The Sarge Answers to General Ignorance

 
 

This puzzle included an interactive component, the details of which appear below.


From 1969's Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Hunt. Send one team member who thinks they know more than they do to 6-120 at 7 pm on Friday, so The Man can step all over them. Note-taking materials may be useful.

This event was based on the British panel quiz show QI, specifically their General Ignorance round. (Go find clips of it on YouTube. Right now. Okay, maybe after you've read all this.) This round focusing upon seemingly easy questions which have obvious but wrong answers.

The event was hosted by Patrick Merks (Darren Rigby) and his two minions, Corporal Punishment (Michael Coleman) and Private Confidential (Tyler Hinman). Team members took turns participating in the trivia though later answers were solicited from the audience at large. Correct answers earned points and wrong answers -- specifically the obvious wrong answers -- set off the alarm and lost that player ten points. (In one extreme case, the offending player was made to go and stand in the corner for saying a naughty word.) The team with the lowest score won Smart Water (with the hope that it would help) and the team with the highest score won a package of Orbit White gum (to keep them bright).

There were eleven questions in total:

  1. What do they call the police force in France?
  2. Below is the ground floor of the White House. What's that elliptical room at the front called?
  3. Who rode across the countryside calling, "The British are coming! The British are coming!"
  4. What did Vincent van Gogh cut off and give to a prostitute?
  5. In the Bible, what was the sin of Onan?
  6. Finish this quote from the movie Casablanca with a single word: "Play it _____, Sam."
  7. What country do Danishes come from?
  8. What was wrong with John F. Kennedy's famous speech in Berlin in 1963?
  9. Which country originated the 419 scam?
  10. Name the categories of the Nobel prizes.
  11. How many constellations make up the zodiac?

The PowerPoint presentation shown at this event can be downloaded here.