Your targets this week:
1+ out of 7: Well done, you beat us!
2+ out of 7: We'd have won with you on our team!
The attendees
1) The statistician
2) The doctor
3) The oceanographer
The ones that got away
1) What is Australia's most southerly state?
2) In what year was penicillin discovered? You can have three years either way.
3) What is the largest desert in the Americas?
4) Which sea lies between China and (the West coast of) South Korea?
5) What is the name of the Austin Powers sidekick played by Elizabeth Hurley? (First name suffices.)
6) In which year did Operation Desert Storm officially end? (The quizmaster went to great pains to emphasize the word 'officially'.)
7) In which city were over 8,000 Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims) massacred in July 1995?
The answers
Poll results: 41 votes. 36 of you did better than us and 27 would have helped us win! The average voter scored a smidgen over 2/7.
The excuses
The alternative questions
1) Similar to Washington D.C. in the US, Canberra lies in an area independent of the nation's other states. Commonly abbreviated to ACT, what is the full name of this area?
2) In case you ever need to remember when penicillin was discovered, it might help to know that 1928 also saw suffrage granted to all women over what age in the United Kingdom?
3) Sounding a bit like Patagonia, you probably know it from the title of a Muse song, but where is the (modern-day) region of Cydonia? (As opposed to the ancient city-state on Crete.)
4) North Korea famously neighbours China and, er, South Korea. But with which other country does it share a tiny (17km) border?
5) Though unrelated to the Austin Powers actor, which series of slasher films features the character Michael Myers?
6) The Gulf War was fought in response to Iraq's annexation of which country?
7) Charged with war crimes in connection to the Bosnian War (amongst other conflicts), which former President of Yugoslavia - and the first President of Serbia - died in his cell at The Hague before the conclusion of his four-year trial?
The answers
Friday, 28 March 2014
Thursday, 20 March 2014
Pretty Woman saw the highest number of ticket sales ever in the US for a romantic comedy
Your targets this week:
1+ out of 8: Well done, you beat us!
2+ out of 8: We'd have won with you on our team!
The attendees
1) The statistician
2) The doctor
3) The oceanographer
4) The chemical engineer
The ones that got away
1) What cocktail contains 2 parts vodka, 1 part peach schnapps, 2 parts orange juice and 2 parts cranberry juice?
2) What is the (full) name of Julia Roberts' character in Pretty Woman?
3) What is the oldest existing brand of rum in the world?
4) Which country held mock elections in 2007 to prepare its citizens for democracy?
5) Which island nation's government was overthrown in a 1979 revolution?
6) Which political philosopher is associated with the division of government into three branches?
7) What is the youngest legal voting age in the world?
8) Which country was Asia's first democracy?
The answers
Poll results: 22 votes. 14 of you did better than us of which 4 would have helped us win! A tough set this week: the average voter scored 1/8.
The excuses
The alternative questions
1) Which The Simpsons character's first (and only) album was titled Sax on the Beach?
2) Who played Vyvyan Basterd in the BBC's cult classic The Young Ones?
3) Which band, who to my surprise are apparently still together, reached number 5 in the UK Singles Chart in 2003 with the song Gay Bar?
4) According to the song by Peter, Paul and Mary, in what land did Puff the Magic Dragon live?
5) Although now often flavoured with blackcurrant, grenadine was originally made using the juice of which fruit?
6) Pictured below are three seals representing one individual, or group, from each of the executive, judicial and legislative branches of the United States government (but, in true University Challenge style helpful wording has been removed). You don't need to identify which is which, but can you name all three?
7) To within 5% (above or below), what was the turnout at the 2010 UK General Election? As a clue, the Conservative Party received votes from a little over 23% of those eligible to do so.
8) The Philippines is the seventh most populated country in Asia, and the 12th most populated country in the world. Russia (most of whose population lives West of the Urals) is one of the five non-Asian countries that beat it; name three of the other four.
The answers
1+ out of 8: Well done, you beat us!
2+ out of 8: We'd have won with you on our team!
The attendees
1) The statistician
2) The doctor
3) The oceanographer
4) The chemical engineer
The ones that got away
1) What cocktail contains 2 parts vodka, 1 part peach schnapps, 2 parts orange juice and 2 parts cranberry juice?
2) What is the (full) name of Julia Roberts' character in Pretty Woman?
3) What is the oldest existing brand of rum in the world?
4) Which country held mock elections in 2007 to prepare its citizens for democracy?
5) Which island nation's government was overthrown in a 1979 revolution?
6) Which political philosopher is associated with the division of government into three branches?
7) What is the youngest legal voting age in the world?
8) Which country was Asia's first democracy?
The answers
Poll results: 22 votes. 14 of you did better than us of which 4 would have helped us win! A tough set this week: the average voter scored 1/8.
The excuses
The alternative questions
1) Which The Simpsons character's first (and only) album was titled Sax on the Beach?
2) Who played Vyvyan Basterd in the BBC's cult classic The Young Ones?
3) Which band, who to my surprise are apparently still together, reached number 5 in the UK Singles Chart in 2003 with the song Gay Bar?
4) According to the song by Peter, Paul and Mary, in what land did Puff the Magic Dragon live?
5) Although now often flavoured with blackcurrant, grenadine was originally made using the juice of which fruit?
