Happy that season! Enjoy our Christmas-themed (yes, it is Christmas-themed) trivia quiz…
1. Unlike virtually all other rock bands, the Grateful Dead featured two people playing what instrument?
2. What notorious pro-wrestling villain of the 1980s wore a kilt and a T-shirt bearing the phrase “Hot Rod”?
December 19, 2016
A Christmas quiz
November 23, 2016
A Thanksgiving trivia quiz
1. In 2013, for the first time ever—and most likely the last time ever—Thanksgiving coincided with what other holiday?
November 15, 2016
Hiring trivia for holiday parties
October 29, 2016
An online Halloween trivia quiz
1. What horror movie monster first appeared in 1932, returning in sequels titled after his hand, his tomb, his ghost, his curse, and that time he met Abbott and Costello?
October 24, 2016
Take our online Election Trivia quiz
Only two weeks to go until the end of the world, trivia lovers! Election 2016 Hey, might as well tickle your brain while you're waiting. Need help? Hit us up on Twitter or Facebook…
1. Fill in the BLANKs: On April 27, despite the fact that his chances of winning the Republican nomination were almost totally gone, BLANK named BLANK as his running mate.
2. Whose name is depicted here?
October 13, 2016
If only trivia nerds voted…
…what would the electoral map look like? Maybe a little something like this:
Something tells me Nate Silver can relate. (Want more trivia factoids on the regular? Follow the Big Quiz Thing on Twitter.)
September 29, 2016
Coffee facts for National Coffee Day
Cappuccino is named for its color—the same shade of brown as the habits of Capuchin monks. - Hawaii is the only one of the 50 states that grows coffee.
- The Maxwell House brand is named for a hotel in Nashville, Tennessee.
- According to legend, coffee was discovered by when an Ethiopian
goat-herder named Kaldi noticed that his animals had more energy (and
wouldn't sleep) after eating certain beans. (More about this legend and
the history of joe is here, courtesy the National Coffee Association.)
- A
1967 bestselling book, purporting to offer “the uninhibited
memoirs” or two rather promiscuous flight attendants, was cleverly
titled Coffee, Tea or Me? (You figure it out.)
- The coffeeshop on Frasier was wittily named Café Nervosa. The one on Friends was, of course, Central Perk.
- The MooLatté—a frozen coffee drink available at Dairy Queen—attracted much criticism when it was introduced in 2004, for a perceived similarity between the name and an archaic term for people of mixed race. But the DQ persevered, and the drink's name remains.
- "We are happy to serve you" is the exact message on the iconic New York City Greek hot-beverage cup, officially named the Anthora design. (We relayed the history of the cup on the actually-really-existed Big Quiz Thing TV show.)
April 22, 2014
Hiring a trivia company: What to look for (part 2)
Continuing from yesterday's post: What should you look for when you're choosing a company to organize your company's custom trivia event? Read on for four more expert tips…
Inquire about custom content: The most popular add-on to the Big Quiz Thing's standard quiz-show package is customized material—questions specifically about the client company, its staff, its history, its industry. Close to half of our clients request this, especially at noncorporate, wedding/anniversary/birthday/bar mitzvah events, where we’ve done entire quizzes about the life and times of a guest of honor. Perhaps you’re not interested in custom material—like most of our clients, you just want general knowledge, pop culture, etc., and you'd rather keep company business out of party time—but consider it, and inquire about it regardless, since offering this option demonstrates a company’s personalized touch and flexibility. 
Read some testimonials: A reminder—since this is good advice for hiring anyone for anything, so you surely know this already—but make sure your quiz company has a proven track record of working with and delighting companies like yours. Look at their client list, read their testimonials, maybe even send out a few e-mails or phone calls (legit companies have references at the ready). Beware the company whose website doesn’t list any former clients, since their “corporate” experience probably doesn’t extend beyond the founder’s girlfriend’s birthday party. (Though we’ve done that too, and it was super fun.)
