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Lawrence University

50th edition of Great Midwest Trivia Contest golden

Ariel Cheung
USA TODAY
Tessa Komorowski (left), Whitney Moede and Liz Myhre are framed by others on the phone letting trivia teams know if they have the correct answer as the final hours of the 50th Trivia Contest takes place Sunday at Lawrence University in Appleton.

APPLETON, Wis. — Don't try to suggest Trivial Pursuit or the popular Trivia Crack game app as good practice for the Great Midwest Trivia Contest. These knowledge gurus will just laugh.

"Multiple choice?" they'll scoff. "Please. That's for amateurs."

Though it may sting, they've earned the right to their disdain. For anyone to survive the Great Midwest Trivia Contest — let alone win — is a feat that requires incredible mind power, strength of will and dedication.

Since 1966, Lawrence University has been headquarters to an intense, 50-hour trivia marathon. The 50th edition, played this past weekend, included almost 1,000 players, 408 questions and about 80 teams tuning in from as far away as Sweden.

As modern technology drives the contest's evolution, students, alumni and local enthusiasts have crafted their own subculture, rich in tradition and steeped in quirk and whimsy.

"It's basically an exploration of the most absurdly obscure information in the world," says Jon Hanrahan, a junior piano student. "Lawrentians like to show their stuff and how creative they are, and this is great for that."

For three days, players tune in to WLFMradio.com, the campus online radio station, and call in answers. Teams are split between on-campus and off-campus and can be large or small, fanatic or laid back.

Throughout the contest, simply referred to as Trivia among insiders, theme hours and action questions send teams racing to snag extra points with creative responses. In between questions, a smorgasbord of songs play on the radio, from a kazoo version of Let it Go to Don't Wanna Be Here by Kate Wetherhead.

"It's unbelievable nerdy and geeky," says Hanrahan, one of this year's 12 Trivia Masters. The game runners are selected in the fall and keep their spots until they graduate. This year, the team was led by Grand Master Weronika Gajowniczek, a senior biochemistry student.

As Trivia enters its 40th hour Sunday afternoon, the exhausted Trivia Masters are dazed but enthusiastic. While they take turns working the phones, tracking scores and manning the radio, there's little time for rest.

Emptied energy drinks and bags of junk food are scattered on tables. Two Trivia Masters snooze on mismatched couches, while others buzz around in socked feet. As players call in with answers, the phone masters check a large whiteboard, which has recent answers carefully scribed for easy reading.

The studio is covered in quilts and knitted drapery after a recent action question requiring teams to yarn bomb a part of campus. Other action questions included throwing birthday parties for the contest's 50th edition or measuring a length of sidewalk with the required Lawrence freshman reading, Plato's The Republic.

Those answering phones chat animatedly, laughing along with the radio host of the hour. As she asks the next question, the phones (decorated with knitted cozies) begin to ring off the hook almost immediately.

"On the same day that the CEO of Space X celebrated his birthday in the most recent Year of the Dragon, a baby boy named Edward Allen was born. Which variety of his family's spears took the prize at the 2014 Wisconsin State Fair?"

One Trivia Master, decked out in a suit and red bow tie, answers the phone like a game show host. "Hello, it's Trivia!" Another uses a Russian accent. They give each caller three tries and then hang up. (The answer, gleaned from a Sept. 19, 2014, Green Bay Press-Gazette article, is grape garlic dill pickles.)

Across town, a team known as Je Suis Iowans is celebrating its 30th year in the contest. They are hard at work in Kevin Brimmer's living room, laptops at the ready, the radio show blasting on surround sound.

"Trivia's changed quite a bit. It used to be about how much you knew and how well-read you were," said Brimmer, 52. "I mean, my first year, I had a rotary dial phone. Now we have our own custom search engine."

Brimmer's team and its methodical operation instantly impress. Two computer science professors built a search engine to hold answers from the past 49 trivia contests. One member types the questions onto a large screen for easy reading as the rest click away, scanning trivia websites and Wikipedia articles for clues.

Back in the day, Brimmer prepped for the contest by building temporary bookshelves to hold three sets of encyclopedias and stacks of borrowed library books. In the '90s, one member built a nine-disc CD-ROM so the team could search the Chicago Tribune archives at lightning speed.

The advent of the Internet age pushed Trivia Masters to craft increasingly complex, layered questions. For example: "Which distinctive biting character name was used in a 2009 novel and an early 1990s animated television series?" The answer: Skeeter, The Help protagonist and the blue best friend in Doug.

"If you can answer one question off the top of your head for the entire contest, that's pretty impressive," Brimmer said.

At 5 p.m. Sunday, his living room is on par with the WLFM studio. Marshmallows, Doritos and beer are on hand to fuel the avid players, who proudly don black brimmer hats with the state of Iowa embroidered in red and sport horseshoe mustaches that rival Brimmer's impressive handlebar.

After four intensely difficult finale questions, the players gather outside the studio for the 1 a.m. award ceremony. They shout team chants at one another, shivering and decked out in masks and costumes. One team parades in with an eight-foot inflatable Shrek while Brimmer stands proud with his fellow Iowans, draped in a state flag.

Gajowniczek stands at the top of a staircase, hoisting a makeshift staff over her people. She announces the winners, who receive random items spray-painted gold as trophies. Je Suis Iowans place third among off-campus teams with 1,217 points.

With 1,374 points, first place went to Bucky's Brood of Burgeoning Butt Brigadiers' Bizarre Belligerents Bird-Bondage-Base Burlesque Bonanza. They receive a gold-plated rotary dial phone, a relic.

Gajowniczek names her successor: Hanrahan. As the students scream his name, Hanrahan throws off his jacket and shirt and grabs the Grand Master staff.

"I have absolutely nothing to say!" he bellows. "But I cannot wait until next year."

It's a great choice. If anyone understands Trivia, it's Hanrahan, who holds dear the Trivia credo: Trivia is entertainment.

"We're not here to see which team wins or ask the most difficult questions we can. We're just here to have fun, play stupid songs and eat awful food," he says. "A lot of it is meaningless, but it's just really enjoyable. And that's why people keep coming back."

Ariel Cheung also reports for The (Appleton, Wis.) Post-Crescent.

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