We have reached our limit

So…

Last night we tried out limiting team sizes, for the first time, to eight members. The idea was to give some of the more underdog teams a chance against the perennial winning (and perennially supersize) squads, the Fantastic Fournicators, Strippers for Stephen Hawking and (slightly less so) Gerard Depardouche.

Well, nothing changed. Strippers won, Fournicators came in second. Honestly, I don't believe the issue here is the size of these teams, it's simply their trivia prowess (to phrase it nicely). As far as I know, they play fair. To be the man you gotta beat the man.

Some would argue that what I should do here is impose a stricter team size—say, six. I considered that. But there are two reasons I'm not eager to do this, both of which are the reasons I've resisted limited team sizes for years now: (1) The more teams have to split in two, the more teams there are. Thus, the more answer sheets there are, and the longer the game gets. We're all having fun, friends, but no one needs that. (2) I always try to give the fun of the Big Quiz Thing precedence over the hardcore competition. So if seven friends show up wanting to play a little trivia together, I'd rather not feel pressure to split them up for the sake of "the rules."

So we're sticking with eight as the team limit. See how that goes. Adjust in the future if need be.

Otherwise (or perhaps in spite of, or maybe because of), last night was another wonderful, wonderful show. We learned that Gumby has jungle fever, I can't write a question about sports unless it relates to Gilligan's Island, candy bars are a little disturbing-looking close up, several of you remember reading Fu Manchu stories in the 1920s, mercilessly few of you have seen Trapped in the Closet, and men do not like to record songs written by Prince. See, entertaining and educational.

Now the standings. Our last show of the year is on December 22, when we bid DJ GB a temporary goodbye so that she can pump out that kid:

1. Strippers for Stephen Hawking
2. Fantastic Fournicators
3. Incontinental Congress (thanks to the night's best Smart-Ass Point: "Q: One tenth of a dollar is a dime. One hundredth of a dollar is a cent. Although it exists only abstractly and in accounting, what is the four-letter word for one thousandth of a dollar?" They said "GM stock.")
4. Meatwood Flack/The Quizz-Knows (tie)

Next time our video round is called "The Absolute Greatest Trivia Game Ever Invented in the History of Mankind!!!" Perhaps hyperbole—it's just that I don't want you all to be able to prepare. But maybe it will be the best thing ever, who knows…

Breakin' up

Last night's BQT's ended with a touch of controversy. I'll get to that in a moment, with some relevant news. First…

This was an all-around satisfying quiz, in my humble opinion. Thank you for indulging my autocratic impulse to censor books for our video round. I was surprised to see that no one in this crowd knew who wrote The Day of the Triffids, but to be fair, I would've had no idea who it was if it weren't written on the magic clipboard right in front of me. (I've never read most of the classics; currently, I'm busy with this story about Jesus running for President and this overlong autobiography by the greatest pro wrestler of the '90s. Make of that what you will.)

Also, I just discovered that in the Lightning Round, question No. 3 was problematic: Q: What fictional product featured in the movie Office Space was later manufactured in real life? Turns out, the most popular wrong answer was technically correct.

Slow night for Smart-Ass Points, but I don't care what anyone says, I like "Diaphragm" as the answer to Q: Fill in the blank in the title of this 1965 beach party movie: How to Stuff a Wild BLANK.

Now, the standings:
1. Fantastic Fournicators
2. Birds of Ill Omen
3. Incontinental Congress
4. Butter Balls
5. Strippers for Stephen Hawking

Yes, Fantastic Fournicators won again. And while the core members of this team are certainly trivia masters not to be trifled with (and quite generous, having given me a very thoughtful birthday present several years ago), some of their perpetual success must be attributed to the consistently high number of people on their team (I believe 97% of the crowd last night was on this one squad).

So I trotted out my long-considered plan to limit the BQT team sizes. Lots of loud, circular debate followed, but here's the deal… Next show: Maximum team size 8. Break yourselves up however you see fit.

And this is a trial measure; we'll see what happens and take it from there. And really, unless you're one of those teams that obnoxiously insists on continually paying me money, participating enthusiastically, and succeeding at the task I lay out for people, it probably won't be enforced very stringently.

December 8, folks, it will all happen…