STEVENS POINT —Entering its 50th year, the world’s largest trivia contest will once again have teams “surfing” the web, “boogieing” around town and going “coconuts” for the right answer.
From April 12-14, Trivia Five-0 will bring thousands of participants together for 54 hours of trivia questions and music on University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point’s student-run radio station, WWSP 90FM.
“Trivia season is an exciting time around 90FM,” said station manager Eli Plunkett, a senior biology major from Crystal Lake, Illinois, in a UWSP news release.
“The annual contest is about making and renewing friendships,” longtime coordinator Jim “The Oz” Oliva said in the news release. “Go into the contest with attainable goals – mainly to have a good time.”
Both writing the contest and winning it take time for research and lots of notetaking over the year in preparation. “There are new movies, new television shows, new music and just more of everything every day. I spend a lot of time looking for the strange and not obvious,” Oliva said.
The contest kicks off at 4 p.m. April 12 with a parade around the campus. Questions begin at 6 p.m. and continue until midnight April 14. The radio station broadcasts eight trivia questions per hour, and teams have the length of two songs to call in with the correct answer to be awarded points.
The contest also includes two running questions for which teams must go out in the community to find the answer, three music questions for which sound bites from eight songs are played and participants must decipher the name of the song, and three trivia stone, scavenger-hunt like questions. The top teams win trophies and bragging rights.
Participating teams must register in person and in advance at the 90FM Studios from 3-7 p.m. April 8-11, and noon to 6 p.m. April 12. Registration is $40 per team, with proceeds supporting the general maintenance of WWSP 90FM and scholarships for 90FM staff members. Merchandise may also be purchased on-site at registration.
To register an out-of-town team or pre-order merchandise, go to www.90fmtrivia.org.
In addition, the university’s new 125th anniversary yearbook, “Then, Now, Forever,” will be available for purchase during the first day of Trivia registration. The yearbook is full of UW-Stevens Point history, photos and facts that will serve as a resource for trivia players.
This year’s Trivia movie screens at midnight April 5 and at 10 a.m. and midnight on April 6. The movie is for all ages and costs $3 at the door.
