WHO? You, me, and nerds from not only the Philadelphia area, but from as far away as Seattle.

WHAT: Quizzo Bowl IX, the longest running and most prestigious event of its kind in America the world.

WHEN? Saturday, February 23rd at 8:30 p.m.

WHERE? World Cafe Live, 3025 Walnut Street. Downstairs.

WHY? Here’s the thing that people who have never been to a Quizzo Bowl don’t quite get, and understandably so…”Why would I (quoting Fastball Pitcher Bob Gutierrez here) pay $25 to answer questions in a trivia setting”?  It’s because quizzo at the bar on a lazy Tuesday and Quizzo Bowl are as related as intramural flag football and the Super Bowl. Yes, they are both still fun, yes they are both great activities, but the pageantry, the insanity, the hilarity is amped up to the Nth degree. There will be an awesome hair metal band, Welcome to My Face!, playing between rounds and performing our music round. There will be Philly’s best sketch troupe, Secret Pants, performing a round live on stage. There will be a video round on the enormous film screen, tons of prizes to give away, and of course, the most lovable co-host in America, Fastball Pitcher Bob Gutierrez.

OK, ENOUGH WITH THE PEP TALKS. I NEED MORE DETAILS. HOW MANY ON A TEAM? Each team can have up to 8 players. If you have a team of 5 or less, there is a decent chance you will be teamed up with another squad, so we can maximize our space (These are always sell-outs, so I want to make sure we can get as many people in as possible).

CAN I JUST COME AND WATCH? No. If you want to come, play, and not have your score recorded, you are welcome to. But this is an interactive event, and it’s important that everyone in the room be part of that energy.

I WANT TO COME, BUT I DONT’ HAVE ANY TEAMMATES. CAN I STILL PLAY? Of course. Just let me know if you have a team of 4 or less (all the way down to 1) and I will team you up with another smaller team. You can see me at quizzo or send me an email at johnny @ johnnygoodtimes.com.

WILL THERE BE FOOD AND ADULT BEVERAGES TO PURCHASE? Yes, there will be table service at the event.

REMEMBER HOW PISSED OFF I GOT AT QUIZZO BOWL VI WHEN I COULDN’T GO OUTSIDE TO SMOKE, JOHNNY? I BETTER BE ABLE TO GO OUTSIDE TO SMOKE HERE. Yes, you are welcome to go outside to smoke between rounds during the event.

JOHNNY, I HATE STEAK EM UP/SOFA KINGDOM AND I DON’T WANT THEM TO WIN. WOULD YOU MIND IF I TOOK A TIRE IRON TO ONE OF THEIR KNEES RIGHT BEFORE THE EVENT? I certainly cannot condone such actions in a public forum. But if you shoot me this question to my email address I’ll tell you what I really think about this suggestion, and where you can get a quality tire iron for a reasonable price.

WHERE CAN I GET TICKETS? You can buy tickets from me at quizzo this week or you can purchase them online here.

CAN I JUST BUY TICKETS AT THE DOOR? You possibly could, but this event almost always sells out before the night of the event, and the tickets are more expensive at the door. Buy them beforehand to be safe.

I HAVE MORE QUESTIONS ABOUT QUIZZO BOWL. Shoot me an email or post them on my quizzo facebook page.

For the past few years, Fastball Bob has graced us with his presence at Quizzo Bowl. Well, this year, he’s bringing the whole gang along. Renowned local sketch group Secret Pants, the group Fastball Bob is a member of,  is going to be performing one of this year’s rounds…and yes, Fastball Bob will have a starring role. It’s going to be our first ever acted out round in Quizzo Bowl history. Tickets are now on sale to Quizzo Bowl IX, which will be held February 23rd at World Cafe Live and feature between-round performances from hair metal legends Welcome to My Face.