6) Pictured below are three seals representing one individual, or group, from each of the executive, judicial and legislative branches of the United States government (but, in true University Challenge style helpful wording has been removed). You don't need to identify which is which, but can you name all three?
 |
| Question 6 |
8) The Philippines is the seventh most populated country in Asia, and the 12th most populated country in the world. Russia (most of whose population lives West of the Urals) is one of the five non-Asian countries that beat it; name three of the other four.
The answers
Thursday, 13 March 2014
There are approximately 1.25 people per square mile in Alaska
Your targets this week:
1+ out of 8: Well done, you beat us!
2+ out of 8: We'd have won with you on our team!
The attendees
1) The statistician
2) The doctor
3) The oceanographer
4) The chemical engineer
The ones that got away
1) What did the 'Two Plus Four Agreement' concern?
2) In what year was the Sino-Indian War?
3) What was the capital of Portugal between 1808 and 1821?
4) How much (in US dollars) did the USA pay Russia for Alaska in 1867?
5) In the context of stock markets, in which year did Black Monday take place?
6) Which country previously used this flag (pictured)?
For questions 7 and 8, find two words of the given length that create a 'chain' from the first to the last. For example, if the puzzle read
Then the first missing word could be 'FIELD' and the next 'MOUSE' to create the chain PLAYING FIELD, FIELD MOUSE, MOUSE MAT. You need both for the point. Got it? Good. (Now imagine a quizmaster trying to explain this in the final round of the night...)
7)
The answers
Poll results: 30 votes. 22 of you did better than us of which 13 would have helped us win! The average voter scored 1.4/8.
The excuses
The alternative questions
1) A boring, but essential piece of trivia: what was the capital city of West Germany?
2) Which two countries are bordered only by India and China?
3) Rio de Janeiro's Christ the Redeemer statue was considered the largest Art Deco statue in the world until 2010, when Christ the King was built in which European country?
4) The flag of Alaska (pictured), designed by 13-year-old Benny Benson for a 1927 competition, features the North Star and which asterism in the constellation Ursa Major?
5) While The Wolf of Wall Street didn't pick up the Best Picture award at this years Oscars, it did mark the seventh film starring Leonardo DiCaprio to be nominated for the prize. Name three of the others.
6) The flag of South Africa was previously notable as the only national flag with six colours (ignoring those with fiddly little crests and whatnot that always spoil these sorts of questions). But since 2011 which other African country also has a flag with (approximately) the same six colours?
7) House music traces its origins to which American city, also notable for its Willis Tower (though you may know it by another name)?
8) Another trivia classic to finish: how many keys on a standard grand piano? (And if that's too easy, you can nab a bonus point if you can tell me how many of them are white.)
The answers
1+ out of 8: Well done, you beat us!
2+ out of 8: We'd have won with you on our team!
The attendees
1) The statistician
2) The doctor
3) The oceanographer
4) The chemical engineer
The ones that got away
 |
| Question 6 |
2) In what year was the Sino-Indian War?
3) What was the capital of Portugal between 1808 and 1821?
4) How much (in US dollars) did the USA pay Russia for Alaska in 1867?
5) In the context of stock markets, in which year did Black Monday take place?
6) Which country previously used this flag (pictured)?
For questions 7 and 8, find two words of the given length that create a 'chain' from the first to the last. For example, if the puzzle read
PLAYING
_ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _
MAT
Then the first missing word could be 'FIELD' and the next 'MOUSE' to create the chain PLAYING FIELD, FIELD MOUSE, MOUSE MAT. You need both for the point. Got it? Good. (Now imagine a quizmaster trying to explain this in the final round of the night...)
7)
FLANK
_ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _
MUSIC
8)
BABY
_ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
NIGHT
The answers
Poll results: 30 votes. 22 of you did better than us of which 13 would have helped us win! The average voter scored 1.4/8.
The excuses
The alternative questions
1) A boring, but essential piece of trivia: what was the capital city of West Germany?
2) Which two countries are bordered only by India and China?
3) Rio de Janeiro's Christ the Redeemer statue was considered the largest Art Deco statue in the world until 2010, when Christ the King was built in which European country?
 |
| Question 4 |
5) While The Wolf of Wall Street didn't pick up the Best Picture award at this years Oscars, it did mark the seventh film starring Leonardo DiCaprio to be nominated for the prize. Name three of the others.
6) The flag of South Africa was previously notable as the only national flag with six colours (ignoring those with fiddly little crests and whatnot that always spoil these sorts of questions). But since 2011 which other African country also has a flag with (approximately) the same six colours?
7) House music traces its origins to which American city, also notable for its Willis Tower (though you may know it by another name)?
8) Another trivia classic to finish: how many keys on a standard grand piano? (And if that's too easy, you can nab a bonus point if you can tell me how many of them are white.)
The answers
Friday, 7 March 2014
Ones That Got Away First Anniversary(ish) Mega Quiz Spectacular!
It's (just over) a year since the birth of The Ones That Got Away, and what a year it's been! Since I first decided to share my regular pub quiz failings with the Internet I've moved to Canada, won a series of Only Connect, and written lots (and lots) of questions. To mark the occasion regular reader and occasional team-mate 'the programmer' has looked back over 12 months of pub quiz failure and selected 50 questions that he thought stood out. There's a mixture of Ones That Got Away - those factoids that evaded our combined intellects - and my own alternate questions (which I started writing because so many of the ones we got wrong were bloody awful), so it's very much a mixed bag, but a fun mixed bag.
