Guest Post: AC on GK versus Trivia quizzing

[Editorial Note: I posted the previous two sets of questions on a private mailing list, prior to putting them up here at the Coffee Shack. Shortly thereafter, a (non-quizzing) friend asked if I or any other list member had ever considered appearing on Jeopardy. Amit wrote an excellent mini-essay in reply, detailing the differences between the ‘desi’ style of quizzing, and the ‘Jeopardy’ style. Here it is, reposted with permission.]

The questions on Jeopardy are much easier than the ones on quizzes that usually feature here. Jeopardy questions test a very specific piece of knowledge and are designed to be answered in a split second, which is what makes the buzzer race so vital. This is not to say that Jeopardy itself is easier than ‘our’ quizzes; super-fast recall of a vast array of facts and trivia is not easy.

On the other hand, ‘our’ quizzes are more about lateral thinking than about testing for specific pieces of knowledge. You still need to recall a vast array of facts, but the key skill now is to search this vast array to figure out the answer to a somewhat cryptically-posed question. Thus, such quizzes have a puzzle-solving aspect that Jeopardy largely lacks (the exception is the Final Jeopardy question, which sometimes has a puzzle-like aspect).

For instance, consider these questions from Thomas's recent quiz:

1. At the 15th to 17th Academy Award ceremonies, the Oscar statuettes were made of plaster instead of metal. Why?

2. Domenikos Theotokopoulus was a great painter. How do we usually refer to him?

For #1, I recalled (from my vast array of knowledge, heh heh) that the Oscars started around 1930, so the 15th to 17th editions would be around World War 2. That would explain the lack of metal. So let's guess WW2. Cool, it's right! Before seeing this quiz, I had not known that Oscar statuettes were made of plaster for a while, and yet it was possible to figure out the answer to this question. And I've learned something new.

For #2, I first realized that the name given is Greek and that I don't immediately know any ‘great’ Greek painters. But wait a minute, I do know of a great painter called ‘El Greco’ who worked in Spain; surely this must be him. Bingo! And in the process I have learned El Greco's real name (I'll probably forget it in a few days).

So... it's not that Jeopardy is low-brow. In fact, I think it would take a very well-read person to crack Jeopardy. But I – and I guess many others among us – just prefer to relaxedly think through a well-made quiz of the desi variety.