Wait, I could make money writing trivia questions?

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TheyCallMeMrKid
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Wait, I could make money writing trivia questions?

Post by TheyCallMeMrKid »

And to think I ran those TDs for free! 8-)

Of course, I know that somebody must be doing it. Probably more than a few Boardies are doing it. I guess if I was any good at it, I could be making money, too.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle ... story.html
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Rafferty Barnes
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Re: Wait, I could make money writing trivia questions?

Post by Rafferty Barnes »

You can also make money answering trivia questions, I hear tell.
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Re: Wait, I could make money writing trivia questions?

Post by opusthepenguin »

TheyCallMeMrKid wrote:And to think I ran those TDs for free! 8-)

Of course, I know that somebody must be doing it. Probably more than a few Boardies are doing it. I guess if I was any good at it, I could be making money, too.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle ... story.html
I got all three of the intro clues but would've needed Think Music time for the third one. The article writer didn't really understand the genius (such as it was) of the third question.
Spoiler
Togo's is a chain of sandwich shops. Hence, the use of the term "sandwiched". Most of them are in California, none east of the Rockies. I'm not sure how many patrons of a Maryland pub would be aware of it.
Anyway, where do I apply?
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ZachTheRiah
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Re: Wait, I could make money writing trivia questions?

Post by ZachTheRiah »

Rafferty Barnes wrote:You can also make money answering trivia questions, I hear tell.
And the money is better: Up to $1,000,000 for 15 questions answered (or even $50,000 for 40 questions answered), or $15 for 15 questions written. That seems a little unfair. Even if you were a J! writer, it pays off more to be a contestant than a writer.

Not to say writing quizzes isn't fun.
Last edited by ZachTheRiah on Sat Aug 01, 2015 11:46 am, edited 2 times in total.
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TomKBaltimoreBoy
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Re: Wait, I could make money writing trivia questions?

Post by TomKBaltimoreBoy »

opusthepenguin wrote:
TheyCallMeMrKid wrote:And to think I ran those TDs for free! 8-)

Of course, I know that somebody must be doing it. Probably more than a few Boardies are doing it. I guess if I was any good at it, I could be making money, too.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle ... story.html
I got all three of the intro clues but would've needed Think Music time for the third one. The article writer didn't really understand the genius (such as it was) of the third question.
Spoiler
Togo's is a chain of sandwich shops. Hence, the use of the term "sandwiched". Most of them are in California, none east of the Rockies. I'm not sure how many patrons of a Maryland pub would be aware of it.
Anyway, where do I apply?
East of the Rockies, they used to be called Dahomey's.
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triviawayne
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Re: Wait, I could make money writing trivia questions?

Post by triviawayne »

Got all three intros in no time.

I used to host a local trivia night, and I wrote all the questions for it.

My problem with writing questions is my judgement of level of difficulty is way off from the rest of the population and I have a really hard time dumbing it down. I don't live in a highly competitive trivia area like NYC or DC.

I've recently started writing questions again and going over my old ones because I figure it will help me retain stuff; plus I'm kicking around a few ideas for a trivia night to try and host again.

It was nice extra income when I was unemployed.
Total game show career losings = $171,522
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Re: Wait, I could make money writing trivia questions?

Post by dhkendall »

Having been out of work for over six months now this definitely sounds like work I'd want to get into! Sadly, though, I doubt there's any local company that does that, of the demand here.
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MitchO
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Re: Wait, I could make money writing trivia questions?

Post by MitchO »

One of my regular rants (and I bet I'm not the only one here) is "bad trivia"; those bad bar trivias, those awful apps that people get obsessed over for a few months, the questions that aren't clear, concise or even accurate. I do think there's an art to writing trivia questions, and sadly I think the only people who will understand are the folks like you guys.

So, I raise a hearty glass to the Jeopardy! writers. We give them grief once in a while, but hey, it's a million times better than the shlock on Trivia Crack.
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Re: Wait, I could make money writing trivia questions?

Post by ElendilPickle »

Rafferty Barnes wrote:You can also make money answering trivia questions, I hear tell.
:o
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Re: Wait, I could make money writing trivia questions?

Post by DadofTwins »

TheyCallMeMrKid wrote:And to think I ran those TDs for free! 8-)

Of course, I know that somebody must be doing it. Probably more than a few Boardies are doing it. I guess if I was any good at it, I could be making money, too.
I feel your pain, brother . . . ;-)
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Re: Wait, I could make money writing trivia questions?

Post by Blue Lion »

triviawayne wrote:My problem with writing questions is my judgement of level of difficulty is way off from the rest of the population and I have a really hard time dumbing it down. I don't live in a highly competitive trivia area like NYC or DC.
I've seen several games run by several different trivia hosts. The best was one run by the staff of a public library. Sporcle was the worst: there was a heavy emphasis on popular culture from 1990 on. (Yells at cloud)
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dhkendall
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Re: Wait, I could make money writing trivia questions?