Look for the other hallmarks of true professionals: Since most trivia companies are fairly small, the founder often doubles/triples/quadruples as sales manager/quizmaster/everything-else person. There’s nothing necessarily wrong with this—that described the Big Quiz Thing in its early days—but it can be tricky, since it often means things get personal when they should be professional (a too-personally-invested salesperson is a pushy salesperson; hallelujah for the BQT’s sales manager, Ellen Bereza). Also, ask if they’re insured: If your event is at a hotel or similar venue, knowing your trivia provider can supply a certificate of liability means you have one fewer thing to worry about. Hire the Big Quiz Thing: Easily the most important advice we can offer. Make it easy on yourself: Ensure that all the bases are covered by hiring the best in the business, the BQT. Contact us today and let’s make the professional corporate trivia entertainment magic happen. See you soon.
April 21, 2014
Hiring a trivia company: What to look for (part 1)
With summer on the way, the Big Quiz Thing is entering one of its busy seasons. Traditionally, with companies throwing warm-weather parties for its staff and summer associates (in offices, at restaurants, even on boats), we pick up a lot of corporate business between June and August; thus, people tend to inquire between March and May. So it seems like a good time to offer some expert advice on what to look for when hiring a corporate trivia provider. Behold…
Hire an actual trivia company: Let’s start with the most important, and the obvious…which turns out isn’t so obvious. Since “corporate trivia events” is still an alien concept to many (it’s always interesting when I explain to new acquaintances what I do for a living), even people who are looking to hire in this field often don’t know that there are companies who do only trivia. Thus they might end up recruiting some other event company that just happens to include trivia in its multifarious bag of tricks— teambuilding generalists, scavenger hunt companies, comedy troupes, etc. These events might be a good time (trivia usually is, if you ask me), but you simply won’t get the experience that a true quiz-focused company can give you, both in terms of fun and professionalism. Every other tip I offer below could theoretically be subsumed under this one: Demand the experts.
See them in action: Another general one. Most corporate quiz companies also produce public events, whether cozy pub quizzes or, like the BQT, large-scale live game shows.
Ask about their public offerings, and try to see one live (or send a
colleague)—this will answer a lot of the questions I suggest asking below, plus you’ll probably have a fun night out on the
company dime. And ask what the major differences are between their
public and private shows. The biggest for the BQT: Our public quizzes
are generally more challenging than custom ones—it’s more self-selecting
crowd when it’s open to the masses, after all. (Check our calendar to see when the BQT is in your area, e-mail us to get on the guest list, and say hi to our awesomely dedicated geek fans.)
Ask to see sample questions: If you can't experience the questions at a public show, request to see some; any trivia provider worth its question marks will be willing to show you samples. It’ll give you an idea if the company really knows what makes for a quality quiz event—do they produce clever, engaging, original questions and puzzles (at the Big Quiz Thing, we often say they’re “figureoutable”), or do they think an obscure, dry query is good enough (“What’s the capital of Burundi?” is my favorite bad example. The correct answer is “Who cares?”)? Even worse, they might simply “borrow”
questions from someplace else (e.g., a Trivial Pursuit deck); I have seen it done, believe it
or not, so ask from whence these queries come. The
amount of energy a company puts into designing and creating its content
is indicative of how much energy it’ll put into making your event a
success. 
Tomorrow I'll post some more tips on what to look for with your trivia provider. But why mess around: Hire the Big Quiz Thing for your summer trivia event and guarantee a quiztastical time for all.
April 15, 2014
Palindrome trivia in honor of Palindrome Week
In the annals of pointless holidays (e.g., Pi Day, the time when I was in middle school when it was 1:23 and 45 seconds on 6/7/89), let us not overlook our present joyous occasion: We are in the midst of Palindrome Week. Yesterday was 4/14/14. Today is 4/15/14. Tomorrow is 4/16/14. And so on till Saturday: Every day's date is a palindrome—the same forward and backward. Monumental, right? Truly a whole-bunch-of-times-in-a-lifetime event.
To honor this most honor-worthy of happenings, behold a low-ago video puzzle I dug from the archives: "Trivial Palindromes Semordnilap Laivirt." Each statement can be rephrased as a palindromic phrase. For example: "The largest city in Poland had yet to be cooked" can be restated as "Warsaw was raw." Wow. Have at it, Bob.
