Put your Fingers on the buzzers
Valerie Hanley explores the world of online quizzing and meets the man aiming to win Brain of Quarantine
As families and friends search for more innovative ways to keep close to one another without breaching lockdown, Zoom quizzes, using the conferencing app, have become the staple of Saturday nights in and weekend catch-ups. As a result, the humble quiz has become an internet sensation.
Some of us, however, are operating on a different level. When Dan O’Malley clicks on the Zoom icon later this week, the avid quizzer will be the last Irish man standing in the most competitive international event of the coronavirus – the Brain
of Quarantine quiz.
The Dublin father of four is one of the last remaining 16 finalists in the competition that not alone has tested the brainpower of aspiring bright sparks throughout England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland, but the on-line quiz has also managed to lure a whole new generation of fans to quizzing.
Dan explained: ‘Online quizzing has taken off big time during the quarantine… pub quizzing had become stronger before the quarantine.
‘I think this is because a quiz is easy to do on Zoom unlike other board games like chess.
‘It’s easy to play over a live conference link and it taps into the love Irish people have for quizzes… there’s an element of competition, there’s an element of satisfaction of knowing something and of dragging the answer from your memory. And it’s social.
‘Irish people are sociable and they like to chat. They like chat and they like banter.
‘We’re all stuck in lockdown looking at the four walls and looking for ways to amuse ourselves. And any family can do it. The thing is not to take it too seriously.
‘I have got down to the last 16 in the Brain of Quarantine and I am the last Irish person left.
‘There isn’t any prize and the entrance fees are going to charity but there are bragging rights with winning the competition.’
According to the 46-year-old IT project manager, he was a reluctant quiz fan of sorts. As a child, the distinctive signature tune for the UK hit television quiz programme Mastermind – hosted by the dulcet-toned wise old quizmaster of quizmasters
Magnus Magnusson – unnerved him and appealed to him in equal measure.
Dan recalled: ‘I watched Mastermind as a child, the music spooked me but I still watched it.
‘Then as I got older and when my children started coming along I didn’t get to go out with my wife for meals as much or to go out socially as much. So as a way to meet friends, I started doing quizzes in the pub…. It was a bit of craic and a way to meet up with friends.
‘I have been seriously quizzing for the past seven to eight years so now I’m an IT project manager during the day and an avid quizzer by night.’
Since then he has gone onto represent Ireland at the Celtic Quiz tournament between Ireland, Scotland and Wales, and has also represented Ireland at the European Championships. And on the way has picked up a variety of prizes including countless bottles of wine, a four-way split of a €4,000 prize purse, as well as an all-expenses trip to Las Vegas.
Dan said: ‘The biggest cash prize I ever won was €4,000 in 2016 and that was with the team I’m on. Some of the lads are very into the GAA, some of them are into rugby and I’m interested in films, TV and entertainment.
‘Last year we were in a quiz in Kells and the prize was a trip to Las Vegas but we thought that was a raffle prize. So when we won there was a sing-off among the four of us on the team and the audience had to decide which of us was the winner.
‘It’s difficult to sing a song you know all the lyrics to. I gave a hearty rendition of YMCA and myself and my wife went to Las Vegas in January, just before the lockdown.’
In between representing Ireland at international competitions, Dan is involved in the Irish Quiz Organi
ANY FAMILY CAN DO IT. THE THING IS NOT TO TAKE IT TOO SERIOUSLY
sation and the Dublin quiz league which compiles rankings for seriously minded quizzers keen to compete abroad.
‘The Dublin league has been running for the past five years and the season runs from September to April but the season is on hold because of Covid-19.
‘Before the lockdown every week there were about 100 different quizzes on in Dublin with anywhere between 80 and 100 taking part in each of these quizzes.
‘It sounds a bit nerdy but we do the rankings by giving people examtype questions. Typically they would be given 100 questions to be answered in 45 minutes so you would have a pub completely silent with all these people doing the exam-type questions.’
Although Dan must have a store of ready answers to the most obscure questions, there is one question to which an answer eludes him no matter how hard he tries to figure it out.
He wonders why the country that created the Quicksilver television quiz programme – whose catchphrase ‘stop the lights’ has become so much a part of Irish life that no one questions why the turn of phrase is used to express incredulity – no longer has its own homeproduced weekly quiz programme on television.
Dan added: ‘If you looked at TV here no one is producing quiz programmes… the last quiz programme was Mike Murphy’s Play it By Year which was a Reeling in the Years type quiz and that was in 2016. They made four or five episodes for one week. There has been nothing since then. There used to be Quicksilver, Rapid Roulette, Where in the World and Blackboard Jungle.
‘I cannot believe no one is doing it when there is a huge Irish audience out there.’
Meanwhile, Dan is still unsure about when the next round of Brain
of the Quarantine will take place as contestants are only notified at the last minute about the time of the contest. But it will take place later this week.
So will he be doing any studying? His answer is a worthy ‘stop the lights’ reply. No.
Dan quips: ‘I do quizzes for fun and studying is like work for me so I don’t study for quizzes.’