QuizList

… and he does all the rest!’

Great lyrics from ‘Pinball Wizard’ remind me of the reverence with which some quiz players are regarded, and also remind me of a side-alley to quiz playing:  quiz machines.  Now I am a mediocre quiz machine player, so take what I say with a pinch of salt, but over the next few weeks I’ll be giving a brief rundown on some of the main games you can play on a quiz machine and hints, if I have any.

Let’s start with ‘South Park’.  Basically, characters from SP pop up holding placards with a theme and number of points on them, e.g. Sport 25 points, Words 100 points, Mystery 50 points.  You pick the one you think you stand most chance of getting right, or the one with the most points if you know everything, and you get asked a question on it.  Choose the right answer and you proceed (I think there are a couple of lifelines as well).  Avoid the ‘Mystery’ if you can, because it’s a total bastard (things flashed up then turned over and you identify the pairs in a very short space of time, or suchlike).  So how do you win anything?  Don’t know, because I have never won anything on it.  Why play it?   Because, folks, there are in this life two entities I can do a passable imitation of;  one is one of the ***heads whom I find intensely annoying, and the other is Cartman.  So when you lose, Cartman pipes up with ‘Screw you guys, I’m going haaawwwm’ and you can say it in unison with him. Unfortunately, I have been barred from doing this by quizmates;  I can’t even say the shortened form (’Screw you guys - home’), but I sometime ignore them and persevere.  And South Park in general is quite a fun game, unlike some of the others which I’ll describe at a later date.

A Monday quiz, which isn’t their movies quiz, spotted in the Bald Faced Stag, East Finchley - did they persevere with it?  Let me know if you have more details.

Very early update this week/end, because unexpectedly I’m going away for a few days and won’t have the chance to do the usual update.  So here’s Clue 9 to the mystery city, which is: The city has produced quite a few well-known sportsmen;  one of them is doing well in general at the moment but had a disappointing ‘half’ in September.

The Royal Star, 220 City Road, EC1V 2PN, 020 7253 7323.
Tuesday quiz, with 5 rounds of questions and beer/food voucher prizes.

The North Pole, 13-15 North Pole Road, W10 6QH, 020 8964 9384.
Monday quiz, alcohol and food prizes.

Don’t forget about the ‘Quizmaster wanted’ in Borough, as I have more details.

Let’s press on with more clues about the mystery city.

7.  An area of the city was mentioned in a UK No 1 hit of the late 70s.

8.  The city is not London, but has two areas with the same names as parts of London.  Coincidentally, they both start and finish with the same letter of the alphabet.

I suppose Christmas quizzes will be starting soon.  Don’t forget to memorise what your true love gave you on the various days of Christmas and the names of some geezer’s reindeer - those two are dead certs.  Oh, and where St Nicholas was Bishop of.  I’ll see can I find any good links to sites with this sort of trivia and keep you posted (post early).

Strange fact learned from a quiz machine this week:  Jimmy Hoffa’s middle name was ‘Riddle’.  Well, maybe.

The Cantaloupe, 35 Charlotte Road, London, EC2A 3PD, 020 7613 4411, are offering a Tuesday quiz with 60 questions and ‘mystery prizes’ including £100 (that kind of implies a ‘pick the envelope’ arrangement to me….)

The Harlequin, 27 Arlington Way, Clerkenwell, EC1R 1UY, 0871 917 0007 (ref 26693):  some talk of a fortnightly Monday quiz: check it out if interested.

I’ve put the details for the recently-started Old White Lion in East Finchley under the Tuesday listings.  This is a quiz format which will be familiar to many - set rounds including current affairs, connections, and ‘wipeout’ (where your whole score for the last round is wiped out if you get one question wrong).  Cash prizes.

Mystery city, clue 6, recap at 10:  A multi-million selling, record breaking, four piece musical ‘combo’ originated in this city.  Maybe I’ll give out a prize for the first correct guess  - what about a wonderful Quizlist.com pen?  There are only ten of these in the world, which means that some people will be getting their worst ever Christmas presents ever, including my brother-in-law whose present has already been despatched, he living so far away…

The Albion,  2/3 New Bridge Street,  EC4V 6AA, 020 7583 0227.
This is running a Monday quiz with £50 and £25 prizes, also beer prizes and ‘Play your cards right’.

The Duke of York, 45 Harrowby Street, W1H 5HT,  0871 917 0007.
Thursday quiz with early start, 40 questions, cash and drinks prize.

I have more details on the ‘Quizmaster Wanted’ in Borough - it’s most likely Tuesday nights and sounds a good gig.  So let me know if you’re interested, I’ll pass on the details .

I’ve often mentioned the problem with Wednesday quizzes.  In one word, it’s football.  This week we turned up for a Wednesday quiz and found about four different screens around the bar, all showing different matches.  The sign for the quiz was still up and there was no indication that it was cancelled, but we sat there like (like?) a bunch of eejits till about 9.45 until we copped on.  So ring in advance, as I always tell you…

Mystery city, clue 5:  Here is an inhabitant, not in captivity.

Newly notified quizzes:

The Rye Pub, 31 Peckham Rye, SE15 3NX, 020 7639 5397:  Wednesdays.

The Phoenix, Windsor Walk,  SE5 8BB, 020 7701 8282: night not specified.

And QuizList has had some success in matching up aspiring quizmasters with pubs that are looking for a QM:  another possible vacancy exists in Borough.  I’ve asked for a few more details like night of the week and amount of money involved, and am waiting for those, but if you’re interested even at this early stage, let me know and I’ll pass your details on.

Third and fourth clue about the mystery city:

3. A river runs through it.

4. A prominent football team based in this city wear blue.

Keep guessing, and let me know about any good quizzes you’ve been to recently - I feel like trying something new…