Triwizard tournament
By Sean Sullivan/ Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 23, 2005

Intellects buzzed last Thursday evening at Lexington's Trivia Bee.

     The annual event pits teams of three against each other in a battle of wits - essentially a spelling bee but with facts instead of letters.

     There were 42 teams in all at the event, each representing a local business or school in the town. Six teams faced off against each other in each round - swarm - with the winner earning a place in the final championship match.

     Seated onstage under the high ceilings of Lexington's Cary Hall, the first swarm of six teams readied themselves for the barrage of questions that was to come. Stage right, a bumble bee-clad Chew-Hoong Koh conducted her one-woman sting operation, ready at a moment's notice to buzz across the stage and deliver the proclamation of elimination for incorrect answers.

     Emcee of the Trivia Bee, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Paul Ash, delivered the questions from his podium offstage. The first few questions to each swarm were on the easy side, giving the teams a chance for a mental warm up while avoiding a demoralizing early elimination.

     The Mona Lisa's painter and Oscar the Grouch's fur color were among the gimmie questions for the first few rounds in each swarm.

     The Estabrook Estabrains - representing Estabrook Elementary School's PTA - claimed the distinction of the Trivia Bee's first elimination. After a round of softy questions to the swarm, the Estabrains were hit with a 19th-century history question, asked to give the name of the German ruler known as the "Iron Chancellor."

    Otto Von Bismarck was the correct answer, but lacking that, the Estabrains offered the educated guess of Derek Jeter. The team went out with a bang at least, its answer touching off a wave of laughter from the hundreds of Lexingtonians who came to see the event.

     The bee happily buzzed over to the Estabrains' table and toppled the team's name card with flair, indicating their elimination from the Trivia Bee.

     After all but two teams in the first swarm were eliminated, Fiske Phantoms of Fiske Elementary School and the Community Nursery School's The CNS Pre-Bees, dry-erase boards were brought out for the final elimination round that would crown the swarm's victor.

After locking horns for several questions and breaking even, the Phantoms eventually came out on top, identifying Wyoming on their board as the state to first give the vote to women.

     And so it went through six more grueling swarms of contestants, the thrill of victory occasionally peppered among the many more teams that would feel the agony of defeat as the bee wove her way among the yellow-clad tables to knock each out of the tournament.

     In the Trivia Bee's final championship round, the tournament was almost decided on the most grave of questions: the names of all four Teletubbies. All the finalists failed to name even one of the once-beloved and seemingly now largely forgotten children's characters.

     The Wizards - made up of Scott Burson, Tom Diaz and Tom Griffiths of Lexington's School Committee - committed the unforgivable when they offered "pink, red, yellow and blue" for their answer to this important question. Their response drew laughter from the gathered masses.

     But it would be The Wizards, in fact, who would go on to claim victory in the 10th annual Trivia Bee. Asked to fill in the remaining letters of author T. S. Elliot's first two names, The Wizards flipped their marker board over to reveal their winning answer.

     Thomas Stearns Elliot was the author's full name, and with it came The Wizards' place in Trivia Bee history.