The quiz is split very roughly into four rounds, with answers after each to save you some valuable scrolling. But as interesting as it is to discuss the merits of preserving one's scroll wheel, let's get on with the quiz!
The programmer's preamble
Reading and now re-reading the entire archive of Ones That Got Away quickly lead me to one conclusion: there are a lot of bad questions out there. At least half of all the questions the teams missed in the last year were badly phrased, ill-defined, boring, arcane, or all of the above. Nevertheless, sorting the occasional grains of wheat from the oceans of chaff proved quite rewarding. I've assembled this list of my favourites from both the main questions and the famous bonus questions, although I had to be stricter with the latter because their general standard was much higher. Any list like this is subjective, but hopefully my justifications will be at least a bit illuminating.
Round 1: mass debate stimulators
I particularly enjoy questions which stimulate good debates within a team as people home in on the right answer. Here are a few likely to have that effect.
1) The Great Seal of the United States features an eagle holding an olive branch in its right talon, and 13 of what in its left?
2) Familiar to any bookworm, since 2007 how many digits are there in an ISBN (that is, an International Standard Book Number)?
3) Which cigarette brand sponsored the World Snooker Championship from 1976 until 2005 before advertising legislation halted the practice?
4) Which two countries sit either side of Ireland in the UN General Assembly? (You need both for the point.)
5) In which city is Dirty Harry set?
6) Name the four UK number ones from the 1980s with the word 'Town' in the title. (A whole quarter of a point for each.)
7) In which country is the northernmost point of South America?
8) What links The Great Escape and the winner of the 1999 Turner Prize?
9) Since Arthur Balfour's election in 1902 there have been 21 different Prime Ministers. Of these, just two had surnames in the second half of the alphabet (that is, beginning with N-Z) - who? (You need both for the point.)
10) How many US States begin with the same letter as their capital?
11) Which is the only band to have held the UK Christmas number one spot twice with the same song, topping the charts in 1975 and 1991?
12) What is the most northerly station on the London Underground network?
13) What word is spelled Tungsten Indium Darmstadtium Uranium Rutherfordium Erbium?
Round 1 answers
Round 2: Things that make you go hmmm
It has been said that a quiz question should make you go "ooh, I know that" or "ooh, I didn't know that". Here are a few that fit the latter for me.
14) Ciabatta bread is named after which type of footwear?
15) In Futurama, what is Bender's full name?
16) What word derives from the Greek for 'sharp dull'?
17) Which god gave Midas the power to turn things into gold?
18) In January 1953 over 70% of US television sets were tuned in to watch Lucille Ball give birth in which TV show?
19) What does John Major only have one of when most men have two?
20) According to the novel, which city has 'A room with a view'?
21) What German football team are owned by the company that discovered asiprin and heroin?
22) To what does the 500 in Indy 500 refer?
23) Which African city's name means 'new flower'?
Round 2 answers
Round 3: OTGA's miscellany
And here are a few others which struck a miscellaneous chord with me.
24) Robert Redford founded which international film festival in 1978, which has been held annually in Utah ever since?
25) Malbec is a variety of which fruit?
26) Were sea levels to rise due to global warming, which country in the Indian Ocean is expected to be the first to be completely submerged?
27) Which US State is known as the Beef State?
28) What is the principal psychoactive constituent of marijuana? (Its common three letter abbreviation is enough for the point.)
29) What is the name of Channel 4's longest running sitcom? Airing during the 90s, it was set in a Peckham hairdresser.
30) Cardiff stands on which river?
31) What was the currency of the Netherlands prior to the Euro?
32) Which country produces 'blue mountain' coffee, one of the most expensive coffees in the world?
33) Suffolk only boasts one professional football team, whose (slightly modified) badge is pictured. Can you name them?
34) Which 1972 novel was Dahl's sequel to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory?
35) Which country was formally known as British Honduras?
36) Which novel opens with the sentence "You will rejoice to hear that no disaster has accompanied the commencement of an enterprise which you have regarded with such evil forebodings."?
37) Identify the film from its tagline: "You won't believe your eye".
38) Which Dickens novel features a malicious moneylender named Quilp?
39) In what year did the Wright brothers take their first flight?
40) While currency questions are boring, it is nevertheless vital to know the ones that sound a tiny bit rude. If you wanted to spend dongs and colons, then, which two countries should you visit? (Half a point each.)
41) What is the term for animal pancreas when served as food?
42) What fruit comes from a blackthorn?
43) Which musical is based on the life of a survivor of the Titanic?
Round 3 answers
Round 4: So bad it's funny. And bad.
And finally, there's a certain kind of question that's so bad it becomes funny. This could easily have been the largest section, so these are just a few.
44) Identify the London station from this cryptic clue: "Bacon or pastries upon high."
45) Is John McEnroe left- or right-handed?
46) Brain teaser: What does an island and the letter T have in common?
47) Swansea City were formerly known as Swansea what? Town, Miners, Academicals or Athletics?
48) What was Kevin Keegan's birth name?
49) Meadow, Sheep's Fescue, and Quaking are all types of what plant?
50) Identify the London station from this cryptic clue: "Some grassy fields in a line are doomed to die by fingers on my hand".
