One way to ensure that your trivia contest runs smoothly is to make sure your questions are all valid. An invalid question will open the door for arguments and can cause you plenty of headaches as you might be forced to do some quick translations. So what is an invalid question? It is a question which allows for more than one answer. An example of an invalid trivia question would be as follows: How high is Mount Everest?
This may seem like a good question to ask but do you see the problems? The first problem that should be apparent is that the question does not specify whether the answer is in imperial measurements or metric. So not only could you answer 8848 metres or 9,676 yards but any of the following: 29,029 feet, 248,248 inches, and 884,800 centimetres. If all hamsters were two inches tall, you could even answer 124,124 hamsters high. And none of these answers would be wrong.
The next way to validate your trivia question is to use a source. One website might say that Mount Everest is one height and your atlas might say it is another. Pick the most reliable source and go with it. If someone says Wikipedia says that Mount Everest is 29,033, you can simply point out the question asks how high your source file says it is. So a valid question would be: According to the World Book Encyclopedia , how many metres tall is Mount Everest.
Another invalid question shows up frequently in sports’ trivia. Many times the question will involve a record. Who hold the record for the most home runs in a season? Many people would assume the question referred to Major League Baseball. The question, however, does not specify if it is a major league record, a minor league record or record of a local team.
Okay, so only a troublemaker would answer a local slugger and expect nothing more than a laugh. Where are the majority of trivia contests held? That’s right. They are held at a bar where it is not unknown for a patron to become troublesome after a drink or two. Granted, asking a valid question is not likely to keep people from becoming a troublemaker, but it will given them one less reason to argue an answer.
At what temperature does water boil? Can you spot the two problems with this question? The first problem is that the question does not ask for standard measurement. Water boils at 212 degrees Fahrenheit, 100 degrees Celsius and 233 degrees Kelvin. The second problem with this question is that water boils at different temperatures at different altitudes. The above mentioned temperatures refer to water boiling at sea level. So a valid question would be. At sea level what temperature, in Fahrenheit, does water at?
Sure this is nitpicking but the few minutes it will take to phrase your questions properly will help to ensure your contest does not have any unnecessary problems. For free trivia questions and quizzes visit http://www.freetriviaquestions.info.