April 14, 2014
Our online Mad Men trivia challenge! (Part 1)
Wow, wasn't last night's final-season premiere of Mad Men fantastic? The way that Don Draper & Co. navigated the highs and lows of the ad business amid the cultural tumult of the 1960s? Incredible.
But surely the highlight (surely) was our little preshow trivia challenge on Twitter. For an hour (an hour-plus, actually, since we kept tweeting during commercials), we sent out the finest in Mad Men–themed quiz questions for the social-media masses. Thanks to everyone who played, but especially our top scorers: @ThePaqRat, @Negro_Abe, @negropeggy, @iblameshane, @greenmelinda, and @riptor.
For those of you who didn't play (or aren't even following the BQT on Twitter, for shame), see the questions below—the first 12, I'll send up the rest later in the week. And since we didn't quite get to every query last night, we'll be tweeting out a few more next week during Episode 2's premiere. You don't want most of it, you want all of it. Am I right?
How many years passed between the first episode of Season 1 and the last episode of Season 6?
What’s the common factor: Sing Sing Correctional Facility, and Don and Betty Draper’s home?
What’s the common factor: A type of bread, and Henry and Betty Francis’s home?
Which character’s silhouette is pictured here?
Mattel has released Mad Men–branded variations of what 55-year-old toy?
Complete this quote: “I’m Peggy Olson, and I want to BLANK some BLANK.”
What character’s name is indicated by this rebus?
Which cast member’s name can be anagrammed to “Shakier Napkin”?
Complete this quote: “One minute you’re on top of the world, the next minute some BLANK’s running you over with a BLANK.”
Which character’s silhouette is pictured here?
Appropriately, which cast member’s birthday is January 5?
Which Season 6 cast member was once declared People magazine's Sexiest Man Alive?
More later. Have a cigarette (or don't).
April 9, 2014
Sunday: An online Mad Men trivia challenge!
Some fun coming this Sunday: That outrageously entertaining, era-defining chronicle of America in transition, Mad Men, is back on AMC for its final season (10pm EST). And to capitalize on the mania, we'll be presenting an BQT online trivia challenge: A whole bunch of questions all about the show's preceding six seasons, in the inimitable BQT style (which means yes, some multimedia fun). Starting at 9pm (one hour before the premiere), we'll be posting one question at a time on our Twitter feed (@BigQuizThing), and hey, maybe we'll give away a prize or two. Fun, fun, fun. And a day or two later, we'll post all the questions on this blog for your tweet-free edification. So follow us on Twitter, review the preceding seasons on Netflix, and try to avoid getting run over by a lawnmower, Guy.
February 14, 2014
Perfect prizes for private and corporate trivia events
As you might imagine, our multimedia quiz party business involves a heck of a lot more than asking trivia questions. In fact, a huge aspect of it is answering questions—as with anyone who provides a professional service, clients who hire us for their own trivia nights always have queries for us: They want to know what we can offer and how we can offer it in the realm of corporate trivia.
The answer? Awesomeness.
Some questions are easy to answer (yep, we provide the pens). Others are more challenging (I think I’ll keep those examples to myself). One that falls somewhere in the middle, but is certainly one of the most often asked questions, is about prizes. As we explain to all clients, we don’t include prizes in our cost, but we’re always happy to advise on them, and even help acquire them. Some suggestions for great trivia prizes…
—Gift cards. Easy to acquire, desirable, lots of variety, relatively inexpensive. Plus, I can be real smooth about pulling them out of my quizmaster jacket pocket.
—Novelty trophies/medals. Available at any party-goods store, and they add to the whole game-show milieu. Depending on the design, we can even simply customize them with a company-logo sticker (or, why not, a Big Quiz Thing sticker).
This.
—A corporate perk. This is a fun one: Several companies we’ve worked with have given members of the winning team a company prize. We’ve awarded extra telecommuting days, an in-office ice cream bash, even—for one group of summer interns—a group lunch date with the CEO. Yes, you college go-getters, your ultimate business success depends on how well you answer trivia questions about M&M’s.