Round 4 answers
Phew. Hope that wasn't too much of a slog. No poll to show off how you did this week, but feel free to Tweet at me @statacake if you can't fight those sharing urges. The Ones That Got Away will be back to normal next Friday!
The quiz is split very roughly into four rounds, with answers after each to save you some valuable scrolling. But as interesting as it is to discuss the merits of preserving one's scroll wheel, let's get on with the quiz!
The programmer's preamble
Reading and now re-reading the entire archive of Ones That Got Away quickly lead me to one conclusion: there are a lot of bad questions out there. At least half of all the questions the teams missed in the last year were badly phrased, ill-defined, boring, arcane, or all of the above. Nevertheless, sorting the occasional grains of wheat from the oceans of chaff proved quite rewarding. I've assembled this list of my favourites from both the main questions and the famous bonus questions, although I had to be stricter with the latter because their general standard was much higher. Any list like this is subjective, but hopefully my justifications will be at least a bit illuminating.
Round 1: mass debate stimulators
I particularly enjoy questions which stimulate good debates within a team as people home in on the right answer. Here are a few likely to have that effect.
1) The Great Seal of the United States features an eagle holding an olive branch in its right talon, and 13 of what in its left?
2) Familiar to any bookworm, since 2007 how many digits are there in an ISBN (that is, an International Standard Book Number)?
3) Which cigarette brand sponsored the World Snooker Championship from 1976 until 2005 before advertising legislation halted the practice?
4) Which two countries sit either side of Ireland in the UN General Assembly? (You need both for the point.)
5) In which city is Dirty Harry set?
6) Name the four UK number ones from the 1980s with the word 'Town' in the title. (A whole quarter of a point for each.)
7) In which country is the northernmost point of South America?
8) What links The Great Escape and the winner of the 1999 Turner Prize?
9) Since Arthur Balfour's election in 1902 there have been 21 different Prime Ministers. Of these, just two had surnames in the second half of the alphabet (that is, beginning with N-Z) - who? (You need both for the point.)
10) How many US States begin with the same letter as their capital?
11) Which is the only band to have held the UK Christmas number one spot twice with the same song, topping the charts in 1975 and 1991?
12) What is the most northerly station on the London Underground network?
13) What word is spelled Tungsten Indium Darmstadtium Uranium Rutherfordium Erbium?
Round 1 answers
Round 2: Things that make you go hmmm
It has been said that a quiz question should make you go "ooh, I know that" or "ooh, I didn't know that". Here are a few that fit the latter for me.
14) Ciabatta bread is named after which type of footwear?
15) In Futurama, what is Bender's full name?
16) What word derives from the Greek for 'sharp dull'?
17) Which god gave Midas the power to turn things into gold?
18) In January 1953 over 70% of US television sets were tuned in to watch Lucille Ball give birth in which TV show?
19) What does John Major only have one of when most men have two?
20) According to the novel, which city has 'A room with a view'?
21) What German football team are owned by the company that discovered asiprin and heroin?
22) To what does the 500 in Indy 500 refer?
23) Which African city's name means 'new flower'?
Round 2 answers
Round 3: OTGA's miscellany
And here are a few others which struck a miscellaneous chord with me.
24) Robert Redford founded which international film festival in 1978, which has been held annually in Utah ever since?
25) Malbec is a variety of which fruit?
26) Were sea levels to rise due to global warming, which country in the Indian Ocean is expected to be the first to be completely submerged?
27) Which US State is known as the Beef State?
28) What is the principal psychoactive constituent of marijuana? (Its common three letter abbreviation is enough for the point.)
29) What is the name of Channel 4's longest running sitcom? Airing during the 90s, it was set in a Peckham hairdresser.
30) Cardiff stands on which river?
31) What was the currency of the Netherlands prior to the Euro?
32) Which country produces 'blue mountain' coffee, one of the most expensive coffees in the world?
 |
| Question 33 |
34) Which 1972 novel was Dahl's sequel to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory?
35) Which country was formally known as British Honduras?
36) Which novel opens with the sentence "You will rejoice to hear that no disaster has accompanied the commencement of an enterprise which you have regarded with such evil forebodings."?
37) Identify the film from its tagline: "You won't believe your eye".
38) Which Dickens novel features a malicious moneylender named Quilp?
39) In what year did the Wright brothers take their first flight?
40) While currency questions are boring, it is nevertheless vital to know the ones that sound a tiny bit rude. If you wanted to spend dongs and colons, then, which two countries should you visit? (Half a point each.)
41) What is the term for animal pancreas when served as food?
42) What fruit comes from a blackthorn?
43) Which musical is based on the life of a survivor of the Titanic?
Round 3 answers
Round 4: So bad it's funny. And bad.
And finally, there's a certain kind of question that's so bad it becomes funny. This could easily have been the largest section, so these are just a few.
44) Identify the London station from this cryptic clue: "Bacon or pastries upon high."
45) Is John McEnroe left- or right-handed?
46) Brain teaser: What does an island and the letter T have in common?
47) Swansea City were formerly known as Swansea what? Town, Miners, Academicals or Athletics?
48) What was Kevin Keegan's birth name?
49) Meadow, Sheep's Fescue, and Quaking are all types of what plant?
50) Identify the London station from this cryptic clue: "Some grassy fields in a line are doomed to die by fingers on my hand".
