- Welcome to the studios of WCMU Public Media.

This time it's our season 21 premiere episode between Ionia and Mount Pleasant and that's coming up next.

(upbeat music) Hello, I'm David Nicholas and I'm happy to welcome you to the start of our 21st season of "Quiz Central".

This time students from Ionia are taking on a team from Mount Pleasant in a 16 team single elimination tournament.

Top teams from "Quiz Central" will qualify for the NAQT High School National Championship Tournament.

Let's get to our game.

Our first round is the "Maroon and Gold Rush."

Teams will have two minutes to answer as many toss-up questions as they can.

If a team answers incorrectly, the opposing school has an opportunity to answer the question.

Teams may not consult during this round.

New this year, players will receive a one second penalty if they ring in before the toss-up question has been read completely.

That's indicated by an orange light above their name.

Answers are worth 10 points a piece.

There is no deduction for incorrect answers.

So if our players are all ready, here comes your first question.

What holiday is celebrated by eating Sufganiyot recalls first events described in first Maccabees and is observed by Jews who light candles on a menorah?

- Uh, Hanukkah.

- That is correct.

(affirmative chime) In October, 2024, what small European country, which includes the breakaway region of Transnistria voted in a close referendum to seek EU membership?

- Poland?

- That is incorrect.

(negative chime) Mount Pleasant, do you have a guess?

All right, guess we're going on.

All right.

At what battle, where Rideau X, fell to Alexander Hamilton did the Compe de Rochambeau help trap Charles Cornwallis during the Revolutionary War?

Mount Pleasant?

- Battle of Yorktown?

- That is correct.

(affirmative chime) What last name is shared by the photographer of Saigon Execution and a co-founder of the group F-Stop 64.

Whose photos of Yosemite include Moon and Half Dome?

- Smith?

- Incorrect.

Mt.

Pleasant, you have a guess?

Okay.

What play in which a slave mentions his mother Cicarax is a Shakespeare work in which Ariel helps the sorcerer Prospero, conjure the title "Storm"?

- The Tempest?

- [Host] That is correct.

We'll count that Tempest answer at the buzzer and that gives Ionia a 20 to 10 lead.

Recapping the questions that were missed.

The small European country was Moldova.

The last name of the photographer was Adams.

Now before we start our next round, let's learn more about our students competing today.

First we say hello to the students from Ionia.

- My name's Joseph.

I'm a junior at IHS Ionia High School.

I love art and I'd like to thank my family for always playing "Trivial Pursuit" with me.

- My name's Braxton.

I'm a junior at Ionia High School and I am involved in theater.

- I'm Kassidy, I'm a senior at Ionia High School and I play golf.

- I'm Carly.

I'm a junior at Ionia High School and I do soccer and power lifting.

- Thank you, Ionia.

Great to have you here.

Now let's meet our team from Mount Pleasant.

- Hi, I'm Sam.

I'm a senior at Mount Pleasant High School and I work backstage during a lot of our theater productions.

- Hi, I am Earl and I am the only one in a two hour class at Almo, from Mount Pleasant High School.

- I'm Nico.

I'm a junior at Mount Pleasant High School and I'm in the marching band and the theater program.

- Hi, I'm Levi.

I'm a freshman at Mount Pleasant High School and I am a big chess fan.

- All right, great to have you here students.

Our next round on "Quiz Central" is the kickoff round.

Now the kickoff round includes a combination of toss-up and bonus questions.

The team that correctly answers the toss-up will get the opportunity to answer a single bonus question.

A missed toss-up can be stolen by the opposing team.

A correct answer on a toss-up allows for a single follow-up bonus question.

There's no stealing on the bonuses.

After a bonus question, we'll go back to a toss-up for both teams.

Players will receive a one second penalty if they ring in before the toss-up question has been read completely.

All right, buzzers ready?

Here comes your first question.

What man served as the head of state for Manchu quo 20 years after being deposed as the last emperor of the Chang Dynasty?

Toss-up for both teams.

What country, the site of the ancient kingdom of Moab is formally described as Hashemite Kingdom is east of Israel and has as its capital, Amman?

Ionia?

- Palestine?

- [Host] That's incorrect.

Mt.

Pleasant?

Go to a toss-up for both teams.

What author wrote about a march on the Pentagon in his book "The Armies of the Night," and also wrote the World War II novel, "The Naked and the Dead"?

- Hemingway?

- Incorrect.

Toss-up for both teams.

In what country did Henry Clay Jr.

die fighting at the Battle of Buena Vista, which Zachary Taylor won in 1847 over Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna?