—Puzzle books and pocket games. Twenty minutes and 50 bucks at Barnes & Noble can get you a huge bag of mini board games, portable games, puzzle books, etc., that can be super fun for a winning team to split up and take home.
—Something big. Want to go deluxe? We’ve given away $10k online gift certificates, brand-new iPods, a basket of Google Chromecast media players (those are actually pretty cheap, but they look impressive). No better way to really get the competitive juices flowing.
Of course, none of this is strictly necessary. One prize that comes with every BQT event at no extra charge is the honor and glory of knowing you possess more useless knowledge than your colleagues. When it comes to trivia parties, we guarantee fun—and competition—regardless of the goodies at stake. Another reason that when it comes to corporate trivia parties, you never lose with the Big Quiz Thing.
February 10, 2014
Trivia fundraisers: Entertaining and enlightening!
In the Big Quiz Thing’s long history of customized quiz events, we’ve designed trivia fundraisers for many a worthy charitable organization, among them those focused on those most vital of services, education. Perhaps those are the most important organizations: After all, the children are our future, a wise woman once declared.
A quiz show is the perfect entertainment for an educational fundraiser since, let’s face it, a trivia game is itself educational. Sure, playing the BQT event isn’t going to earn you a Ph.D. (unless you're getting your degree in how to write the perfect trivia question), but I'd argue that the typical BQT attendee leaves a little smarter than when they arrived (smarter being a relative term). Naturally, we’ve picked up a few useful tricks for how to adapt our format for more enlightening purposes than mere trivial diversion.
Last year, the BQT partnered with a fantastic organization, Breakthrough New York. BTNY, in its own words, is “a non-profit organization that transforms the lives of motivated, low-income students by preparing them for college so that they can succeed in the world,” running topflight after-school educational programs. As part of its annual big-ticket gala (at the absolutely splendid Capitale in Chinatown), they asked us to help them design and stage an “Are You Smarter than a Breakthrough Student?”–themed event—a quiz in which the adult attendees tested their knowledge of the BTNY curriculum. Great idea for an educational fundraiser, right?
For most custom events, I don’t write a top-to-bottom new set of questions; we do offer a bespoke-trivia option, but it’s rare that a company asks for an entirely new collection of material. This, however, was such a rare instance, and perhaps the most fun we had doing one: The BTNY staff sent me reams of its curriculum—science, grammar, literature, and more—for a variety ages, and I pored through it, crafting questions that reflected both the organization’s ethos and the BQT style of creative trivia. (In other words, fun and "figureoutable" trivia questions, not just asking players to parrot back facts they learned lo those many years ago.) Take, for example, the one in that photo above: not too tough, though still not a complete gimme.
Meanwhile, on the grammar tip, I pulled the above image from a BTNY teacher’s lesson Powerpoint, and asked, "What do DC and IC stand for here?" (While quizmastering this one, I managed to squeeze a joke out of the fact that Hawkman gets the dynamic-spellcheck underline.)
But with all corporate and private events, it’s important to keep the focus on the client (we’re the hired help, after all). With trivia fundraisers, that’s even more important: The guests need to remember what cause they’re supporting (and why). And in Breakthrough New York’s case, we wanted to spotlight their young scholars: the kids whose lives they transform, as it were. So EdP and I broke out a gimmick that we’d used very successfully at a previous educational fundraiser (for the equally worthy Building Educated Leaders for Life): We visited a Breakthrough school one afternoon, and recruited a few of the more outgoing kids to ask a few questions on camera, and screened it for the guests at the gala, effectively letting each kid serve as quizmaster for a question. It was an effective touch, and for EdP and me, a fun one (the more we work with kids in any capacity, the more we enjoy it; take our recent success with the Big Family Quiz Thing public event).
