Corporate Quiz Review
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Cancer Research UK -
©¡Caramba Software! 2011
Fitch Quiz Night -
It was a dark & stormy ... oh hang on ... it was a pleasant sunny evening as our
quiz volunteers took the little toytown train to Docklands for the annual Fitch Ratings
quiz night. Ensconced below ground in a Moroccan themed bar, the quizmaster's offer
of an impromptu belly dance was quickly declined by screaming quiz goers as they
ran for the exits.
A few max scores in round 1 for Another Round Please, I Was Being
Stochastic, Overrated, and Train In Vain set an early hot pace. Meanwhile the early
chilly pace was being set by the enigmatically named Team 5, who immediately made
a strong grab for last place honours by opening up (if that's the right phrase) a
6 point gap at the bottom.
It remained tight at the top after the second round, although
just to make sure, Team 5 dropped an extra point behind -
The relentless progress of ARP started
to break the chasing pack down in the next round however, as a 3 point gap emerged,
with I Was Being Stochastic now the only challengers in close contention. A sudden
change in fortunes lower down the scoreboard however brought Team 5 level with Never
Been Quizzed as battle for last place was well & truly joined. Who would prevail
in the second half?
Another sprinkling of max scores in R5 kept it unchanged at the
top, although I Can Clearly See You're Nuts joined the 20 gang in a bid to move into
the upper echelons of the scoresheet. Besides which, Team 5 had now woken up & moved
3 points ahead of NBQ. Maybe they were just slow starters?
In R6, steady scoring again
from the leaders saw their lead stretch to 5 points, with the poorly named Overrated
moving up to mount a strong challenge for second spot. Oh no! What's this? Team 5
had slipped back again & now things were all square at the bottom (there must be
a joke there surely).
More consistency from the leaders saw them 6 points ahead in
R7, albeit with a new team in second place as Overrated made the spot their own.
It was looking like this gap would be too big to overhaul on the final round, but
Fitch quizzes do have a bit of a history of astonishing turnarounds in the last round
in the past, so who knows? Once again, Team 5 were struggling to escape the clutches
of Never Been Quizzed (Why guys? Why?!) as they opened up what could be a telling
2 point gap.
Despite what is technically known as a "complete cock up" by the quiz
master in the final round, the leading teams kept their cool & mounted a strong challenge,
with both Overrated & I Was Being Stochastic carding maximum scores to put the pressure
on the leaders. All to no avail though, as Another Round Please kept up their consistency
to snatch the trophy, the champagne, the wine, & most importantly the kudos that
comes with being the Fitch Ratings quiz champions.
The amazing turnaround did take
place at the lower levels, however, as a very poor last round from Team 5 left them
2 points adrift of the NBQ ladies to become the first recipients of the magnificently
crafted wooden spoon trophy.
But enough of all that. Most importantly, the best team
name prize went to an effort with a topical theme, as Saving Private Giggs took the
spoils. (Am I allowed to say that?)
Results Here -
JLT Quiz Night -
Just for a change, although the night wasn't dark as proceedings ...er ...proceeded,
there was a hint of storminess in the air as JLT's finest minds assembled to do battle
for the annual general knowledge quiz. At stake, some champagne, plus the magnificently
unengraved quiz champion's shield (I wonder if thus year's winners will get round
to engraving it?)
A great start for most teams saw the top of the leader board crammed
with maximum scores, with most others close behind. Spice Girls (Brainy Spice, Sharp
Spice, & Intellectual Spice) were the exception, getting only half marks. However,
this is easily explained by the fact that they only had half a team, so the correlation
was perfect.
Round 2 sorted things out a little, leaving only Chris & The Machine,
plus seasoned campaigners CI5 sharing the lead. Those Spicey Girls also pulled one
out of the bag (D&G presumably), to dramatically haul themselves off the bottom of
the scoresheet, consigning Ryan Giggs etc there instead. However, the Spicey ones
were just teasing us (More! More! We love it!) & this was to be their only foray
into the not-
The third round saw
a few maxima, one of which saw Chris et al take the outright lead, although plenty
of teams were still breathing down their necks (that would certainly put me off),
including Absolutely Seething & LPL Central. A round 4 maximum from Frisky Business
saw them move to a more challenging position, but by the halfway stage Chris ATM
had opened up an impressive 5 point lead.