Round 4 answers
Phew. Hope that wasn't too much of a slog. No poll to show off how you did this week, but feel free to Tweet at me @statacake if you can't fight those sharing urges. The Ones That Got Away will be back to normal next Friday!
Sunday, 2 March 2014
Review: Revenge of the Egghead
The Ones That Got Away is changing schedule! The regular weekly review of questions we've missed in pub quizzes will now be appearing on Fridays - starting with a bumper One Year Anniversary Special later this week. Adjust your watches accordingly!
Like all cool dudes, little in life excites me more than a new quiz show, and few have been more hotly anticipated than Revenge of the Egghead, 12 Yard's latest BBC2 offering. Self-styled 'bad boy' of British quizzing CJ de Mooi takes on five normal folk in a slightly weird, but ultimately enjoyable, teatime trivia test.
The basics
 |
| Still waiting for that quiz-based Bond villain. |
A team of five contestants tackle questions in turn to build up a cash pot with each correct answer putting £200 in the kitty. If someone gets one wrong and CJ knows the answer he can hit his Big Red Button and the unlucky soul is put on the 'hot spot' where a trickier (albeit multiple choice) question threatens to cost them a life. Lose two lives and it's bus fare home o'clock.
After a semi-arbitrary amount of time (usually about 15 minutes) the surviving contestants combine their brains - and their remaining lives - to take on the Egghead for the money. Here, CJ gets 10 questions with which to set a target for the challengers to beat. All they have to do is outscore him before incorrect answers cost them their pooled lives and whatever they've banked is shared between them. Lose, and all they get is a nicely hammed up smirk.
The good
The fundamentals, then, are fairly solid. Questions are of a good difficulty and largely fast-paced, with relatively little of the 'I think it's London because it's not another city and because that's the answer' banality that plagues many a modern quiz show. Even the hot spot element, which has considerable potential for tedious, time-wasting kerfuffle, is incorporated fairly seamlessly. Host Jeremy Vine is, well, Jeremy Vine, so at least you know where you are (even if he often seems unsure himself).
The not-so-good
 |
| The show is apparently set in de Mooi's (very shiny) alien spaceship. |
It is tough, however, to see a way out of what are clearly some quite tight financial constraints. A basic difficulty is that unlike some similarly budgeted shows (such as Eggheads and Pointless) we're not being presented with a team per se, but a group of strangers. If a couple win £1,000 on Pointless you can at least pretend they go off and spend the money together, whereas here you know they're all just thinking about their (fairly small) share. The tactic of rolling over unwon money, meanwhile, doesn't sit with the central idea of a team building a jackpot. Instead, then, you're looking for an in-game mechanic which really narrows down the options. Perhaps if the team could 'buy' money with remaining lives (or as a reward for beating CJ with lives to spare) they could bump up the total on offer without too much extra risk, but it's obviously hard to judge from an outsider's perspective.
 |
| CJ looking bored. Or possibly sleepy. |
It doesn't help that CJ hasn't really grown into his role yet. He's quite good at looking bored, and rolling his eyes, and looking bored again, but otherwise it's a fairly obvious act which nobody is truly buying. By comparison, The Chasers are much less one-dimensional, often tailoring their attitude to individual contestants and the general state of a game. CJ is afforded neither the time nor the opportunity to establish anything near that level of personalization, leaving us instead to wonder why this rather thin man is so angry with Dave from Stevenage and Louise from Manchester.
The conclusion
These are, however, the mere window-dressings of what is still a perfectly watchable show. From a quizzer's perspective I care far more about the quality - and quantity - of questions than whether CJ can pull off the tricky single-raised-eyebrow-smirk combo, and on the former it performs better than most. The format itself is interesting and, although its implementation doesn't do anything for me, I don't doubt there are plenty who boo and cheer in all the right places. I do wonder, however, whether you could replace CJ with another (carefully chosen) contestant also fighting for some cash and do away with the whole 'revenge' angle altogether. While a good quizzer, CJ is not a particularly great one, and I suspect enough non-professional quizzers of a similar calibre could be found to fill a series this way (although admittedly without CJ's personality the host would need to pick up a lot of slack).
Still, Revenge of the Egghead will be part of my regularly scheduled programming for the time being, and for the questions alone I'd recommend it to most moderate-level quizzers. I'm also keeping an eye out for the appearance one Lisa Thiel who, if you haven't heard, is the latest addition to the regular cast of Eggheads. Apparently her performance against CJ helped her get that particular gig, so I'm anticipating fireworks.
Monday, 24 February 2014
Review: The Pointless App!
Excitement in the teatime-quiz-show-app world yesterday (what do you mean that isn't a thing?) as the hotly anticipated Pointless game was launched on iOS, with an Android version inevitably 'coming soon'. As one of the approximately billion people who have appeared on the show since it snuck onto BBC2 back in 2009 I was naturally keen to take it for a spin, but could it live up to expectations or would it prove as disappointing as joining the 200 club?
Pointless App - introduce yourself!
First port of call is, of course, the cost. At £1.49 it's in line with arch-nemesis The Chase's own App, but in the age of freemium games it does merit a slight double-take. Given that my current personal favourite is the free - and amazing - QuizUp (see my review here) it's already facing stiff competition from the off, but as a TV tie-in it's competitively priced.
