facts in five   

Updated Nov. 23, 2013

2013 WBC Report    

  2014 Status: pending 2014 GM commitment

Mark Guttag, VA

2013 Champion

 

Event History
1993      Luke Kratz      23
1994      Eric Olin      25
1995      Chuck Foster      24
1996      Luke Kratz      25
1997      Stephanie Greenwood      19
1998      Caleb Cousins      29
1999      Shantanu Saha     17
2000      Randy Cox     31
2001      Aaron Silverman     34
2002      Doug Hoylman     48
2003      Aaron Silvermann     43
2004      Doug Hoylman      31
2005      Sean McCulloch      40
2006      Richard Meyer      37
2007      Winton LeMoine      43
2008      Paul Bean      36
2009      Richard Meyer      50
2010      Richard Meyer      35
2011      Matthew Beach      72
2012      Paul Bean      78
2013      Mark Guttag      75

 Laurels

Rank  Name              From  Last  Total
  1.  Richard Meyer      MA    13     85
  2.  Paul Bean          MA    12     72
  3.  Richard Irving     CA    13     68
  4.  Aaron Silverman    FL    03     44
  5.  Mark Guttag        VA    13     42
  6.  Doug Hoylman       MD    04     42
  7.  Eric Brosius       MA    12     40
  8.  Ted Drozd          IL    11     32
  9.  Randy Cox          SC    03     31
 10.  Winton LeMoine     CA    07     28
 11.  Shantanu Saha      NY    10     24
 12.  Pitt Crandlemire   MA    02     24
 13.  Jason Arvey        VA    13     22
 14.  Roderick Lee       CA    13     20
 15.  Matthew Beach      MD    11     20
 16.  Rob Winslow        NY    10     20
 17.  Sean McCulloch     OH    05     20
 18.  Francis Spencer    MD    09     14
 19.  Natalie Beach      MD    10     12
 20.  Steve Cameron      PA    00     12
 21.  Matt Amitrano      VA    08      8
 22.  Debbie Bell        MD    01      8
 23.  Caleb Cousins      ME    01      8
 24.  Sean Cousins       ME    01      8
 25.  James Hopkin       CA    00      8
 26.  Stephany Greenwood MD    99      8
 27.  Kevin Lewis        DC    11      6
 28.  Dave Burkey        PA    09      6
 29.  Ed Kendrick        uk    08      6
 30.  Gordon Rodgers     PA    05      6
 31.  Roy Pettis         VA    03      6
 32.  Jim Eliason        IA    13      5
 33.  Ted Simmons        NJ    07      4
 34.  Robert Cranshaw    RI    05      4
 35.  Frank Cunliffe     PA    05      4
 36.  Luke Kratz         ID    04      4
 37.  Donna Balkan       on    01      4
 38.  Andy Maly          MD    99      4
 39.  Gordon Elgart      CA    02      1

2013 Laurelists                                       Repeating Laurelists: 

Jason Arvey, VA
2nd

Richard Irving, CA
3rd

Rich Meyer, MA
4th

Roderick Lee, CA
5th

Jim Eliason, IA
6th

Past Winners

Luke Kratz, ID
1993, 1996

Eric Olin, CT
1994

Chuck Foster, TX
1995

Stephanie Greenwood, MD
1997

Caleb Cousins, ME
1998

Shantanu Saha, NY
1999

Randy Cox, SC
2000

Aaron Silverman, NJ
2001, 2003

Doug Hoylman, MD
2002, 2004

Sean McCulloch, OH
2005

Rich Meyer, MA
2006, 2009-10

Winton LeMoine, CA
2007

Paul Bean, MA
2008, 2012

Matthew Beach, MD
2011

Mark Guttag, VA
2013

Big crowd tonite! Once an afterthought, Facts in Five at WBC has grown considerably in recent years and threatens to outgrow the Hopewell room.

Technology in the form of projected questions and answers has sped up the process in recent years, but despite that the event has increased its length.

Double the Fun! ...

Thanks to everyone who came to participate in another overflowing Facts in Five tourney! The expanded two-hour schedule seemed to work much better, allowing us to review answers and keep the presentation more entertaining, while maintaining the recent inflated attendance of the previous two years.