Half time refreshments included some dim
sum & Thai curry, well up to, if not beyond, the usual high catering standards at
JLT Towers -
The second half began with the quizmaster exhorting
more effort from the chasing pack to close the 5 point gap. Clearly, this worked
well, since the gap increased to 6 points at the end of the round. New challengers
in the form of I Thought You Had A Wife got a max to move into second place, but
a max from Chris ATM ensured they stayed comfortable.
A slip up by Chris & another
max from Wife (one of many on this round) cut the deficit to 4 points in round 6.
With 2 rounds remaining, could Wife catch them out & claim the glory? Apparently
not, as they slipped up, allowing a max from LPL Central (their second 20 in succession)
to move them into second place, cutting the lead to only 3 points going into the
final round ... could it be?!? Apparently yes, as LPL scored a third successive max,
while Chris ATM slipped up again, to lose it by a single point. A final round max
from Wife moved them into joint second place at the death. Excitement at one end
of the table then, while the race for last place never got going, thanks to the firm
grip of the Spice Girls in that position.
Many thanks once again to our long standing
friends & supporters at JLT for boosting our fundraising efforts.
UIB -
Attached are the results of last night's quiz for UIB, held at the 2AD bar in Crutched Friar.
The proceedings started off not at all dark & not at all stormy, you'll be glad to hear. Darkness was simulated by descending to the basement bar to sample the delights of a strangely laid out room not all conducive to a lively quiz atmosphere. Well, to be fair, the atmosphere may well have been lively where most of the teams were, but your intrepid quizmaster was around the corner & sometimes under the impression he was presenting a quiz pretty much to himself!
...and the storminess? That was almost achieved just prior to the halfway point when the bar ran out of beer. To be exact, it ran out of gas to pump the beer, but the effect was the same. Dark & stormy.
First round maximum scores were posted by Lost, The Bird Brains, Three Workers & A Shirker, & Three Me & A Wop (hmm some sort of pattern developing here?) to see them setting the early pace, while And In Last Place made a determined attempt to make that position their own for the evening. No maxima in round 2, but Three Men & A Wop (such a PC name) edged ahead by a couple of points, as the top scoring Quiz Eubank moved into second place to become their nearest challengers.
The third round proved difficult & saw some low scoring, but the status quo was pretty much maintained at the top, with Kiss My Chuddies now moving into third place. Disaster at the bottom though, as And In Last Place moved out of their eponymous position to be replaced by We Thought It Was A Disco in what proved to be a decisive move. The Disco dollies were to hold on there for the rest of the evening & nothing was going to shift them. Things remained much the same up to the halfway point, although the enigmatically named (or were they just uninspired?) Team 14 joint top scored to move within a point of the equally enigmatic/uninspired Team 13.
Following some tasty refreshments in the interval, revived brains in no less than 3 teams chalked up maximum marks, including And In Last Place, thus removing even the remotest chances they had of living up (down?) to their name. They made a sterling effort by scoring only 6 in the following round, but those Disco dollies were not to be denied, scoring even less to ensure last place was definitely going to be theirs.
Late flourishes from Kiss My Chuddies, with a 20 in round 7, & Please See All Of The Above, who got a maximum in round 8, were not enough to topple Three Men & A Wop, who claimed the spoils.
When asked for a quote, the spokesman for Three Ventriloquists & A Dummy (I told you there was a theme developing) responded with "Gottle of geer" which, under the circumstances, seemed an appropriate summary.
We thank our friends at UIB for supporting us to the tune of £750 once more.
Scoresheet available HERE
Tysers -
On a dark (especially in the quizmaster's corner of The Poet) but very unstormy night,
our friends from Tysers gathered for yet another gnome-
Early maxima for Earth Wind & Trevor, plus Quiz Team Aguilera (yes, there's one in every quiz these days) established them at the top of the scoresheet with a narrow lead. Not too far behind at this stage were Mike's Quiz Loving Boys & Wonder Bras, although the latter were looking a bit stretched even at this stage.
No maximum scores in round 2, but EW&T managed to shake off their challengers to open up a gap at the top. Likewise, at the other end of the table, Wonder Bras were now on their own by a couple of points. Round 3 proved the hardest of the night, stats fans, with an average score of 13. A below average score from EW&T saw them hauled back into a leading group with Service Desk (they won't win) & Who's Dave? The latter changed their team name around about this stage, perhaps some ESP told them that their previous name was in fact one of the answers in a later round, so they wanted to keep it quiet? Who knows. Wonder Bras managed to cut the gap at the bottom to a single point, so they were starting to look in good shape.