Koob first came up to me a couple of months ago to throw it out there that he’d be up for dropping the question at Quizzo Bowl. I thought it was a terrific idea. After all, Kristy and Koob met at quizzo, they’ve hosted some quizzes themselves, and it’s no secret that Koob is part of the famous quizzo team in the country, Sofa Kingdom (aka Steak Em Up). So I was honored to be a part of the proceedings, and I quickly had a plan in place for how we could do it. Chip and I regularly host a game called the Beeramid at our comedy shows, which is a lot like the $25,000 Pyramid, except Chip is a dips*** who gives terrible clues. So I thought we could do that and then have Koob ask the last question.

But Quizzo Bowl is a beast to prepare for, especially now that I’ve started doing the celebrity round. Between that, shooting promo videos, writing questions, preparing an opening song…as the event got closer we still hadn’t done much with the engagement. Koob called me a week before, and said, “Maybe we should just call it off. I’m scared I’m going to get nervous and not be able to speak. Maybe I should just do something mellow, just me and her.” I told him we were doing it, no questions asked, and that he would be fine.

But as we got closer to the event, we still didn’t have much of a plan. I talked to Chip about how we could get “Yes” up on the screen as an answer. He said, “Let’s do all bands.” Brilliant. On Friday, I put the rest of the round in his hands. I contacted our buddy Carl (Specific Jawns), telling him we needed a slideshow of 4 different bands on the screen. He proved tough to get ahold of…on Saturday at 2 p.m. (less than 6 hours before kickoff) I finally got word that he could do it. At that point, I could only hope that a computer could be hooked into the World Cafe system. If not, the whole thing was down the drain. By the time Carl got to Quizzo Bowl, it was too late to test it. We were going to have to just hope that it would work.

Then there was the matter of the ticket. We were supposed to do a different signup for the game where people entered their names, so it would be easy to fix. But there was a mix up about what time to arrive (you may have seen me and lovely Cookie arguing about it shortly before the show began) so by the time Cookie arrived it was too late for that. We had to steal the ticket number off of Kristy’s orange ticket to fix the final game. Cookie had Sarah take Kristy to the bathroom and then stole her ticket number. Incredibly, when I announced the first winner of a raffle that evening, it randomly was Koob, whose ticket number was directly beside Kristy (545 to 546). When he got up on stage, he said, “I think this is a good sign.”

I hoped so. Like I said, we still hadn’t tested the computer and we had no backup plan. Finally, the 5th round wrapped up. I had Carl come downstairs from his team and fire up the computer. Thank God! It worked!

I called out Kristy’s number. She came up on stage. Chip started rattling off his inane hints, and Kristy (who had seen this skit before, though with different clues and answers) played along. I asked her afterwards if she knew what we were up to. “No, I had no idea until you took off the blindfold and there was Koob. Then I knew.”

Koob grabbed the mic, didn’t lose his voice as he had feared, the crowd started going nuts, and he popped the question. I don’t remember Kristy actually saying “Yes”, just nodding her head. (In hindsight, perhaps I shouldn’t have given her the gift certificate to the Vous for winning.) Chip and I went nuts (“She’s going to the Locust Rendezvous!”), the crowd went crazy, and the confetti cannon (which was supposed to be used earlier in the show but hadn’t worked) went off, and the band played the theme to Love Boat. It’s hard to kick off a lifetime together with a bigger bang than that.

RELATED: In 2005, a couple got engaged via quizzo answers.

In 2009 another couple did the same.

WHO: You, me, a calypso band, and 300 of our closest friends. Oh, and some punks from Denver and Philly’s new quizmaster darling, Johnny Greattimes.

WHAT: Quizzo Bowl, the most prestigious quizzo event in the country.

WHEN: February 18th, at 7:30 p.m. Doors will open at 6:30, show will start at 7:30 sharp. (Unless the scoring computer crashes right before the show like it did last year.)

WHERE: World Cafe Live. 30th and Walnut.

WHY: Because you like hanging out with your friends, drinking beer, listening to music, and trying to make yourself a quizzo immortal.

HOW MUCH ARE TICKETS? HOW DO I BUY THEM? Tickets are $25  a pop if you buy them from me or $28 a pop if you buy them online. You can buy them from me at each of my regular quizzos or buy them online here.