The kids love us. (Photo: Caroline Voagen Nelson)
The show was a terrific hit (here's an interview with the adult winner), so Breakthrough has recruited us for its 2014 gala. It’ll be happening Tuesday, April 29, this time at Tribeca Rooftop (EdP is making a site visit this week to know what to expect techwise; something we do for any event, big or small). If you’re the charitable-gala type, consider it unmissable—a great cause, excellent food and drink, and, of course, primo entertainment. And I’m just now starting to once again dive into the BTNY curriculum, coming up with this year’s batch of multimedia trivia, designating questions for youngsters to once again ask on camera, and fondly remembering my own long-ago education (what exactly are the differences between equilateral, isosceles, and scalene triangles?), adapting it for my adult avocation.
The late-’80s faculty at South Orange Middle School is proud, I’m sure.
Interested in your own BQT trivia fundraiser? Of course you are…but if you need more convincing, read on here about our entire custom-trivia program. And then get in touch with us, at booking@bigquizthing.com, and let’s talk. The Big Quiz Thing: Making learning (and fundraising) fun.
July 15, 2013
#BQTonTV premiere press roundup
Well, that was fun! The Big Quiz Thing TV show premiered last night on NYC Life, and damn, does it look good (if you missed it—or even if you didn't—Episode 1 is right here). And the best news: There's more! Seven episodes total, premiering each Sunday night through August (with reruns throughout the week). Details, details.
A quick roundup of some of the press we've generously received for the show, and for the Sneak Preview event at the Highline Ballroom last Tuesday…
—And of course, folks on the BQT Twitter and Facebook pages have been kindly expressing their excitement. See you again Sunday the 21st…
June 19, 2013
#BQTonTV: The newest promo
We're less than a month till the premiere of the Big Quiz Thing TV show, my friends. Check out this latest preview…and buy your tickets now to our Sneak Preview TV Screening Party and Quiz at the Highline Ballroom, Tuesday, July 9. Glory!
April 30, 2013
Chicago: Straight outta C2E2!
Behold, a few photos from our excellent blockbuster show at last weekend's C2E2 (Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo), courtesy sometime Chi BQT sidekick Erica Westerman. Hundreds of colorfully costumed fans played the game, with the delightfully meta-monikered Team Name claiming victory, narrowly defeating in the finale second-placers Nicolas Cage and the National Treasures, and third-place My Little Bronies.
Preshow. Yeah, geeks.
Quizmistress Katie and I confer with the Black Widow. I am not even close to exaggerating when I tell you that any major Comic Con is full of attractive—and more importantly, creatively costumed—women.
The winners: Earned it.
Especially glorious in a venue like this.
Sorry to say it, NYC, but this was our best Comic Con show yet. (Hey, there's always next October.) Want a small taste? Can you put these Batman movie chest logos in order, oldest to most recent?
Quizmistress Katie hopes to see the Team Namers at Uncommon Ground in Edgewater this Thursday, for our next monthly Chicago show (at the special time of 8:30pm). Passes to the Adler Planetarium, $200 grand prize, extra-special goodies from the BQT prize closet that I brought to Chicago over the weekend. And yes, trivia nirvana. 8:30pm, friends.
April 3, 2013
Quizmaster Noah: The life and times
Well, how about this: I am the subject of a rather in-depth profile at the fascinating journalism website Narratively. Written by the severely talented Helaina Hovitz and photographed by Courtney Dudley (she was at our humdinger of an Oscars quiz), this article represents a unique experience for me: I get to see my mind and story laid bare as if I were an actual, real, honest-to-God celebrity (it does focus on the incipient BQT TV show, so hey, that's not completely off-base).
I can't say that I'm 100 percent happy with everything here—I hope Zach Braff never reads it, for example—but that's the media for you. And hey, I'm nit-picking: It's fair, and paints a reasonably impressive portrait of who I am and what I've accomplished. (My mom hates it, but I think she may be slightly biased.)
Judge for yourself right here. Now you know.
February 23, 2013
Photo essay: Shooting the BQT on TV
This week, we completed shooting of the Big Quiz Thing: The TV Show, and man, was it an adventure. Seven episodes of a New York City–themed game show, effectively (in my opinion) adapting the BQT format for the small screen. It airs starting this summer (exact date TBA) on the NYC Life network (channel 25 of Time Warner Cable or Fios). Of course, we'll be plastering clips all over the Internet, fear not.