The game starts with
a tutorial, a nice touch as the game structure is necessarily rather different to the show itself. To my surprise this happened to immediately resolve one of the issues I'd been wondering about: will it use all-new questions or recycle some from the show? Understandably, it's very much the latter, which will come as little shock to those of us who have seen the programme evolve over the years as it endeavours to find new questions that still fit the format. Still, it was amusing to see that the very first question I was presented with in the tutorial was from one of my own shows - and Xander even suggests the (fairly obvious) answer I gave at the time. Encouragingly, as you can see from the screenshots below (click to enlarge), the numbers for every answer match up - reassuring us that we are dealing with genuine survey results and not something made up in some shady corner of Pointless HQ.
Tutorial done, on with the game! There are two options here: a single-player 'mini episode' style format, and a head-to-head version you can play against random challengers, your friends, or people you know on Facebook (most of whom probably don't quite fit in either category). If you're wondering how the game works before you shell out one 168th of a pointless answer, this is probably the bit for you.
All by myself
The single-player mode pits you against a computer-generated opponent on a single multiple-choice question (what used to be the regular round two format) - beat three bots this way and you make it to the final and, of course, win that coveted Pointless trophy. The final round itself will be familiar to all but the most recent Pointless fan, with three subject areas to choose from and one question lurking behind each. No multiple choice here, thankfully, as you have to type your own guesses (albeit without the 60 second time pressure). Get one pointless answer and the 'jackpot' is yours - typically £1,000 unless you picked up some £250 bonuses on the way - and you'll find yourself creeping up global and friends-only leaderboards of total prize money. (Although getting to the top may alert your colleagues as to why your productivity has mysteriously dropped of late...)
Winning friends while alienating people
Versus mode, meanwhile, takes advantage of asynchronous play as you battle opponents in a best-of-three affair loosely based on the head-to-head stage of the show. Each round is one question with four clues to be solved (such as a set of related anagrams or descriptions of Oscar winners). After giving your answer that clue is replaced and play passes to your opponent, with whoever has the lowest total after two turns winning the round. If it goes to a third and final round you're instead looking at a free answer (or 'Pointless Classic', as it should obviously be called) style question to take things up a notch.
Unlike the solo mode, play is further enhanced here by two power ups: 'reveal' (which gives you the highest-scoring answer) and 'hint' (which shows you alternate letters of the lowest-scoring answer). In a prudent design move neither of these tells you how much that answer is worth, so you've still got some decisions to make. As you'd expect you're given some bonuses for free (a rather generous 20 of each, in fact) but once they're gone you're looking at £1.49 a pop for an additional 25, so spend them wisely.
The good, the bad and the ugly
The fundamental mechanics of the game, then, are perfectly sound, but there are a few areas that strike me as minor mis-steps. The first of these are those bonuses which, at their most basic level, strike me as undermining the integrity of a competitive quiz game. The hint especially often makes things exceptionally easy, and it's hard to see how anyone could take much pride in a victory earned that way. Combine this with a lack of a time limit and the latitude for cheatery is clear. Consequently anyone who particularly cares about whether they win or lose probably won't want to challenge strangers, but against trusted friends it's far less of a concern.
Another issue I've both seen raised by others and experienced myself are bugs. Teething troubles are perhaps to be expected on launch day, but when you encounter three in your first half-dozen games you do start to worry. Of particular concern was one question where the United States was a pointless answer to "countries with a population larger than the UK". This seems so implausible you'd initially presume it a mistake, but as we've all seen equally incredible results on the show you're left not entirely sure what to believe. There have also been some issues with seemingly correct answers not being accepted. Again, one would hope these will be gradually fixed over time, but the frequency with which they seem to be cropping up suggests more time could have gone into text parsing.
On a more positive note, while the re-use of questions from old shows may seem a drawback to some, I think overall it's a sensible decision. With over 500 episodes of material (and presumably even a back-catalogue of ones that didn't quite make the cut) there is, I suspect, an enormous database hiding under the surface. The list-based nature of the show itself, meanwhile, makes the App unusual in being able to offer free text answer fields instead of the near-ubiquitous multiple choice making for a more interesting quiz experience. Admittedly it's a touch frustrating when you're left wondering how to spell samarium but in situations like that it probably serves you right for trying to be a smartypants. (Relatedly, I was impressed to see that their periodic table was seemingly up to date: the relatively recent 2012 addition of livermorium didn't catch it out).
Well I've had a lovely day...
Overall, the Pointless App is a perfectly solid translation of a hugely popular TV format, and I suspect for many of the show's fans it will prove a fantastically addictive enemy of their free time. The general aesthetics of the game are pleasant, with all the familiar sounds of the show and enjoyable caricatures of the hosts reflecting its not-too-serious charm.
I will, admittedly, probably stick to the more pure quizzing domain of QuizUp, but as someone who is sufficiently obsessed with quizzes to maintain an entirely unsuccessful blog about them I'm probably not typical of the Pointless App's target market. While particulars such as the bonuses and no time penalty aren't my cup of tea, that's primarily as someone who's more interested in the quiz itself than the format of the game. The opening-day bugs, meanwhile, will doubtless be ironed out with time.