WHAT KIND OF ENTERTAINMENT WE GOT? We’ve got the Cavatina Calypso Band performing between rounds, we’ve got Fastball Bob Gutierrez acting as my co-host, and there are rumors of my arch-rival, Johnny Greattimes, making an appearance and trying to sabotage the show. As for halftime, we’ve got breakdancers from Rennie Harris Puremovement.

IS THERE A DRESS CODE? Yes, please wear something tropical. Aloha shirts and flowery dresses, and of course grass skirts.

WHAT WILL THE FORMAT BE? There will be 5 rounds of 10 questions each. There will be an easy round, a surprise round, a celebrity round, a music round, and an impossible round. Point values will go up by 1 in each subsequent round.

WHAT WILL THE QUESTIONS BE ABOUT? It will be like a regular quizzo, with various general knowledge questions. Someone asked me the other day if it was all questions about the Caribbean. No, though I’m sure there will be a few. But like I said, this will be a general knowledge quiz, though since most teams will be playing with a full squad, the questions will be a little bit harder than usual.

IS THIS REALLY THE MOST PRESTIGIOUS QUIZZO EVENT IN THE WORLD? You damn right.

HOW LONG WILL IT LAST? It lasts a little longer than the normal quiz. I’d say that normally we come in at around 3-3 1/2  hours. There is an extra round, and grading 40 teams papers ain’t all that easy, so it’s a little longer than usual. But the live music and entertainment will make it go by quickly.

CAN WE JUST WATCH AND NOT PLAY? No, there’s no reason to just watch. Why not join the fun? My goal is for the team in last place to have as much fun as the team in first place, so don’t worry if your team isn’t comprised of rocket scientists. You’ll still have a good time. Promise.

WHAT CAN I WIN? I have $1500 worth of prizes for our top 4 finishers, as well as numerous gift certificates to give away over the course of the night. Of course, if you take first place, more important than the prize will be the fact that you will become a quizzo immortal, and your team name shall ring from the mountaintops, forever exulted by nerds across this great nation. Furthermore, we’re going to be having our annual raffles, though this year with a twist: this year we’ll pick two people, who will them compete in a little nerd faceoff for the gift certificates.

HOW MANY PEOPLE CAN BE ON A TEAM? The max is 8 people. If you have a team of 5 or fewer, there is a decent chance I will team you up with another small team. (We’ve got to maximize space, plus it gives you a better chance to win.)

CAN I BUY MY TICKETS AT THE EVENT THAT NIGHT? Probably not. The last 7 of these have sold out. I doubt there will be any tickets left by that night.

IS THERE AN AFTERPARTY? Yes, it will be at JG Domestic. They’re going to hook us up with happy hour specials.

If you have any more questions, please contact me on facebook or leave them below in the comments. Oh, and do me a favor and click “Like” below so we can spread the word. Grass roots as always. We’re going to have a hell of a time. Don’t miss it!

Goodtimes Vs. Greattimes from Johnny Goodtimes on Vimeo.

WHO: You, me, a calypso band, and 300 of our closest friends. Oh, and some punks from Denver and Philly’s new quizmaster darling, Johnny Greattimes.

WHAT: Quizzo Bowl, the most prestigious quizzo event in the country.

WHEN: February 18th, at 7:30 p.m. Doors will open at 6:30, show will start at 7:30 sharp. (Unless the scoring computer crashes right before the show like it did last year.)

WHERE: World Cafe Live. 30th and Walnut.

WHY: Because you like hanging out with your friends, drinking beer, listening to music, and trying to make yourself a quizzo immortal.

HOW MUCH ARE TICKETS? HOW DO I BUY THEM? Tickets are $25  a pop if you buy them from me or $28 a pop if you buy them online. You can buy them from me at each of my regular quizzos or buy them online here.

WHAT KIND OF ENTERTAINMENT WE GOT? We’ve got the Cavatina Calypso Band performing between rounds, we’ve got Fastball Bob Gutierrez acting as my co-host, and there are rumors of my arch-rival, Johnny Greattimes, making an appearance and trying to sabotage the show. As for halftime, we’ve got breakdancers from Rennie Harris Puremovement.