- Mexico?

- [Host] That is correct.

Bonus question for Mount Pleasant.

What British scientist whose namesakes modulus equals stress over axial strain demonstrated the wave nature of light in a double slit experiment?

- Okay, I feel like I should know this one.

If you have any guesses, feel free to- - Do I have an answer?

- I have no clue.

- [Sam] Go ahead.

Just give it your best shot.

- [Host] Time.

We'll go back to a toss-up for both teams.

What state is home to 2024 and 2025 PWHL Champion Frost, as well as a central division NHL Team captained by Jared Spurgeon nicknamed the Wild?

Ionia?

- Wisconsin?

- Incorrect.

Mount Pleasant?

Next question a toss-up for both teams.

What six letter word beginning with "P" is used for a small column or stand designed to support a vase or sculpture.

- Plinth?

- [Host] That's correct.

Bonus question for Mount Pleasant what novel which portrays a picnic at Box Hill where Ms.

Bates is insulted by the matchmaking title woman was written in the 1810s by Jane Austen?

- Wait a minute, I feel like I remember we talked about Jane Austen sort of novel in practice.

- [Host] Do you have an answer?

- I don't personally do you guys?

- [Host] And time.

We'll go back to a toss-up for both teams.

What concept is performative according to a Judith Butler book named for its trouble and defines societal roles often contrasted with biological sex?

- Gender?

- [Host] That is correct.

Bonus question, what devices of which potentiometers are variable examples are depicted as zigzag lines on circuit diagrams and opposed the flow of current?

- Resistors?

- [Host] That's correct on the bonus there.

- [Earl] That's pretty good.

- [Host] Go back to toss-up for both teams.

What banker who was exiled in 1433 by the Albizzi family used a voting block in the Signoria to become the first powerful Medici ruler of Florence?

Ionia?

- Casanova?

- [Host] Incorrect.

- Maliavachi?

- [Host] Incorrect also.

Back to a toss-up for both teams.

In 2023, Tina Kotek took office as governor of what West Coast state whose senators include Ron Wyden and which Kotek leads from its capital, Salem?

- Oregon?

- [Host] That is correct.

Bonus question For Ionia.

Space weather is influenced by what flow of charged particles expelled from a certain heavenly body's Corona?

- Sun?

- It's solar- Solar wind?

- [Host] That is correct on the bonus.

And that is the end of that round.

We stand at Mount Pleasant 50, Ionia 40.

A good close game.

Recapping the missed questions in that round.

The head of state was Puyi.

The country with the capital at Amman was Jordan.

The author of "The Armies of the Night" was Norman Mailer.

And the NHL hockey team with a nickname of the Wild, they come from Minnesota.

And that exiled banker was Cosimo de Medici.

Our next round today is the "Perfect Ten".

In the "Perfect Ten" you'll have 60 seconds to answer questions from a choice of clues to three categories, the opposing team will have 30 seconds to answer any unasked, incorrect or skipped questions.

And you can consult throughout the entire round.

We'll take the answers from the captain.

The team that's trailing will get the first choice to pick a clue to a category.

We begin with Ionia who trails currently in this game.

The three categories you can choose from are three letter words, E before I, or B in science.

- Do you wanna do three letter words?

- [Team Member] Three letter words.

- Three letter words, please.

- [Host] All right.

Three letter names.

Identify these people with three letter family names.

The family alone is sufficient.

We'll start with this.

Author of To Kill a Mockingbird.

- Lee.

(affirmative chime) - [Host] Current North Korean Supreme leader.

- Kim?

(affirmative chime) - [Host] Boxer nickname the Louisville Lip or the greatest.

- Ali?

- Ali?

(affirmative chime) - [Host] Actor who played Marty McFly in "Back to the Future"?

- Fox.

(affirmative chime) - [Host] Japanese prime Minister assassinated in 2022.

- Pass.

(negative chime) - [Host] Actor who played Monica on Friends.

- Oh, Cox.

(affirmative chime) - [Host] First KMT leader whose protege was Chiang Kai-shek.

- Pass - Mao.

- Oh, Mao?

(negative chime) - [Host] Japanese performance artist who collaborated with husband John Lennon.

- Ono.

- Ono.

(affirmative chime) - [Host] Chinese author of "The Three Body Problem."

Well, we got through most of those.

All right, Mount Pleasant, you've got this chance to try to pick up some of these that were missed.

We'll start with Japanese Prime Minister assassinated in 2022.