The final round of the first half saw the enigmatically named Spaggle grab the limelight
with a maximum score to move within range of the halfway leaders EW&T, who had squeezed
a point ahead again. At this stage, a nervous search started for the tie break questions,
with only 4 points covering the top 7 teams -
A flurry of 20 pointers showed the effectiveness of The Poet's refreshment selection in round 5, with top marks from Wiser Tysers & Norfolk & Chance (yawn). But it was the other maximum score which took Service Desk (they won't win) a point ahead of the chasing pack. Meanwhile Wonder Bras sagged even more, & the gnomes gathered, sensing the kill.
Round 6 proved a tricky one again, although Mike's Boys only dropped a single point, bringing them to within a point of Service Desk (they won't win) who just did enough to hold on to their lead. Wonder Bras were now 5 points adrift at the bottom. Could they bounce back? Not with half marks in round 7 they couldn't, as the rest of the teams found it a relatively easy round, leaving the WBs completely undone. So, maintaining their slender lead going into the final round, could it be that Service Desk (they won't win), would indeed pull off a shock result after all?
Victory was sealed with the only maximum score of the final round, & Service Desk (they won't... oh) walked off with the champagne, the trophy, & vast amounts of chocolate.
Being perceptive in that way, you may have noticed no mention of Norman Stanleys. All we can say is that they managed to stay under every radar we had going, which is quite a feat in itself.
But what of Wonder Bras, I hear you ask? Well, they did pass the magic 100 point
mark, just, so all credit for that none-
Thanks once again to our friends at Tysers for their continuing support (especially Wonder Bras).
That's it. As usual, I forgot the camera. Sorry. Scoresheet available here (Excel format)
Field Fisher Waterhouse 25th January 2011
Once again our friends from Field Fisher Waterhouse asked us to stage a quiz night
for them on what was a dark, but more drizzly than stormy night. We assembled from
far & wide (well, just round the corner actually) at the Revolution Bar in America
Square to discover who would be FFW quiz champions for 2011. The competition was
fierce, with a total of 39 teams vying for the honour -
The evening got off to a fast start, with no fewer than 13 teams scoring a maximum
20 on round 1. Sadly, for Come On Folks Don't Get Stuck In The Weeds (wha...?),
Bratwurst-
Round 2 provided a cornucopia of questions (oh alright, 10) about Scotland ... well
it was Burns Night. Seemingly, we don't know as much about our neighbours as we
might, as there were no maximum scores this time round. At this stage, It was still
all to close at the top of the leader board for anybody to really establish a grip
-
Trivia Newton John made their claim for fame with the only 20 in round 3, the first
of 2 for them. It was enough to keep them in contention, although a gap had now
emerged to allow The Simple Minds, & Out Of Office Assistance to hit the front, with
E For Idiot Hard on their tails. EFI then pulled out the only max mark in round
4 to leapfrog the others into 1st place going into the break -
Following brain-
We then returned to a round where only one team stood out, Quizzy Rascals, who scored a marvellous max there, one of 3 for them on the night. Unfortunately for them, consistency was not their strength, so they were unable to get in the running for the top places. Things were really hotting up downstairs (oo er). Robot Riots were joined at the bottom (insert your own Siamese twin joke here) with Robert Palmers Girls & The Boyz Are Back In Town, who had been slowly falling down the table since the start.
We Thought It Was A disco! chipped in with their first max in round 7, along with a second 20 from the bizarrely named G6 Ja Ja Baby Kiss My Ring Baby Ja Ja (where DO they get these names from ?). But it was the max from Out Of Office Assistance that proved telling, nudging them into a clear lead with one round to go. Could they hold on? Would there be a tie break? Would there be enough light in the back bar to see the answer papers? These were the questions on everyone's lips at this tense stage (honest).
Another plethora of 20s in the final round, including second maximums from Conan
The Librarian, Hidden Properties, We Are Where We Are!, & The Write-
So, a great evening all round, plus the added benefit of another £1,500 being raised in the fight against cancer. Our thanks to all at Field Fisher Waterhouse once again, & we hope to see them in the not too distant future.