IS THERE A DRESS CODE? Yes, please wear something tropical. Aloha shirts and flowery dresses, and of course grass skirts.

WHAT WILL THE FORMAT BE? There will be 5 rounds of 10 questions each. There will be an easy round, a surprise round, a celebrity round, a music round, and an impossible round. Point values will go up by 1 in each subsequent round.

WHAT WILL THE QUESTIONS BE ABOUT? It will be like a regular quizzo, with various general knowledge questions. Someone asked me the other day if it was all questions about the Caribbean. No, though I’m sure there will be a few. But like I said, this will be a general knowledge quiz, though since most teams will be playing with a full squad, the questions will be a little bit harder than usual.

IS THIS REALLY THE MOST PRESTIGIOUS QUIZZO EVENT IN THE WORLD? You damn right.

HOW LONG WILL IT LAST? It lasts a little longer than the normal quiz. I’d say that normally we come in at around 3-3 1/2  hours. There is an extra round, and grading 40 teams papers ain’t all that easy, so it’s a little longer than usual. But the live music and entertainment will make it go by quickly.

CAN WE JUST WATCH AND NOT PLAY? No, there’s no reason to just watch. Why not join the fun? My goal is for the team in last place to have as much fun as the team in first place, so don’t worry if your team isn’t comprised of rocket scientists. You’ll still have a good time. Promise.

WHAT CAN I WIN? I have $1500 worth of prizes for our top 4 finishers, as well as numerous gift certificates to give away over the course of the night. Of course, if you take first place, more important than the prize will be the fact that you will become a quizzo immortal, and your team name shall ring from the mountaintops, forever exulted by nerds across this great nation. Furthermore, we’re going to be having our annual raffles, though this year with a twist: this year we’ll pick two people, who will them compete in a little nerd faceoff for the gift certificates.

HOW MANY PEOPLE CAN BE ON A TEAM? The max is 8 people. If you have a team of 5 or fewer, there is a decent chance I will team you up with another small team. (We’ve got to maximize space, plus it gives you a better chance to win.)

CAN I BUY MY TICKETS AT THE EVENT THAT NIGHT? Probably not. The last 7 of these have sold out. I doubt there will be any tickets left by that night.

IS THERE AN AFTERPARTY? Yes, it will be at JG Domestic. They’re going to hook us up with happy hour specials.

If you have any more questions, please contact me on facebook or leave them below in the comments. Oh, and do me a favor and click “Like” below so we can spread the word. Grass roots as always. We’re going to have a hell of a time. Don’t miss it!

 

Here are all of the impossible round questions from the 2011 Quizzo Bowl.

1. Born on February 19th, 1473, this scientist wrote On the Revolutions of Celestial Bodies, considered by many to be the starting point of modern astronomy.

2. What city is the last national capital in alphabetical order?

3. The parotid, the submandible, and the sublingual are all what kind of glands?

4. With his Academy Award win in 1938, he became the first and still only person to win both an Oscar and a Nobel Prize. Who is he?

5. This actor, who performed in film for over 5 decades, got his first big break in the movie Rebel w/o a Cause.

6. Only one couple on the Bachelor have ever gotten married, and in fact it was the runner up who got the man. Who are they? (First names are fine)

7. Ben Franklin’s dad was a tallow chandler, meaning he made and sold what?

8. This Hall of Fame pitcher, with over 3,000 career strikeouts and 2 Cy Young Awards, has the record for most strikeouts in a World Series game, with 17.

9. In what James Bond film would you find a yo-yo saw and knife throwing twins Mischka and Grischka?

10. Who wrote the short stories upon which the musical South Pacific was based?

11. What man was the inspiration for the character Dean Moriarity in On the Road?

12. Though it was popularized by Rod Stewart in 1991, who originally recorded the song Downtown Train in 1985?

Continue reading “Quizzo Bowl Impossible Round” →