Post by dhkendall »

Blue Lion wrote:
triviawayne wrote:My problem with writing questions is my judgement of level of difficulty is way off from the rest of the population and I have a really hard time dumbing it down. I don't live in a highly competitive trivia area like NYC or DC.
I've seen several games run by several different trivia hosts. The best was one run by the staff of a public library. Sporcle was the worst: there was a heavy emphasis on popular culture from 1990 on. (Yells at cloud)
I actually enjoy Sporcle, it's a great way to learn more about things (like sports and 1990s pop culture) that I have to learn, and stuff that I know well I enjoy quizzing on. The quizzes are user-written (like Trivia Crack, but unlike Trivia Crack the quizmasters seem to know what they're talking about, I recognize several boardies and former boardies' names as quizmasters) and they are peer reviewed. I used to do Trivia Crack, but I did find the questions maddening after a while (either insanely easy or inscrutable and badly written) and after all but one or two friends have stopped using it leaving me with no one to challenge.

One that I really like (but haven't been using lately, to my shame) is QuizUp (it's for mobile devices), interface is good and the questions are in the sweet spot for the most part.
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mahatma
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Re: Wait, I could make money writing trivia questions?

Post by mahatma »

I was a big fan of QuizUp, and still use it occasionally. However, their recent 'social media' redesign gets on my nerves a little bit.

I've found Sporcle to be a good resource for drilling on lists of things (US Presidents, countries/capitals with and without maps, Shakespeare plays, etc). It even saves recent games for offline play, which comes in handy on the subway.
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Re: Wait, I could make money writing trivia questions?

Post by boson »

mahatma wrote:I was a big fan of QuizUp, and still use it occasionally. However, their recent 'social media' redesign gets on my nerves a little bit.
Many of the questions for QuizUp (at least at launch) were written by Paul Paquet, who was mentioned in the article. You can play some of his trivia at triviahalloffame.com

I don't know if Paul visits here, but I think he frequented the old Sony site.
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Re: Wait, I could make money writing trivia questions?

Post by Blue Lion »

dhkendall wrote:I actually enjoy Sporcle, it's a great way to learn more about things (like sports and 1990s pop culture) that I have to learn, and stuff that I know well I enjoy quizzing on. The quizzes are user-written (like Trivia Crack, but unlike Trivia Crack the quizmasters seem to know what they're talking about, I recognize several boardies and former boardies' names as quizmasters) and they are peer reviewed. I used to do Trivia Crack, but I did find the questions maddening after a while (either insanely easy or inscrutable and badly written) and after all but one or two friends have stopped using it leaving me with no one to challenge.

One that I really like (but haven't been using lately, to my shame) is QuizUp (it's for mobile devices), interface is good and the questions are in the sweet spot for the most part.
I've been using Sporcle to bone up on pop culture. When I got back into the Jeopardy-watching routine, I discovered that the combination of my age and interests made me very weak in post-1980 TV, pop music, YA literature, and superhero movies in particular. I've managed to up my grade from F to a gentleman's D in these subjects.

Not familiar with QuizUp. I'm going to download it right now.
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Re: Wait, I could make money writing trivia questions?

Post by dhkendall »

boson wrote:
mahatma wrote:I was a big fan of QuizUp, and still use it occasionally. However, their recent 'social media' redesign gets on my nerves a little bit.
Many of the questions for QuizUp (at least at launch) were written by Paul Paquet, who was mentioned in the article. You can play some of his trivia at triviahalloffame.com

I don't know if Paul visits here, but I think he frequented the old Sony site.
I used to play triviahalloffame very regular and enjoyed that too. Got out of the habit several years ago and never got bak in (kind of felt guilty about it too). Hopefully I'll remember to go back in.
"Jeopardy! is two parts luck and one part luck" - Me

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TheyCallMeMrKid
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Re: Wait, I could make money writing trivia questions?

Post by TheyCallMeMrKid »

Since this thread is talking about favorite trivia sites, thought I'd plug Alpaca Farm, started by a LLama.

http://alpacafarmtrivia.herokuapp.com/about


I have no financial interest in Alpaca Farm, I am simply a user wanting to share the joy.
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georgespelvin
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Re: Wait, I could make money writing trivia questions?

Post by georgespelvin »

Rafferty Barnes wrote:You can also make money answering trivia questions, I hear tell.
You might not be able to make a lot of money writing trivia questions, but you certainly proved that you can make a cool 100 grand in three days (one actually I guess) providing trivia questions to answers.
I used to be AWSOP but wanted to be more theatrical.
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