Quiz team continues run

From left Jenny Markman of MCI, with Pamela Allen and Heather Taylor from the Dannevirke Library and Janine Boyden, Kirsten Akast and Ray Phillips of MCI, winners of the annual trivia quiz trophy. Photo / Christine McKay

Three Assets and a Liability all added up to a winning combination at the annual trivia quiz in Dannevirke.

The team from accounting company MCI and Associates regained the winners' trophy after a lapse in concentration the year before.

"Last year was just a brief blip, but you've got to be lucky with the questions to win," team member Ray Phillips said.

With the categories including current events, general knowledge and the paranormal, it was the kiwiana category which tripped most up, Tararua's chief librarian Heather Taylor said.

"It was all stuff people should have known, but it wiped everyone out," she said.

But the Three Assets and a Liability insisted the category was harder than it seemed, especially one question, "Maori became an official language in New Zealand when?"

This year's Tararua-wide trivia night was supported by 33 teams across the district, including 17 in Dannevirke.

"We had the best number of entries and amazing costumes throughout the district. The bunch of zombies from Scanpower looked awesome," Heather said. "At the Woodville Library a team called the Ghostbusters rattled a few chains too."

This was the fourth year in the last five the MCI team have won the trophy, but they were just one point ahead of The Late Team, a group of teachers from Dannevirke High School. In third place was the Four Horsemen of The Potato Chips.

"I'm looking forward to next year, because a bit like the America's Cup, The Three Assets and a Liability have to come back and defend their title," Heather said. "But there will be no multi-hulled questions."

And the answer to that tricky kiwiana question? Maori became an official language in New Zealand in 1988.

And the best answer on the night? When asked "what is the name from another culture for a wide variety of choice?" One team's answer was orgy. The official answer was smorgasbord.