World Quizzing Championship 2010

When? June 5, 2010 at noon
Where? Carnegie Mellon University, Hamburg Hall, Room No. 1000

Please register with pittsburgh.quizzing -AT- gmail.com

=== additional info follows ===

2010 WORLD QUIZZING CHAMPIONSHIPS

On Saturday, June 5th 2010, game show contestants, trivia players, and other know-it-alls will gather at locations across the USA to test their wits against others across the globe during the World Quizzing Championships. The two-hour written test taken by individuals will cover popular and academic trivia in the areas of culture, entertainment, history, lifestyle, media, sport, science, and world topics. Questions included in the quiz are written by representatives in Belgium, Estonia, India, USA and the UK, with help from Australia, Finland, the Netherlands, and Norway. Additional countries that will be participating in the quiz include Bangladesh, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Liberia, Lithuania, Malaysia, Morocco, the Philippines, Russia, Serbia, Sri Lanka, and Switzerland.

What sort of questions will the competitors face, or more to the point, what won’t be asked? This is the antithesis of a bar trivia night, it is instead a global quiz for a global audience. Don’t expect questions about TV soap operas, local politics or other regional events. Do expect questions about mythology, the Olympic Games, Disney films, the Solar System, wildlife, and Nobel Laureates; in short, expect questions for which participants from Boston, Berlin,
Beijing, or Buenos Aries might possibly know the answers. Sample questions, and more information can be found at www.wqc2010.com

BACKGROUND

Each competitor faces the same questions (translated into their mother tongue in many cases) on the same day worldwide. There are 240 questions in eight categories, and two hours in which to answer them (divided into one hour halves with a break in between). At the end of the allotted time, the papers are marked and each quizzers' top seven category scores will be added together to find the winner. The categories [and general content areas] are a combination of academic and popular culture topics including:

CULTURE: [Architecture, Fine Arts, Philosophy, Museums, Religion, Mythology]
ENTERTAINMENT: [Music (Classical, Blues, Film Score, Jazz, Rock, World), Ballet, Musicals and Operas, Radio, Television]
HISTORY: [(<450AD),(450-1492),(1492-1900),(1900-date), Current Affairs, Explorations, Famous People, Civilizations]
LIFESTYLE: [Costume, Design, Fashion, Food & Drink, Handicrafts, Health & Fitness, Human Body, New Age Beliefs, Products & Brands, Tourism]
MEDIA: [Movies [(1900-1980), (1980-2000)], (recent), Literature [(<1900),(1900-1980),(recent)], Poetry, Drama, Comics, Language]
SCIENCE: [Chemistry, Mathematics, Physics, Social Sciences, Fauna, Flora]
SPORT: [Track and Field, Team Sports, Motor Sports, Winter Sports, Games, Hobbies & Pastimes, Records]
WORLD: [Geography, Cities, Space, Technology, Transport, Inventions]

This is the 7th year the event has been held. The website with information about venues for this year can be found at http://www.wqc2010.com. History of the event can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Quizzing_Championships