The success of the show itself is a testament to its excellent fundamentals: common knowledge is ok, uncommon knowledge is awesome. As long as that remained its foundation the Pointless App merely had to avoid disaster to be an enjoyable time-waster - thankfully they've achieved much more than that. I'm optimistic the game will continue to be developed and new features added (a multiplayer mode that simulated an entire show could be spectacular fun with a group of friends, for example), but as-is it's a more than welcome addition to the quiz App scene. I just hope they thought to block access from quarter past five on weekdays: it'll be distracting their audience for months.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For shorter quiz ramblings, follow me on Twitter @statacake
Pointless App - introduce yourself!
First port of call is, of course, the cost. At £1.49 it's in line with arch-nemesis The Chase's own App, but in the age of freemium games it does merit a slight double-take. Given that my current personal favourite is the free - and amazing - QuizUp (see my review here) it's already facing stiff competition from the off, but as a TV tie-in it's competitively priced.
The game starts with
 |
| The tutorial in action. Alexander Armstrong (I think - it's hard to tell without the ears) clearly remembers me. |
 |
| Making up the numbers |
All by myself
The single-player mode pits you against a computer-generated opponent on a single multiple-choice question (what used to be the regular round two format) - beat three bots this way and you make it to the final and, of course, win that coveted Pointless trophy. The final round itself will be familiar to all but the most recent Pointless fan, with three subject areas to choose from and one question lurking behind each. No multiple choice here, thankfully, as you have to type your own guesses (albeit without the 60 second time pressure). Get one pointless answer and the 'jackpot' is yours - typically £1,000 unless you picked up some £250 bonuses on the way - and you'll find yourself creeping up global and friends-only leaderboards of total prize money. (Although getting to the top may alert your colleagues as to why your productivity has mysteriously dropped of late...)
Winning friends while alienating people
Versus mode, meanwhile, takes advantage of asynchronous play as you battle opponents in a best-of-three affair loosely based on the head-to-head stage of the show. Each round is one question with four clues to be solved (such as a set of related anagrams or descriptions of Oscar winners). After giving your answer that clue is replaced and play passes to your opponent, with whoever has the lowest total after two turns winning the round. If it goes to a third and final round you're instead looking at a free answer (or 'Pointless Classic', as it should obviously be called) style question to take things up a notch.
Unlike the solo mode, play is further enhanced here by two power ups: 'reveal' (which gives you the highest-scoring answer) and 'hint' (which shows you alternate letters of the lowest-scoring answer). In a prudent design move neither of these tells you how much that answer is worth, so you've still got some decisions to make. As you'd expect you're given some bonuses for free (a rather generous 20 of each, in fact) but once they're gone you're looking at £1.49 a pop for an additional 25, so spend them wisely.
 |
| The 'hint' bonus in action (top row on the right). Now all I need is an opera that fits L_ TRAVIATA... |
The fundamental mechanics of the game, then, are perfectly sound, but there are a few areas that strike me as minor mis-steps. The first of these are those bonuses which, at their most basic level, strike me as undermining the integrity of a competitive quiz game. The hint especially often makes things exceptionally easy, and it's hard to see how anyone could take much pride in a victory earned that way. Combine this with a lack of a time limit and the latitude for cheatery is clear. Consequently anyone who particularly cares about whether they win or lose probably won't want to challenge strangers, but against trusted friends it's far less of a concern.
 |
| Only three guesses? But I can think of so many! |
On a more positive note, while the re-use of questions from old shows may seem a drawback to some, I think overall it's a sensible decision. With over 500 episodes of material (and presumably even a back-catalogue of ones that didn't quite make the cut) there is, I suspect, an enormous database hiding under the surface. The list-based nature of the show itself, meanwhile, makes the App unusual in being able to offer free text answer fields instead of the near-ubiquitous multiple choice making for a more interesting quiz experience. Admittedly it's a touch frustrating when you're left wondering how to spell samarium but in situations like that it probably serves you right for trying to be a smartypants. (Relatedly, I was impressed to see that their periodic table was seemingly up to date: the relatively recent 2012 addition of livermorium didn't catch it out).
Well I've had a lovely day...
Overall, the Pointless App is a perfectly solid translation of a hugely popular TV format, and I suspect for many of the show's fans it will prove a fantastically addictive enemy of their free time. The general aesthetics of the game are pleasant, with all the familiar sounds of the show and enjoyable caricatures of the hosts reflecting its not-too-serious charm.
I will, admittedly, probably stick to the more pure quizzing domain of QuizUp, but as someone who is sufficiently obsessed with quizzes to maintain an entirely unsuccessful blog about them I'm probably not typical of the Pointless App's target market. While particulars such as the bonuses and no time penalty aren't my cup of tea, that's primarily as someone who's more interested in the quiz itself than the format of the game. The opening-day bugs, meanwhile, will doubtless be ironed out with time.
 |
| All this, and more, could be yours for just £1.49! |
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For shorter quiz ramblings, follow me on Twitter @statacake
Sunday, 23 February 2014
The 27th Amendment to the United States Constitution took over 200 years to be Ratified
Your targets this week:
1+ out of 11: Well done, you beat us!
4+ out of 11: We'd have won with you on our team!
A reminder that The Ones That Got Away below are presented as they were to us. To give you that unique pub quiz experience any inaccuracies/ambiguities are included and addressed in the excuses. (Oh, and you may notice that this quiz featured a round inspired by Black History Month.)
The attendees
1) The statistician
2) The doctor
3) The engineer
The ones that got away
1) In describing which of his films did Quentin Tarantino say "we'll sell you the whole seat but you'll only use the edge of it"?
