Mon 23-Apr-2001

Trivia odyssey ends
By CHARLEY SHAW
Journal staff

After a nearly sleepless weekend of Trivia 32: Old Days, roommates Travers Zdzieb-lowski and Ryan Jeidy combed the Internet for clues to questions.

"It's a lot of fun. I've been doing it for eight years and it's a blast," Zdzieblowski said with 50 of 54 hours completed Sunday night. Their team, Dude, Where's My Cat?, included at most 15 people and was stationed at their apartment in the 600 block of N. Second Street.

Trivia 32: Old Days came to an end early Monday morning after the final question at midnight on a "stupid question" about Survivor Richard Hatch.

The 54 hours of endless questions left some players exhausted.

Jeidy and Zdzieblowski each had about six hours of sleep over the weekend, and they were in 180th place out of 460 teams at about 8:30 p.m. After the last question, they planned a restorative slumber before rejoining the world of work this morning.

Zdzieblowski was due to work at 9 a.m. at the Silver Coach restaurant and Jeidy was expected at work at office supplies store Staples at 7 a.m.

"I'm going to bed at midnight, I'll get eight hours of sleep and I'll be fine," Zdzieblowski said.

Trivia players at team Franklin Street Burnouts were anything but burned out as they fought off exhaustion in an effort to hold onto third place shortly before 9 p.m.

"After the team standings were announced at 6 p.m. is when the tension mounts and everyone pushes for the end," said Chris Wiza, who played Trivia in the 700 block of Franklin Street at the residence of neighbors Larry and Kathy Grulkowski.

The Franklin Street Burnouts came in fourth. Network 2001: Time After Tim won the event. CNOF 54: Dazed and Confused won second, and Tin Man took third.

"It's amazing. We've been doing this for 25 years," said Thom Aylesworth, of Boston, formerly of Stevens Point. The winner was announced at 2:20 a.m. today.

The Internet is a common - if not essential fixture - for Trivia players. But the Grulkowskis organize magazines, videotapes and books for Trivia.

Mike Wiza, Chris' husband, said indispensable information comes from sources other than cyberspace. For example, when a question asked the name of the high school in the movie "American Beauty," the Franklin Street Burnouts quickly inserted the videocassette, found the high school name and called Trivia headquarters at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. In another instance, footage of the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, Calif., provided an answer.

But some players were likely thrown for a loop, as some changes were made to Trivia this year.

The duration of advertising slogan questions lasted four minutes with only one song. Normally, Trivia players have five minutes to answer a question and two songs are played by disc jockeys at 90 FM WWSP.

"It's a good idea. It changed it up and that was nice. But when we couldn't get through that was the bad part, obviously," Jeidy said.

Another twist to Trivia were periods when participants were told whether their answers were incorrect. If a team guessed wrong, its members could continue to pursue the right answer.

Rebecca Pollesch, Trivia promotions and public relations director, said the multiple calls segment will not be repeated because Trivia players blocked the phone lines.

Pollesch said another new feature of Trivia was a 32nd place trophy for the 32nd year of Trivia. The team For Reasons Everyone Already Knows took that honor.

The crew at WWSP, which included hundreds of volunteers, successfully pulled off Trivia, Pollesch said.

"Things are going great," Pollesch said shortly before the last question was announced.
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