World Trivia Night [1] is one of North America's largest live trivia contests, held annually in Ottawa, Ontario since 1995. [2] (In this sense, "live" means people answering the same questions, read live in the same forum, as opposed to radio contests.) Originally organized by the Kiwanis Club of Orleans (Ottawa), the event is now organized by the Children's Aid Foundation of Ottawa, which uses it to fund educational and life enrichment opportunities for children and youth who are supported by the Children's Aid Society of Ottawa. 2024 marked the 30th anniversary of World Trivia Night (as of 1995 when it was taken over by CAF Ottawa). Each year, over 1,000 people play in teams of up to 10 people. The event was originally held at the Aberdeen Pavilion, moving to the EY Centre in 2012, and then, after being held virtually in 2020 and 2021 during the pandemic, Rogers Centre Ottawa (formerly the Shaw Centre) starting in 2022. Since 2002, the event has been hosted by Paul Paquet [3] of the Trivia Hall of Fame [4] and the Ottawa Trivia League. [5] Paquet also prepares the questions. Many political and media luminaries attend. Former mayor Jacquelin Holzman once served as a judge, and in 2003, Ken Jennings read the first question via videotape. By tradition, the first answer is always Pierre Trudeau, as a tip of the hat to the long-running radio trivia contest in Stevens Point, which always begins with a question about Robert Redford. Since 2006, the winners have been awarded the Trong Nguyen Memorial Trophy, named after a member of wirecrats.com who died earlier that year.
A pub quiz is a quiz held in a pub or bar. These events are also called quiz nights, trivia nights, or bar trivia and may be held in other settings. The pub quiz is a modern example of a pub game, and often attempts to lure customers to the establishment on quieter days. The pub quiz has become part of British culture since its popularization in the UK in the 1970s by Burns and Porter, although the first mentions in print can be traced to 1959. It then became a staple in Irish pub culture, and its popularity has continued to spread internationally. Although different pub quizzes can cover a range of formats and topics, they have many features in common. Most quizzes have a limited number of team members, offer prizes for winning teams, and distinguish rounds by category or theme.
George Alexander Trebek was a Canadian-American game show host and television personality. He was best known for hosting the syndicated general knowledge quiz game show Jeopardy! for 37 seasons from its revival in 1984 until his death in 2020. Trebek also hosted a number of other game shows, including The Wizard of Odds, Double Dare, High Rollers, Battlestars, Classic Concentration, and To Tell the Truth. He also made appearances, usually as himself, in numerous films and television series.
The Great Midwest Trivia Contest, or Midwest Trivia Contest, is held once a year in Appleton, Wisconsin, broadcast over Twitch. It has a claim as the longest-running college bowl trivia contest. From 2006 to 2020, the contest was livestreamed by WLFM, Lawrence University's internet radio station, which ceased FM broadcasting in 2006.
Kenneth Wayne Jennings III is an American game show host, former contestant, and author. He is best known for his work on the syndicated quiz show Jeopardy! as a contestant and later its host. Jennings was born in Seattle, Washington but grew up in South Korea and Singapore. He worked as a computer programmer before he tried out for Jeopardy! in 2004. During his initial run, Jennings secured a consecutive 74 wins, setting records and bringing significant media attention and viewership.
Charles Edward Hugo is an American record producer. Alongside close colleague Pharrell Williams, he formed the hip hop and R&B production duo the Neptunes in 1992, with whom he has produced numerous hit records for various artists. He is also a member of the band N.E.R.D., alongside Williams and Shay Haley, and co-founded the record label Star Trak Entertainment with Williams in 2001. In contrast to Williams, Hugo does not perform vocals on records.
Mental Floss is an American online magazine and digital, print, and e-commerce media company focused on millennials. It is owned by Minute Media and based in New York City, United States. mentalfloss.com, which presents facts, puzzles, and trivia with a humorous tone, draws 20.5 million unique users a month. Its YouTube channel produces three weekly series and has 1.3 million subscribers. In October 2015, Mental Floss teamed with the National Geographic Channel for its first televised special, Brain Surgery Live with mental_floss, the first brain surgery ever broadcast live.
Rotterdam Ahoy is a multi-purpose complex with a convention centre and an indoor arena located in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Opened originally in 1950, the current complex consists of three main venues: a fairs and events hall, a congress and conference centre, and the main venue the Ahoy Arena. The latter opened on 15 January 1971 and is the largest multi-purpose venue in the Netherlands, with a capacity of 16,426 as of May 2019.
Alex Jacob is an American former professional poker player and game show contestant.
Jeopardy! is an American television game show created by Merv Griffin, in which contestants are presented with trivia clues in the form of answers and must phrase their responses in the form of a question. The show has experienced a long life in several incarnations over the course of nearly a half-century, spending more than 12 years as a daytime network program and having currently run in syndication for 39 seasons. It has also gained a worldwide following with a multitude of international adaptations.
Paul Stephen Paquet is a nationally syndicated trivia columnist and a trivia writer, based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Wheel of Fortune is an American television game show created by Merv Griffin. The show has aired continuously since January 6, 1975. Contestants solve word puzzles, similar to those in hangman, to win cash and prizes determined by spinning a giant carnival wheel. The current version of the series, which airs in nightly syndication, premiered on September 19, 1983.
Clarence Gordon Perry Sr. was a star football player in the Interprovincial Rugby Football Union for the Montreal AAA Winged Wheelers. He was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1970 and into the Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 1975.
Barbara Ann Scott was a Canadian figure skater. She was the 1948 Olympic champion, a two-time World champion (1947–1948), and a four-time Canadian national champion in ladies' singles. Known as "Canada's Sweetheart", she is the only Canadian to have won the Olympic ladies' singles gold medal, the first North American to have won three major titles in one year and the only Canadian to have won the European Championship (1947–48). During her forties she was rated among the top equestrians in North America. She received many honours and accolades, including being made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1991 and a member of the Order of Ontario in 2008.
Jeopardy! is an American television game show created by Merv Griffin. The show is a quiz competition that reverses the traditional question-and-answer format of many quiz shows. Rather than being given questions, contestants are instead given general knowledge clues in the form of answers and they must identify the person, place, thing, or idea that the clue describes, phrasing each response in the form of a question.
Canadian Tire Centre is a multi-purpose arena in the suburb of Kanata in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It opened in January 1996 as the Palladium and was also known as Corel Centre from 1996 to 2006 and Scotiabank Place from 2006 to 2013.
HQ was a mobile trivia game developed by Intermedia Labs for iOS, Android, iPadOS, and tvOS. First released in 2017, the HQ app allowed users to participate in daily, live, trivia games in which they could win or split prize money. HQ was developed by Vine creators Rus Yusupov and Colin Kroll and credited as a production of Intermedia Labs.
James Holzhauer is an American game show contestant and professional sports gambler. He is the third-highest-earning American game show contestant of all time. Holzhauer is best known for his 32-game winning streak as champion on the quiz show Jeopardy! from April to June 2019, during which he set multiple single-game records for winnings, and for winning the following Tournament of Champions that November.
Jeopardy! is an American quiz game show in which contestants use certain strategies and skills to increase their chances of winning each game, win the most games, and ensure large winnings.
Amy Schneider is an American writer and game show contestant. Winning 40 consecutive games on the quiz show Jeopardy! from November 2021 to January 2022 and the November 2022 Tournament of Champions, she holds the second-longest win streak in the program's history, behind only Ken Jennings, who hosted the show as she competed and the longest win streak by a woman. She is the most successful woman and most successful transgender contestant ever to compete on the show, in terms of both the length of her streak and her $1.6 million in winnings.