- Do you know this?

- No.

- Pass.

- Pass.

(negative chime) - [Host] Chinese author of "the Three Body Problem"?

- You know this?

- [Sam] Gimme a second.

No.

Pass.

(negative chime) - [Host] Architect of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

- You know?

- [Host] Time.

Let's revisit the missed questions there.

The Japanese prime minister was Shinzo Abe.

The KMT leader was Sun Yat-sen.

The Chinese author was Cixin Liu.

And the architect of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was Maya Lin.

Okay, we will shift over to Mount Pleasant for your "Perfect Ten".

You can choose from either, E before I or B in science.

(team indistinctly chattering) - What do you feel?

- Whatever you guys want.

- Okay, so E before I?

E before I.

- [Host] E before I is what you pick for your "Perfect Ten".

Give these words that break the popular spelling rule, "I before E except after C."

Spelling answers is not required.

Five letter synonym of strange.

- Weird.

(affirmative chime) - [Host] Disruption of brain activity caused by misfiring neurons.

- Pass.

- Pass.

- [Host] First in line to a throne or title.

- Heir.

(affirmative chime) - [Host] 11 letter word for fake replicas of goods like money.

- Counterfeit.

(affirmative chime) - [Host] Macromolecules formed from amino acid chains.

- Protein.

(affirmative chime) - [Host] Arabic honorific elder given to a scholar?

- Sheik.

(affirmative chime) - [Host] Geological epoch characterized by Glayashian.

Excuse me.

- Pass.

(negative chime) - [Host] A young cow who has not yet had her first calf.

All right, Ionia, you get a chance to pick up the answers, remaining ones and some incorrect from that round.

Disruption of a brain activity caused by misfiring neurons.

- Do you guys know or pass.

(negative chime) - [Host] Geological epoch characterized by glaciation?

- No idea.

Pass.

(negative chime) - [Host] A young cow who has not yet had her first calf.

- Heifer.

(affirmative chime) - [Host] Wedge-shaped writing- And not get through all of those, but here are the correct answers.

A disruption of brain activity caused by misfiring neurons is a seizure.

A geological epoch characterized by glaciation is a pleistocene.

The wedge-shaped writing instrument used in ancient Mesopotamia was a cuneiform.

At the end of three rounds now we've got a tight game with Ionia holding a 10 point lead.

Our next round today is the "Homestretch".

The Homestretch includes a combination of toss-up and bonus questions.

The team that correctly answers the toss-up will get the opportunity to answer a single bonus question.

A missed toss-up can be stolen by the opposing team.

A correct answer on the toss-up allows for a single follow up bonus question.

No stealing on the bonuses and after a bonus question we'll go back to a toss-up for both teams.

Players will receive a one second penalty if they ring in before the toss-up question has been read completely.

Alright, players, buzzers ready.

Here comes your first question.

What text whose book 10 argues for the banishment of poets is a dialogue that discusses ideal governance of a city state and was written by Plato?

- Empires of man?

- [Host] Incorrect.

- Republic?

(affirmative chime) - Is correct.

The bonus question then for Ionia, what Greek hero, the foster son of Envitrion, spent a year wearing women's clothing and working with women as a servant of Lidian, Queen of (indistinct)?

- Pretty sure it's Hercules.

- [Team Member] Hercules?

- Yeah, because remember in the movie?

Hercules?

- That's correct.

- Thank you.

Thank you.

- [Host] Back to toss-up for both teams.

What author depicted 17 brothers marked with a cross in his novel about the city of Mankato and the Bedouin family, 100 years of solitude?

Ionia?

- Garcia?

- [Host] A clarification on that.

Can we get some more?

- Gabriel Garcia?

Correct.

Okay.

Now the bonus question for Ionia.

What sort of place is known as a "strand" in German and a "playa" in Portuguese?

- It's a place.

- Is it?

Like because "playa" is beach in Spanish.

So Beach?

- [Host] That's correct.

On the bonus.

Toss-up for both teams.

What device that contains platinum and palladium reduces harmful emissions from internal combustion engines by converting them into safer products?

- Catalytic converter.

- [Host] That is correct.

- Nice!

- [Host] Bonus question for Mount Pleasant.

What basic quantum mechanics equation named for an Austrian, gives the allowed wave functions for a particle?

- I don't know this one off the top of my head.

Do you happen to know this one?

No?

Pass.

- [Host] Time.

Back to a toss-up for both teams.

What leader arrested critics in the anti-rightist campaign and ordered sparrows killed as part of the great leap forward starving millions in China.

