The Winner's Blog!

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General knowledge trivia night questions often follow a standard routine.  You know there’s going to be a specific number of questions asked, and those questions will fall into a category that has been mined for questions before.  Here's a few tips and tricks that can help you improve your trivia game and make you a more interesting person to know!
 
Unlike some trivia providers, the team at Trivia Zoo make sure each round of ten questions contains a mix of topics.  Why?  Because there’s nothing worse than sitting down for a fun night and finding that each trivia round is focussed on one topic – and it’s one  you're not good at.  It’s even WORSE if two of the rounds are on themes you’re rubbish at (because believe it or not, some people just aren’t into sports stats, 1980s movies, or the politicians of Kazakhstan!).
 
By including 10 questions on different  topics in EACH round, our quiz writer’s level the playing field.  This format allows everyone at the table a reasonable chance of answering something right!  (On the off chance you are interested in Kazakhstani politics, here’s a link for you!)
 
To maximise your chances of winning, think about cultivating a team of mixed ages and expertise.  This means some participants will shine one round, while others will triumph the next. Also, inviting new people to join your team is a fun way to develop new friendships - be open to suggestions from your team-mates if they know someone who’s a walking encyclopedia on [insert subject here]!  Younger teammates will come in handy for Trivia Zoo topics like popular culture, which may include songs that are currently on the charts, or technological terms that have escaped the Boomer II generation.  (BTW:  if you’re not sure which generation you “belong” to check out this table prepared by Beresford Research.) Likewise, anyone with a lived experience of the ‘70s or ‘80s will have a head-start when those questions roll around.
 
But let’s cycle back to the beginning.  Trivia Zoo slideshow quizzes reach into the grab bag of standard trivia themes for every single round.  These themes include:
 
History + Sport + Science – including Geography, Chemistry, etc + Popular Culture + Music + Film + Australiana + Literature + Religion + Technology
 
To broaden your general knowledge brain-bank, expand your information base by regularly diving into books, movies, newspapers, museums, podcasts, and even encyclopedias.  Sign up to websites that post daily free facts or visit respected sites like Reader’s Digest who publish loads of data on regular rotation.
 
Remember, that insignificant word or fact you learn on your trivia journey at home might place you on the winner’s table at your next trivia night!
 
Till next time.
 
TZ

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Does anyone remember The Book of Lists? 

​Originally published in 1977, the book was famously banned in parts of the USA where censors deemed some lists too saucy or vulgar for the general reading public.  In Australia, it was freely available - and immensely popular.  Why? As author and list-master David Wallenchinsky says: Lists bring order to chaos, and the original Book of Lists lassoed and tied down inventories you’ve probably never even considered.

Here’s a sample:

  • 10 Mammoth Cheeses
  • 9 People Who Died Laughing*
  • 8 Remarkable Pistol Duels
  • 7 Great Sausage Events
  • 23 Actors and Actresses Who Turned Down Great Roles
  • 9 Cats Who Traveled Long Distances to Return Home
  • 5 of the World's Most Oft-Sighted Lake and Sea Monsters
 
TZ had a copy of The BOL.  It disintegrated via overuse.  It really didn’t stand a chance.
 
If you want to sharpen your Trivia Zoo game while laughing to prostration, this could be the book for you!
 
Likewise, magazine mental_floss has their lifted witty and informative online content and created a series of books that follow the path laid out by Wallechinsky et. al.  Mental_Floss: The Book: The Greatest Lists in the History of Listory expounds on such gems as:

  • Four TV Shows That Changed the Course of History
  • Ten “Q” Words That Aren’t “Q-U” Word
  • Four Horrifying Parasites to Keep You Awake at Night
  • Eight Fake Archaeological Finds
  • Shameless Abuses of Diplomatic Immunity
  • Five Units of Measurement Weirder Than the Metric System
 
Honing your trivia skills doesn’t demand you focus on just the cold, hard facts.  The team at Trivia Zoo source their questions from every canon they can find because it’s fun to broaden our horizons and soak up the sun from a different data world every day!
 
Till next time.
TZ
 
* Including CALCHAS (Greek soothsayer, c. 12th century BC)
 
Calchas, the wisest soothsayer of Greece during the Trojan War, advised the construction of the notorious wooden horse. One day he was planting grapevines when a fellow soothsayer wandered by and foretold that Calchas would never drink the wine produced from the grapes. After the grapes ripened, wine was made from them, and Calchas invited the soothsayer to share it with him. As Calchas held a cup of the wine in his hand, the soothsayer repeated the prophecy. This incited such a fit of laughter in Calchas that he choked and died. Another version of Calchas' death states that he died of grief after losing a soothsaying match in which he failed to predict correctly the number of piglets that a pig was about to give birth to.
From The Book of Lists by David Wallenchinsky and Amy Wallace
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​Are you the person everyone wants on their trivia team?  Is your general knowledge the envy of the room?  If so, congratulations!  If not, then this post will give you a few ideas to increase your skills at the trivia table, and hopefully increase your chances of scoring the most points!
 
Firstly, general knowledge trivia is just that.  It’s virtually impossible to be an expert across all Trivia Zoo topics, but there are as few things you can do to improve your score.
 
Apps Are Awesome
Downloadable games and Apps are an awesome way to improve your general knowledge.  We don’t recommend any particular game, but this post on Mashable lists some of the most popular trivia apps – play on the train, at lunch or whenever you feel the need to challenge your brain!
 
TV Shows
If you like playing trivia in the wild, you probably enjoy watching TV game shows too.  Australian-made quiz programs are an excellent source of general knowledge and will include plenty of questions to keep you thinking!
  
Part Of a Dedicated Team? Specialise!
If you’re playing with the same faces each week, you’ll recognize that members of your team have areas of expertise.  Not everyone will know who won the men's 100 metres event in the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow*.  Or the first name of English Romantic poet, Wordsworth**. But remember, Trivia Zoo games feature a mix of subjects in each round which means your knowledge in topics like Music, Geography, or Popular Culture will definitely come in handy! 
 
Stay Curious and Soak It All Up
Not all trivia questions are about the past; some can even be about the future!  Remember to stay across current events as questions will pop up that made the news last night, or last week.  Why not visit one of the online “Daily Fact” websites to keep your knowledge-base growing?  Websites like The Fact Site or Mental Floss throw around amazing facts like confetti.  Hone your skillset and learn something new and wonderful every day!
 
As Henry Ford said:
“Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.”
 
Until next time.
TZ
 
*It was Alan Wells
**His first name is William and he was born April 7, 1770, Cockermouth, Cumberland, England and died April 23, 1850, Rydal Mount, Westmorland.
 

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