee lost to the Jeopardy genius by less than a minute. Congratulations to Ogi Ogas for a tremendous runner-up performance and for explaining some of his excellent Cognitive Trix.

Grand Slam - Random Trivia Questions

Now that you've had a chance to catch up on Grand Slam, how'd you like to play a little game? The following dozen questions are similar to those that appeared on the game show. Your clock starts now!

Grand Slam Questions

• Q1) [General Knowledge] What type of pasta is also the first name of the young cook in the movie Ratatouille?
• Q2) [General Knowledge] What frontiersman was shot to death on August 2, 1876 while holding the infamous "Dead Man's" poker hand?
• Q3) [General Knowledge] In August 2007, what new stock symbol did Sun Microsystems begin to use?
• Q4) [General Knowledge] What ocean is located directly northwest of Australia?
• Q5) [Numbers and Logic] Answering in Roman Numerals, what is LX minus XL?
• Q6) [Numbers and Logic] What is (11.3+8.8)-3.7?
• Q7) [Numbers and Logic] What does x equal in the equation 9x-7=3x+5?
• Q8) [Numbers and Logic] Which is a multiple of 9? 412 512 612 712.
• Q9) [Words and Letters] What letter comes 15 places after the the letter F in the alphabet?
• Q10) [Words and Letters] What U.S. President's last name is hidden in the phrase "THE CAT AND THE DOG RAN TO THE WINDOW"?
• Q11) [Words and Letters] What actor and comedian's name is an anagram of "I WARM BILLIONS"?
• Q12) [Words and Letters] Separate the Best Actress Oscar winner's first and last name in "BEULRLSETNYN".