More than 400 teams competed in the “World’s Largest
Trivia Contest” at University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point last weekend.

The Trivia 39 was put on by the university’s radio station,
WWSP 90 FM, and has been running for the past 39 years. While many students
participate in this 54-hour trivia competition, teams also have members from
around the country and even international members.

According to Tracy Berg, student news producer for UWSP’s
Student Television, eight questions are read on air per hour, and competitors
have the length of two songs to find the answer and call in to the radio
station. 

“Every question is worth 2,000 points, and that number
is divided by the number of teams that get that question right,” Berg
said. “The harder questions are worth more points because fewer teams get
them right.”

Berg said the theme for this year’s contest was “Trivia
Invasion,” and the contest was centered on the British invasion. 

Corey Scharrer, senior at Stevens Point and captain of the
team that came in 33rd, “TFC 28: Jared Ate My Yellow Submarine,” said
the weekend is unlike any other experience. He has been participating in the trivia
contest for 23 years, since he was born. 

“The first 13 years of my life I played with my
family,” Scharrer said. “I have been running it for the past 10 years
with more help from my friends and less help from my family.”

Scharrer said the questions are mostly pop culture questions
and can cover knowledge from any part of culture. 

“There are some pretty obscure questions,” he
added.

One question asked at the end of the competition every year,
he said, asks what player is on the baseball bat seen at the end of “The
Shining.” 

But teams have to be prepared for all kinds of questions,
and many teams prepare for the competition all year round by taking notes on
everything they think could be used as a question.

“There is a lot of devotion to this competition,”
Scharrer said. “We are not the best at taking notes like some of the
others, but we are dedicated.”

According to Berg, teams make signs to advertise for their
teams and put them up outside of their “headquarters.” The news
station travels around the city interviewing and taping different teams to make
a compilation of the event. 

Because the competition is so long, many teams work in
shifts like Scharrer’s team. However, Berg said some teams do stay awake for
the entire 54 hours. 

Headquarters for TFC 28: Jared Ate My Yellow Submarine
consists of about 10 to 15 computers on the Internet at all times and at least
four people awake to answer questions. Scharrer said his team had about 25 to
30 members who participated and 10 who were at headquarters the entire
weekend. 

The winning team was “Network” with 10,035 points,
followed by “Graduates of a Lesser God” with 8,900 points. Scharrer’s
team earned 4,985.

Out of the 433 teams, only two earned zero points.