Wordplay busts out trivia teasers

After six rounds of stumpers at Thursday evening’s Wordplay quiz at the Omni Hotel Charlottesville, some 36 teams were faced with the grand finale: What number do you get when you add the number of a spider’s legs to the highest number on Spinal Tap’s dial to the age of Elvis when he died to the year Munich hosted the summer Olympics, minus the number of dots on the Domino’s Pizza logo?

“If everyone’s ready? For Wordplay 2009,” intoned co-host Rick Daniels of radio station WINA 1070. “Do the math.”

The answer? If you add eight plus 11 plus 42 plus 1972 and subtract three, you’ll get 2030.

“And now for the 2009 Wordplay grand champions of the universe,” Daniels said. “And that would be ...”

“That would be the Hook!” finished co-host Jane S. Foy of WINA.

A three-person team from the weekly newspaper’s staff took the top spot, followed closely by a team called The Three R’s (with Kate Redding Brown, Joe Redding and Faye Redding) and by a team from the nonprofit literary organization WriterHouse.

Among the other teams were the Foxymorons (which included Charlottesville Mayor Dave Norris), the West Main Markettes (with employees of Zinc, Feast and Albemarle Baking Co.), the Dangling Participles (Charlottesville Radio Group employees), No Speller Left Behind (Albemarle County officials) and the Blue Screens of Death (representing the Neon Guild, an association of local high-tech professionals).

The teams fielded questions from subjects including history, pop culture, vocabulary and literature. The game was designed by Debra Weiss, who has worked as an executive game producer for similar games in restaurants and hotels.

Things started off easy in the first round, as the teams were asked to pick a “red” answer or a “green” answer. Questions included: Was “The Scream” painted by (red) Salvador Dali or (green) Edvard Munch? Was Peter Gabriel the lead singer of (red) Genesis or (green) Journey? The Greek god of war was (red) Hermes or (green) Ares. Former First Lady Betty Ford is (red) alive or (green) dead?

“Come on, who said Betty Ford was dead?” Daniels quipped.

Those answers would be green, red, green and red. Six teams tallied a perfect score.

Next up, the teams were asked to identify 14 movie quotes, such as: “Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine,” “That ain’t no Etch-A-Sketch. This is one doodle that can’t be un-did, homeskillet,” “If you can see, the numbers all go to 11, right across the board,” and “My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.”

The answers: “Casablanca,” “Juno,” “This is Spinal Tap” and “The Princess Bride.”

“I wonder if anybody got all of them. I missed two,” Foy said.

“Not as easy as it looks!” Daniels said.

A couple rounds later, the teams were asked to figure out if certain historic events occurred before, after or between two other significant events. For example: Did “The Wizard of Oz” premier before, after or between the end of Prohibition and the attack on Pearl Harbor? Was the 50th star added to the U.S. flag before, after or between the establishment of Israel and Rosa Parks’ decision to keep her bus seat? Did the first man land on the moon before, after or between the assassination of John F. Kennedy and the breakup of the Beatles? Did Elvis die before, after or between Richard Nixon’s resignation and the disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa?

The answers? Between, after, between and after.

“Ouch,” said Lee Catlin, Albemarle County spokeswoman and Wordplay contestant. “This is not easy.”

In the penultimate round, titled “Logo a Go Go,” the teams were asked to identify the corporate logos of Nike, CBS, Starbucks, Wikipedia, Hallmark, Firefox, BP, Dominoes, AT&T, Facebook and Heineken.

For the final question, the math problem compiled answers from earlier rounds to contribute to the equation. Those who had been paying close attention were rewarded when it came time to add up the digits.

Money raised by Thursday’s event will go to help Literacy Volunteers of Charlottesville/Albemarle pay for books, lesson plans and other resources in its mission to provide free one-on-one literacy tutoring and basic English instruction.

The organization’s new executive director, Jackie Bright, said Wordplay generated $12,000 in 2008 and she was hopeful that Thursday’s second-annual event would match the previous year’s fundraising total.

“Especially in this economy, the fact that you’re willing to come out tonight means a lot to me and it means a lot to our students,” Bright told the crowd of several hundred contestants and spectators.

A few teams wore costumes. Midway through the evening, Daniels and Foy announced that the team Stocks and Blondes had won the best costume award. The team, three women wearing blonde wigs and T-shirts of defunct financial companies, were bestowed with a crown and sash to commemorate their accomplishment.

Another team, State Farm, won the “best cheering section in the free world” award. They each received a cheerleading megaphone.