- Mao Zedong?

- That is correct.

Bonus question for Ionia.

What strait named for an English explorer separates New Zealand's north and South Islands?

- We literally just had this in- - Okay, wait.

Auckland.

- Auckland.

- Auckland Straight?

- Auckland?

- [Host] No, incorrect.

Toss-up for both teams.

What novel in which the cat "Snowball" threatens a songbird Margelow was written by EB White about a two inch tall boy who looks like a mouse?

- Stuart Little?

- That is correct.

Bonus for Ionia.

What King renamed the house of Sax, Kohlberg and Gelta to the house of Windsor and ruled Great Britain during World War I?

- Oh, oh!

- George?

- [Team Member] Wasn't it George?

- George?

- [Host] Clarify.

- [Team Member] George The Fifth?

- George The Fifth?

- [Host] It is correct.

George V. In 2023, what ex member of Odd Future released "Dog Tooth."

A song that he omitted from his 2021 album, Call Me If You Get Lost.

- Eminem?

- [Host] Incorrect.

Mount Pleasant?

- Tyler the Creator.

(affirmative chime) - That's correct.

- Nice.

- [Host] Bonus question for Mount Pleasant.

What mountain had an apostrophe removed from its name in 1890, is close to Colorado Springs, and is named for a man with a first name Zebulin?

- Doesn't anyone know the volcano lore?

- [Team Member] Is it Kilimanjaro?

No... - No answer?

- [Host] Answer?

- Kilimanjaro?

- [Host] Incorrect.

The toss-up for both teams.

What author who imagined becoming a transparent eyeball in his 1836 essay nature gave a speech at Harvard called the American Scholar?

- Emerson?

- That is correct.

- Thank you Miss (indistinct).

- [Host] Bonus question for Ionia.

What poet wrote about people who plunged themselves under meat trucks looking for an egg and lamented others who were destroyed by madness in Howell?

- [Joseph] I dunno.

Frost maybe.

Sure?

- Frost?

- [Host] That is incorrect.

And the end of the round, after that round with bonus questions, we have a current score, Ionia 190 to 120 for Mount Pleasant as we get set for the final round.

But first, let's look back at the missed questions.

That basic quantum mechanics equation named for an Austrian was a Schrodinger wave equation.

That strait named for an English explorer was the Cook Strait.

The mountain had an apostrophe removed from its name in 1890, well that was Pikes Peak.

And the poet who wrote about people who plunged themselves under meat trucks looking for an egg.

We were looking for Allen Ginsburg.

Ionia holds a 190 to 120 lead.

As we enter the final countdown, teams will have two minutes to answer as many toss-up questions as they can.

If a team answers incorrectly, the opposing team has an opportunity to answer the question.

Teams may not consult during this round.

And new this year, players will receive a one second penalty if they ring in before the toss-up question has been read completely.

That's indicated by an orange light above their name.

Answers are worth 10 points a piece and there is no deduction for incorrect answers.

Are you ready, Players?

Here comes your first question.

What physicist who names a length that is approximately the radius of a hydrogen atom names a model in which electrons have circular atomic orbits?

- Four?

(affirmative chime) - [Host] Correct.

Next question, what wind instrument on which link could play the "Bolero of Fire," title of the 1998 Legend of Zelda video game, originally released for the Nintendo 64?

- Oh, Orchiana?

Oh no.

Ocarina?

(affirmative chime) - That is correct.

Next question, what position whose holder John McDonald resigned after the Pacific scandal was later held by William Lyon Mackenzie King, who worked from Ottawa?

- Prime Minister of Canada?

- [Host] That is correct.

- Good job.

- Next question.

In what modern day state did the discovery of gold on Lakota land lead prospectors to pour into the town of Deadwood in 1876?

- California?

- [Host] Incorrect.

Mt.

Pleasant?

(team indistinctly chattering) Next question.

What character who dates Grundgetta and has a pet worm named Slimy is a green monster who lives in a trash can on Sesame Street as befits a grouch?

- Oscar the Grouch.

- [Host] That is correct.

Next question.

In August, 2024, microloan pioneer Mohammed Eunice became the chief advisor of what country?

Time.

We didn't get that question in.

Only one missed question in that round.

Modern-day state where prospectors poured into the town of Deadwood, we were looking for South Dakota.

Ionia takes the win 220 to 130.

A well played game by both of our teams today.

We'll see you right back here next week for another episode of "Quiz Central".

Have a good evening and thanks for watching.

(upbeat music)