2) The 'Duke of Exeter's Daughter' is another name for which medieval torture device?
3) In which city's airport did a $50 million diamond heist take place in 2013?
4) The number 6.626 x 10⁻³⁴ is associated with which scientist? Hint: the answer fits into a crossword with the following spaces/letters: _ A _ _ _ _ _ _ _
5) Who is Kamala Khan?
6) What was the first original series to be streamed on Netflix?
7) What was the birth name of Martin Luther King?
8) What two word term describes the voyage whereby African slaves were taken to the Americas?
9) Nominated for nine Academy Awards, the film 12 Years a Slave is based on whose memoirs?
10) The 15th Amendment to the United States Constitution gave what to African Americans?
11) Name the person pictured.
The answers
Poll results: 23 votes. 20 of you did better than us of which 5 would have helped us win! The average voter scored 2/11.
The excuses
The alternative questions
1) Six characters in Reservoir Dogs are known by pseudonyms of the form "Mr." followed by a colour. Name four of them.
2) What practice, generally considered a form of torture, involves pouring water over a cloth covering the face of a bound captive causing them to violently experience the sensation of drowning?
3) Along with Pokémon Diamond and the enhanced remake Pokémon Platinum, which organically derived gemstone lends its name to a fourth generation game in the Pokémon series?
4) Name the large telecommunications company whose founder also lends his name to the SI unit of electrical conductance.
5) Nightrunner, a French-Algerian Muslim traceur was recently enlisted to fight crime under the aegis of which DC Comics hero?
6) Lilyhammer is, predictably, set in the Norwegian town and 1994 Winter Olympics host Lillehammer, which means one last hurrah for a topical Winter Olympics question! The Nordic combined event involves competitors competing in which two sports?
7) Which Civil Rights advocate (and widely tipped presidential candidate) was assassinated on June 6 1968 - just two months and two days after Martin Luther King?
8) Which appropriately-named West African country was colonized during the 19th Century largely by freed slaves from the United States?
9) One of 12 Years a Slave's nine Academy Award nominations includes Best Director for Steve McQueen who also won the 1999 Turner Prize. Which Croydon-born artist, whose own entry grabbed rather more of the headlines, did he beat to this particular honour?
10) Given its reference to the 1776 Declaration of Independence, in which year did Abraham Lincoln deliver his Gettysburg Address?
11) The 1356 Battle of Poitiers was a major incident in which (slightly inaccurately titled) series of conflicts?
The answers
1+ out of 11: Well done, you beat us!
4+ out of 11: We'd have won with you on our team!
A reminder that The Ones That Got Away below are presented as they were to us. To give you that unique pub quiz experience any inaccuracies/ambiguities are included and addressed in the excuses. (Oh, and you may notice that this quiz featured a round inspired by Black History Month.)
The attendees
1) The statistician
2) The doctor
3) The engineer
The ones that got away
 |
| Question 11 |
2) The 'Duke of Exeter's Daughter' is another name for which medieval torture device?
3) In which city's airport did a $50 million diamond heist take place in 2013?
4) The number 6.626 x 10⁻³⁴ is associated with which scientist? Hint: the answer fits into a crossword with the following spaces/letters: _ A _ _ _ _ _ _ _
5) Who is Kamala Khan?
6) What was the first original series to be streamed on Netflix?
7) What was the birth name of Martin Luther King?
8) What two word term describes the voyage whereby African slaves were taken to the Americas?
9) Nominated for nine Academy Awards, the film 12 Years a Slave is based on whose memoirs?
10) The 15th Amendment to the United States Constitution gave what to African Americans?
11) Name the person pictured.
The answers
Poll results: 23 votes. 20 of you did better than us of which 5 would have helped us win! The average voter scored 2/11.
The excuses
The alternative questions
1) Six characters in Reservoir Dogs are known by pseudonyms of the form "Mr." followed by a colour. Name four of them.
2) What practice, generally considered a form of torture, involves pouring water over a cloth covering the face of a bound captive causing them to violently experience the sensation of drowning?
3) Along with Pokémon Diamond and the enhanced remake Pokémon Platinum, which organically derived gemstone lends its name to a fourth generation game in the Pokémon series?
4) Name the large telecommunications company whose founder also lends his name to the SI unit of electrical conductance.
5) Nightrunner, a French-Algerian Muslim traceur was recently enlisted to fight crime under the aegis of which DC Comics hero?
6) Lilyhammer is, predictably, set in the Norwegian town and 1994 Winter Olympics host Lillehammer, which means one last hurrah for a topical Winter Olympics question! The Nordic combined event involves competitors competing in which two sports?
7) Which Civil Rights advocate (and widely tipped presidential candidate) was assassinated on June 6 1968 - just two months and two days after Martin Luther King?
8) Which appropriately-named West African country was colonized during the 19th Century largely by freed slaves from the United States?
9) One of 12 Years a Slave's nine Academy Award nominations includes Best Director for Steve McQueen who also won the 1999 Turner Prize. Which Croydon-born artist, whose own entry grabbed rather more of the headlines, did he beat to this particular honour?
10) Given its reference to the 1776 Declaration of Independence, in which year did Abraham Lincoln deliver his Gettysburg Address?
11) The 1356 Battle of Poitiers was a major incident in which (slightly inaccurately titled) series of conflicts?
The answers
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)