Some photos from the shooting are below. All pictures by me, except where noted; you won't get the full experience, partly because I was so busy with everything else, but I think it gives a good taste of how awesome this was…
Rehearsal,
which took place at the NYC Media studio in Downtown Brooklyn. The
modified logo was great—still recognizable as the BQT, but spiffed up nicely . At right is NYC Media producer Liisa Lunden, along
with Bill Hamilton of our house band, Nipsey,
which just completely kicked ass, and were super fun guys to boot. Two
of the many, many quality people we worked with during this process.
EdP's show intro on the teleprompter in rehearsal. That's when I knew it was for real.
I love that logo, even with an EdP photo-bomb.
At
Kaufman Astoria studios, where we borrowed Broadway costuming, a
different outfit for each of the seven episodes. (Shirtless EdP alert!) Wardrobe expertise was courtesy Felix Mercado, an outstanding celebrity stylist. (Photo by Diane Petzke, the head producer and the woman who "discovered" the BQT.)
A BQT gobo! It was ultimately projected onto for the floor in the shooting space. Also visible are the old BQT buzzers, repaired and glitzed up for the show's Buzzertastic Finale (I really need to trademark the word Buzzertastic).
I quickly learned that there's a lot of waiting around while making TV, something I'm not used to in the live-entertainment world. As long as it works in the end. (Photo by EdP.)
Cue
cards for the audience, when they help me shout our familiar slogan "Trivial
Times Demand Trivial Trivia." (This is my Facebook cover photo now.) EdP
and I remained in the driver's seat creatively throughout this whole
process. (Photo by Liisa Lunden.)
The ad in Time Out New York
soliciting contestants. We got a good mix of people, within the
trivia-geek demographic, which is what I hoped for. I remained front and center throughout; the BQT has been my life for more than
ten years now, and I'm not ready to let someone else become its primary
personality.
The door to Element Nightclub, letting contestants and audience know they've found the right place.
Some NYC Media gear, part of the gift bag given to all contestants. Yes, that's Mayor Bloomberg teaming up with Spider-Man.
The
nerve center. Visible is Polo Langomas, who effectively custom-made an
app so that teams could answer via iPad.
The
lapel of what may have been my finest suit. That exact Made in NY
button was formerly owned by Mayor Bloomberg; I ended up taking it home
(alas, not the suits, though).
Crew badges. Dozens of professionals running around to in service of the BQT—a pretty good feeling.
My microphone pack. (Mine!)
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Getting miked up. (Photo by Liisa Lunden.)
The stage preshow. The palm trees were part of Element's usual decor, but they worked for us.
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Shooting a promo. Coming soon to an annoying video screen in the back of a cab you'll be riding home in late at night. (Photo by Liisa Lunden.)
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In the dressing room. (Photo by BQT assistant Liv Swenson, who served as ace makeup and hair stylist for this show, since that's her real job.)
I had to sequester myself on the upper level preshow. When you're a star…
A team table, this one featuring a regular BQT team, the Fat Kids. We had a few live-show frequenters taking the TV challenge, though not all could keep their familiar names (e.g., no dice on "the Fantastic Fournicators").
Moments before I leaped out onto the stage. It doesn't get more exciting than that.
The view from my podium onstage. Three teams of three people—I think this was ultimately the most faithful way to adapt the traditional team-trivia format to TV.
Nipsey in action. The drummer, Frankie Dave Maggio, and I managed to annoy everyone else with a long, rock-nerdy chat about the Who.
EdP at his perch next to the scoreboard. We worked out a pretty good on-air dynamic: Me as quizmaster, he as intro guy/score guru/team liaison.
A question during the Lightning Round. Won't tell you more than that, but yes, that is an NYC-based query. Really pleased with how the content turned out.
Loading out on the last day. Element was the perfect space for this show (we're even chatting with them about doing a live event there).
There will be much, much more hyping in the months ahead, don't you fret. Get ready.
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