Boston Quiz Marathon: Prizes for all (sort of)!

Ay-ay-ay: The Boston edition of our Tenth Anniversary Quiz Marathon is in five days!!! I should get a little sleep and/or cocaine (now that 5 Hour Energy will kill me).

It'll be worth it.

I've been posting in this space—here, here, here, and here—about the fabulous roster of prize sponsors (in addition to the $500 grand-prize jackpot). But another key note about prizes…

We'll be giving out these goodies to far more than just the winning teams. In fact, prizes will be doled out all day long. Every two hours, we'll give some excellent goodies to the team in tenth place—'cause let's face it, they probably won't end up with the grand prize—and to a squad with a particularly great Smart-Ass Point. We like to share the love.

But yes, yes: The bulk of the good stuff will be distributed round about 10pm, when this whole insane thing wraps up (prime time, as I call it). Still, it'll go to more than just the teams with the greatest cumulative score from the preceding—Jeebus—ten hours. We have prizes for…

Best Team Name: In the early days of the BQT, we routinely gave out something nice for the cleverest squad name as a particular event. But we dropped that because (a) I like encouraging team identity, which means sticking with the same moniker from show to show, and (b) that gimmick seems to be a staple of many a workaday bar quiz, so it lacked the freshness that is the BQT's hallmark. But hey, why not, it's back for the Marathon: We have a big ol' gift basket from Oberon neighbors Follow the Honey. So go nuts with the amusingly timely portmanteaus.

Best Tweet: Log on to Twitter throughout the day, mention hashtag #QuizMarathon, and tell the world how awesome a time you're having. Best witticism from the day will get a big one: a $180-value Party Pack from supreme sponsors ImprovBoston (also the day's suppliers of supreme comedy—more on that in this space in the coming days).

Team Spirit: Rah! Rah! Rah! At the end of the day, the squad that we determine has showed the best team spirit will get a prize I am justly very excited about: One of BQT Boston's most stalwart prize sponsors, Modern Homebrew Emporium, is on board for this big show, and they've decided to do something special. Behold, "An Evening with Randy." (Hm.) MHE's founder—Randy Baril, of course—will come to your home and lead you and a bunch of pals in a fun-filled three-to-four-hour session of creating your own malty brew. All supplies and ingredients provided, and in a couple weeks, you have five gallons of delicious beer to call your own! Best of all, if you're wondering what constitutes "team spirit," I think being a big fan of beer will help. (The team-spirit winners at the NYC edition of the Marathon came with signs and T-shirts, but I'm expecting something pretty crazy from you Bostonians, so think outside the answer pad.) More about Modern Homebrew Emporium at beerbrew.com.

Speaking of NYC, at that Marathon we also had an Endurance Prize—intended for the single person who stayed put at the Marathon for the longest. But I was shocked when well more than 70 players stuck it through the full ten hours (seriously). So I gave the prize—a giant Lionel train set, in fact—to one particular fan who has been dedicated to the BQT for eons despite almost never winning anything. It worked out great in that case, but I'm not tempting fate in Boston.

So yeah, this thing is going to be amazing. Cheapo tix on offer now; see you soon.