Special thanks to Greg Crowe for being a great Assistant GM; Sceadeau D'Tela for acquiring and arranging seating; Don Greenwood for arranging backup when the projector wasn't immediately available; and again, to everyone who made it a great crowd.

Full player results (with names removed to protect the innocent) can be found here.

The full answer key can be found here.

Please note that the answer key was what I developed prior to the event; some answers may have been added during the game as people came up with answers that I had overlooked (for example, "Thigh Bone" should count as a valid "T" common name for a bone.)

Without further ado, here are the categories, letters, and top performers for each round:

Round 1:

Justices (current and past) of the U.S. Supreme Court

Properties of Monopoly

Main Ingredients in McCormick Brand Spices

Celebrity Contestants of Dancing With The Stars

Bones of the Human Body

Letters: C, P, R, S, T

Overall Average: 10 correct

Top performers: Jason Arvey took an early lead with 20 correct; Sarah Beach was second with 19, and Richard Irving and Jim Eliason tied at 18. Richard Meyer, Eric Brodius, and Roderick Lee rounded out the rest of the early contenders tied at 17.

Round 2:

Novels By Stephen King

U.S. cities west of the Mississippi with a population of over 250,000

Nobel Prize Winners for Physics

BBC Original Series

Drivers who won the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series

Letters: E, F, L, P, T

Overall Average: 6 correct

Top Performers: Jason Arvey expanded his lead with 15 points over Mark Guttag, Chaka Benson, Gordon Rogers, Jarret Weintraub, and Brandon Bernard with 11 each.

Round 3:

Movies Directed By Woody Allen

Rolling Stone's Top 100 Guitarists of All Time

Capitals of European Countries

Television Manufacturers

Authors Nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel

Letters: D, M, V, W, Z

Overall Average: 7 correct

Top Performers: Two-time champ Richard Meyer and Roderick Lee tied at 14 points each, doubling the average correct score. Mark Guttag, Jim Eliason, Eric Brosius and Gordon Rogers led the trail pack with 13 points each.

Round 4:

Fortune 100 Companies

Winter Olympics Host Cities

SNL Cast Members

Counties in the State of California

U.S. Magazines with a circulation of over 1 million

Letters: C, G, L, N, O

Overall Average: 7 correct

Top Performers: Mark Guttag and Joseph Marriot tied for the lead with 14 points each; Richard Meyer and Roderick Lee tied again, but for second this time with 13 points; and John Riston rounded out the top five with 12.

Round 5:

Middle Names of U.S. Presidents

Coaches in the NFL Hall of Fame

Academy Award Winners for Best Actress

Childrens' Books Written by Theodore Geisel (Dr. Seuss)

Countries and Territories touching the Caribbean Sea

Letters: A, B, H, M, S

Overall Average: 9 correct

Top Performers: The final round saw Richard Irving lead with 18 points; Mark Guttag came in second with 17; and Richard Meyer, John Riston, Winton Lemoine, and John Elliot tied at 16.

Final Results:

Despite lots of ties within each round, the end totals needed no tie breakers: Mark Guttag won with 71 points; Jason Arvey was second with 69; Richard Irving third at 68; Richard Meyer fourth at 67; Roderick Lee fifth at 65; and Jim Eliason in sixth at 64.

Questions, and comments are always appreciated; putting these together is a learning process. (One major piece of feedback I've received and will follow: less questions on U.S. politicians/geography next year to be fair to our foreign players.) Please reach out to me at johncorrado@hotmail.com if you have suggestions or if there was something you would like to see or something you'd like me to do differently.

My favorite moments this year? Hearing Winton Lemoine groan "My employer!" when we read out the names of Fortune 500 companies; and hearing Richard Meyer exclaim "Oh, this must be a trap!" when I set up the category that was, in fact, a trap. But best was having an engaged crowd who laughed at the right points and groaned at the right points! So thank you all again, and I'll see you next year!

GM John Corrado not only has to research his "puzzles" well in advance, he also augments the presentation with graphic displays of the answers.

A far cry from the old days when participants voted on whether an answer was acceptable or not. Huge improvement over the "Arguments R Us" days.
 GM      John Corrado [2nd Year]  NA 
    johncorrado@hotmail.com   NA

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