Behind the quizzes
If you love quizzes, then Stuff has you covered.
Each day, Stuff.co.nz publishes a morning quiz, an afternoon quiz and one for the kids
(or for us older ones, if we’re feeling we need an easier challenge so we can ace the answers and give ourselves a boost).
Each quiz has 15 questions to test your general knowledge and how informed you are about latest events. (Though that kid’s quiz – yeah, that has 20 questions).
The maestro behind the Stuff quiz is Shahra Hume, a job she took on in 2020 as Stuff’s first dedicated quiz producer.
She has the task of pulling together around 40 questions a day.
‘‘As I go through my day, I collect information and ideas. Interesting facts on the radio, news on Stuff, trending topics on social media,’’ she says. ‘‘If someone uses an interesting idiom, anything, I will screenshot or make a note of it. I often browse the children’s non-fiction section at the library. There I can find trivia laid out in simple terms on a range of interesting topics.’’
Sometimes she will even wake up at night, hit by a sudden great question idea.
‘‘I am often struck with great ideas at night, for quizzes or in general, and will need to get up and write them down so I will remember them in the morning.’’
The Stuff quiz has a huge fan base. It’s part of New Zealand pop culture. Thousands of Kiwis spend a small part of their day with us for it, every day and we get lots of feedback. Many quizzers send in suggested questions they think others will love.
Hume knows of a family that ‘‘competes’’ daily and tracks their scores on a shared spreadsheet, including graphs. The family matriarch is always the one to beat.
‘‘Kiwis are very competitive by nature. That’s why Stuff readers love The Chase. Not only do we want to get the questions right, we want to beat someone else at the same time. Getting 3 out of 15 feels great if Linda from accounts only got 2.’’
So, does this mean Hume is a great quizzer herself?
‘‘People often ask if I clean up down at the pub on quiz nights. To be honest,
I’ve never tried.
‘‘A great quizzer has more than just a broad general knowledge; they have a good memory – they are able to recall facts easily and quickly. If they don’t know the answer, they use logical thinking to narrow it down or guess. They are also calm under pressure.’’
Why don’t you join the other Kiwis who are testing their knowledge with Stuff’s daily quizzes?