Kerikeri team The Egg Cups took fourth place at the national Believe It Or Not Quiz Nights championships in Auckland.
Kerikeri team The Egg Cups took fourth place at the national Believe It Or Not Quiz Nights championships in Auckland.
In a thrilling display of brainpower and teamwork, Kerikeri’s quiz champions, the Egg Cups, secured an impressive fourth place at the Believe It or Not National Quiz, which saw 70 teams vying for trivia glory in Auckland.
The Egg Cups managed a final score of 100 out of a possible 118 points.
The top spot went to Wellington’s Eddie’s Back, Don’t Panic which had the highest score of 108 points. Second and third place went to Rustic Crayfish from Christchurch and Tough Crowd from Auckland, respectively.
The event was held at the Grand Hall at Auckland’s Eden Park.
Egg Cups team member, Paul Barker said they are delighted with their top four finish.
“It exceeded our expectations, so we are delighted with a top four finish. It means that next year we might be a bit more confident about aiming for the win.
“We never really thought first was a possibility before last Saturday but a few lucky breaks next year and who knows.”
Seventy teams attended the Believe it Or Not Quiz Nights national championship event on Saturday. There were a record 25 teams from outside Auckland, including one from Northland.
The team; Paul Barker, Carol Barker, Louise Huett, Corine Wils, Sara Epley, Brett Choat, Max Hittle and Dion Prime, have been quizzing together at the Rock Salt Bar in Kerikeri for many years.
Some for as long as 18 years of trivia nights. Over the years they have developed and changed, but the goal continues to be having fun, Barker said.
“We have a team that complements each other well.
“Our star man Dion makes long lists and memorises them but the rest of us just cross our fingers and hope. We are fortunate that alongside Dion’s amazing knowledge we have a team with a wide range of interests and experiences.”
The overall winners were Eddie's Back, Don't Panic.
“He clearly loves coming to New Zealand and attending our Quiz Nationals. Last year though it was his round that held us up.
“We would do okay. We would certainly have a chance in kiwiana.
“We will keep enjoying our Wednesday night quizzing and being the team to beat in Kerikeri. Our annual trip to the Nationals will happen for sure and we will do our best to represent the North well.”
Believe It or Not Quiz Nights founder, Brendan Lochead started the quiz 24 years ago after teams loved the idea of a national championship, and he pushed to create one.
“Originally we went around various venues, then a large conference venue due to demand.”
Weeks of work and an enormous amount of planning goes into setting up a large-scale trivia event and he said in future the goal is to have regional contests feeding into a televised grand finale.
“Most come along to have fun, but there is always that underlying thought I am sure, that ‘hey, this may just be our year, when all the questions fall our way’.”
