Hello Adventurers,
On the 17th of May, I was invited as a representative of the Toowoomba Dungeons and Dragons Club, to be a Guest Quizmaster at World Science Festival’s Battle of the Brains. Here’s how it went.
What is Battle of the Brains?
The World Science Festival Queensland took over The Cobb+Co Museum from the 17th to the 18th of May 2024, hosting a series of science-themed events. One of the highlights was the Battle of the Brains, Queensland’s geekiest live game show, modelled after classic trivia gameshows like Spicks and Specks and held at the Empire Theatre.
Battle of the Brains was hosted by Michael Balk, known from BrainBuzz and Dirtgirlworld. The panellists include Ranger Stacey, ABC's award-winning Health and Science reporter Tegan Taylor, local Musician Sue Ray, Comedian and member of the Dragon Friends podcast Michael Hing, Queensland Museum experts Jeff Johnson and Marissa McNamara, with live music by the Brisbane based Children’s Band Red Rocket 3.
Being a Guest Quizmaster
As someone who loves trivia of all kinds, from classical Trivial Pursuit to the trivia Jackbox games, I jumped at the chance to be a Guest Quizmaster. Representing the Toowoomba Dungeons and Dragons Club was just an amazing bonus.
As a Guest Quizmaster, I was privileged with creating a unique question to present to the game panellists, a task shared by all Guest Quizmasters. Each Guest Quizmaster was from a local club or organization such as the Toowoomba Philharmonic Society and the Toowoomba Lapidary Club.
Team Breakdown and Game 1
The show kicked off with a playful introduction of the host and panelists, with Tegan Taylor, Sue Ray and Jeff Johnson on Team A and Ranger Stacey, Michael Hing and Marissa McNamara on Team B.
Game one had contestants racing to name the tune being played live. Points were awarded for naming both the song and the artist. While a lot of these songs were unfamiliar to me, I did recognize two of the songs, one being the show theme of the Big Bang Theory.
Games 2
The second game was Scientific Journals: 2 Truths and a Lie. This game was very chaotic as the scientific journals were outlandish enough that it was hard to know which one was a lie.
Game 3
Game 3 was a Pictionary competition where the teams had to guess the word one of their fellow panellist was drawing on the white boards in the quickest time. The themes were all simple yet scientific such as Rockets and Atom.
Game 4
After a 20-minute intermission allowing everyone to stretch their legs and grab refreshments, we returned to game four. This was the game where all the Guest Quizmasters, including myself, asked the contestants their individually themed questions. The other Quizmasters came from: the Toowoomba Philharmonic Society, Toowoomba Lapidary Club, Birdlife South Queensland, Amaroo Environmental Education Centre, University of Southern Queensland Centre for Astrophysics, Toowoomba Rail and Councilor James O’Shea Toowoomba Regional Council spokesperson for Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers. Guest Quizmasters also got front row seats.
Each question was hidden behind a witty title such as ‘On the same wavelength, sky’s the limit’ and ‘roll for inquisitive’. Through these questions some very interesting facts emerged such as Opal being the emblem stone of Australia and the fact that there are only three types of migrating parrots in the world, and they are all from Australia.
My Trivia Question
My question was, ‘What Dungeons and Dragons Species am I? I am a small sized humanoid standing approximately half the height of a human being. I am known for being quite sneaky. My main interests are food and community. Originally, I was based on Tolkien’s hobbits. What am I?’
The answer, of course, is a Halfling.
Anyone who has played a bit of Dungeons and Dragons would find this question really easy, proven by the panellist Michael Hing who answered effortlessly even mentioning that that the clue is in the question being ‘half the height of a human’. The part I didn’t realize was how hard this question would be for non-D&D players as none of the other 5 panelists had any clue on the answer.
For anyone who hasn’t heard of the comedian Micheal Hing, the reason he found this question effortless is that he is a member of Dragon Friends an Australian D&D comedy show that has been running since 2015.
Game 5 and 6
Going into the fifth game, it was a physical challenge where teams battled to build the tallest structure out of balloons and balance a balloon dog on top. This game was made more chaotic by mini challenges allowing contestants to sabotage the other team. Many of the pre-established ‘rules’ went out the window, adding to the fun and chaos.
The sixth and final game was twenty simple rapid-fire questions and in the end the competition was close, but team A won the gameshow and were awarded the giant trophy.
Game 6 and the Winners
The sixth and final game was twenty simple rapid-fire questions and in the end the competition was close, but team A won the gameshow and were awarded the giant trophy.
This was a super fun and engaging event, thanks to the amazingly charismatic host along with some well-placed audience participation.
I also found out through chatting to the team at World Science Festival Queensland and the Queensland Museum, that the Guest Quizmaster round of the Battle of the Brains was specifically considered one of the biggest highlights of the entire festival!
I really hope an event like this comes around again because I would love to attend and drag along more of my nerdy friends.
Can’t wait for the next adventure!
UPCOMING WORKSHOPS
Digital Workshop coming soon
© 2024 Sarah Mitchell