The Hardest Trivia Outside of King William's College

I had casually added to my list of trivia questions to ask throughout the weekend, writing down random bits and pieces as I rifled through Wikipedia pages. I built up my arsenal of 20 regular questions and a set of more obscure bonus beer questions. I thought I was prepared but then about 20 minutes before I left I had a panic attack, and started thinking that my questions were way way too easy and that there'd be a 3-way tie for first place. Last time I hosted trivia I had forgotten to make up a tie-breaker question so I had to think fast on my feet to remember any number at all that I could.

But thankfully, and remarkably, my questions ended up being incredibly difficult. But at the same time, people were able to try and puzzle out some of the answers. They were obscure but not insurmountable, unknown but not unknowable, the kind of questions where you would get angry at yourself when you hear the answer.

Anyway, here's the complete list of questions: Link.

The scores ranged from about 5 to 10 points out of a possible 22 points. By contrast, the week before one team actaully scored perfectly. So I like to think this one really shows what the differences between the teams is.

I adore trivia.


Update: This is King William's College Quiz, pretty much the most difficult general-knowledge quiz in the English-speaking world. Link.

King William's College Quiz. Mefites, your mission: Collectively solve the hardest 100 year old annual quiz around. (Be warned, I think they're getting wiser to the appliance of google-fu science.)
posted by biffa at 6:43 AM AST (75 comments total) [!]

See previous years threads: 2002, 2003 and 2004
posted by biffa at 6:48 AM AST on December 23 [!]

Wow. "Difficult" isn't even the word for it. It's like some NYT crossword clues: so astoundingly obscure that researching the answer is an absolute necessity.

I like to think I have a lot of trivia jammed in my head, but...wow.
posted by zardoz at 6:53 AM AST on December 23 [!]

I always look forward to this time of year when I can be reminded of how good some pub quiz teams are.
And how crap mine is.

Q. "What was the result of arthropod larvae appearing en route for Tendra?"
A. "... anyone else for a pint?"
posted by NinjaPirate at 7:16 AM AST on December 23 [!]