“  Think of it as a wild Midwestern version of the MIT mystery hunt  for a slightly different crowd where people drink quite a bit more.”

For three whole days, over 10,000 trivia challengers descend on the tiny town of Stevens Point, Wisconsin, for The World’s Largest Trivia Contest. The contest runs on the local college radio station at the University of Wisconsin- Stevens Point for 54 hours straight, asking eight questions per hour. Teams have only the length of two radio songs to call in their answer. Yup, that’s right. You call into the radio, old school style. It’s a madcap frenzy of teams frantically searching through bins of catalogued items spanning from cereal boxes to DVD covers, or racking their brains to remember an obscure cartoon reference.

For 43 years Jim “Oz” Oliva was ringmaster of this trivia circus. He wrote most of the questions and organized the contest. Jim revels in finding the most obscure bits of trivia to throw at his players. In response, teams have amassed entire rooms filled with snack packaging, atlases, and the booklets from CDs, among other items. With the advent of the internet, Jim had to change how he formatted the questions to stay ahead of searchable keywords. You can hear the glee in Jim’s voice when he talks about all the techniques he devised to outmaneuver trivia players. He even had to hold onto all of the garbage from the question writing room otherwise players have been known to go through the trash, attempting to gain an edge over the competition.

Jim is blunt, funny, and mischievous. I really enjoyed hearing all his stories from his many years of running this crazy trivia contest and learning about the wild culture surrounding it.

In our Bonus Aftershow, REA contributors Heather Burns and Theresa Piazza join us to share their perspective on the trivia contest. Heather has been involved in the trivia contest for over 20 years, and Theresa joined Heather for the first time last year. It was wild to hear all about how they prepare for three crazy days of trivia with a revolving door of team members marshalling to rifle through bins of material and sleeping in shifts. I hope you enjoy this episode about The World’s Largest Trivia Contest.

Thank You to Our Sponsors

We are immensely grateful to our sponsors this season: REA Patreon Backers, PG’s Playhouse, Buzzshot, and COGS. We truly appreciate your support of our mission to promote and improve the immersive gaming community.

Topics Discussed in this Episode

• 00:00 Sponsor Break: Buzzshot, Escape Room Marketing Software
• 04:48 The World’s Largest Trivia Contest Explained
• 07:05 Unique Trivia Contest Features
• 13:49 The Chaos and Strategy of Trivia
• 16:37 The Scoring System
• 20:24 Trivia Questions and Challenges
• 22:33 Sponsor Break: Room Escape Artist Patreon – Bonus Episodes, Spoilers Club & More
• 24:29 The Influence of Technology on Trivia
• 25:59 Food Packaging Questions
• 28:57 Trivia Contest Anecdotes and Stories
• 34:33 Sponsor Break: PG’s Playhouse – Puzzles, Pals, and Trivia
• 36:05 Mispronouncations
• 37:19 The Philanthropist Incident
• 38:15 Origin of the Name “Oz”
• 38:53 Trivia Question Writing Dynamics
• 40:00 The Community of Players
• 40:48 Dominant Trivia Teams
• 44:25 Trivia Contest Fun and Extremes
• 45:25 Sponsor Break: Cogs By Clockwork Dog, Interactive Show Controls
• 46:49 In Memorium
• 49:26 Pre-Internet Trivia Stories
• 51:52 Participating in the Trivia Contest
• 56:54 What Comes Next
• 57:18 Trivia Unplugged and Other Contests
• 01:02:09 Credits

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Got a question or thought for the podcast? You can submit a voice recording by calling the Room Escape Artist not-so-hotline that always goes straight to voicemail (551-227-7273).

Resources Mentioned in this Episode

• Facebook: World’s Largest Trivia Contest (Daily Trivia Questions)
• 90 FM Trivia Website

About Jim “Oz” Oliva

Jim “Oz” Oliva was the longtime mastermind behind the World’s Largest Trivia Contest, an annual 54-hour-long competition hosted by the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point student radio station, WWSP-90FM. He co-wrote the thousands of questions for decades, before passing the torch in 2022.

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