The WBC Facts in Five Tournament was held on Saturday evening this year. Since I knew it was to be held in the Chase Room (the same room as the Junior events), I made sure I was there early to see if the room needed any cleaning up. I found leftover candy wrappers, a few game pieces, a few toys, and a pair of boys swimming trunks.

This year's event was four rounds with the top five scores making the finals. I pre-selected all categories and letters, which allowed me to pre-print the scorecards (hopefully saving time because I was making an [ultimately futile] attempt to finish before Slapshot.) and allowing me to research all of the categories and have most (in some cases, all) of the possible answers sealed in an envelope. Also I selected categories and letters so that it was possible, though it proved difficult, to have a valid answer in all 25 spaces on each scorecard.

In a change from last year, I made the call on the validity of all answers rather than having each table vote. I don't think it was fair to make Ben Franklin a US President at Table 3, but not at Table 2, because more than two people at Table 3 wrote him down on their scorecard. (Actually I don't think it is fair to make Ben President at all, since, of course, he wasn't one.)

The format was well received by players after the event.

With a tournament record of 34 entrants packing the Chase Room to beyond capacity (fortunately the Fire Marshal was not present), Facts in Five opened to wails of protest. "Heavyweight Boxing World Champs?!?!? Castaways on Survivor (first names)?!?!? Dog Breeds?!?!? I don't know any of these things!!!! Where's the knitting category?"

Creative (and argumentative) as gamers can be, it took twice as long as I had planned to judge all of the answers for the entire group: Is a LAN part of a computer system? Was "Tarzan" a science fiction TV series?

Ignoring all cries of outrage, the event continued. The tempers rose with the temperature in the overcrowded room. But no fistfights or major wars broke out. No cases of heat exhaustion were reported.

The answer I least expected anyone to get was Names of Popes beginning with H, but Gordon Rogers submitted Honorius. (BTW the other Popes whose names begin with H are: Hilary, Hormisdas and Hyginus)

After four rounds the finalists were Aaron Silverman (736 - who also had the only perfect 250 score in the third round), Pitt Crandlemire (704), Caleb Cousins (668), Sean Cousins (616) and Debbie Bell (608). Donna Balkan (606) finished just outside the money for sixth place. The final categories were:

British Prime Ministers, African Countries, US Vice Presidents, Kevin Bacon Films, Chemical Elements
Letters: A B C D T (Try and see how you do. You have 5 minutes. Go!)

Time! Ready to see how you did? Click here:

British Prime Ministers (Complete List)
Henry Addington (T)
Herbert Asquith (La)
Clement Atlee (La)

Stanly Baldwin (Coa)
Arthur James Balfour (C)
William Bentwick (T)
Tony Blair (La)

James Callaghan (La)
Sir H. Campbell-Bannerman (C)
George Canning (C)
Neville Chamberlain (Coa)
Sir Winston Churchill (C)

Benjamin Disraeli (C)
Sir Alec Douglas-Home (C)

Margaret Thatcher (C)

African Countries (Complete List)
Algeria
Angola

Benin
Botswana
Burkina Faso
Burundi

Cameroon
Cape Verde
Central African Republic
Chad
Comoros
Congo, Dem Republic of (Brazzaville)
Congo, Republic of (Zaire)

Djibouti

Tanzania
Togo
Tunisia

Vice Presidents of the US (Complete List)
John Adams (F)
Chester A. Arthur (R)
Spiro T. Agnew (R)

Aaron Burr (DR)
George H. W. Bush (R)
John C. Breckinridge (D)
Alben W. Barkley (D)

George Clinton (DR)
Schuyler Colfax (R)
Calvin Coolidge (R)
John C. Calhoun (D)
Charles Curtis (R)
Richard (Dick) Cheney (R)

George M. Dallas (D)
Charles D. Dawes (R)

Daniel D. Thompkins (DR)
John Tyler (W)
Harry S Truman (D)

Kevin Bacon Films (Complete List)
Air Up There, The
Animal House
Apollo 13

Balto
Big Picture

Criminal Law

Destination Everywhere
Digging to China
Diner

Telling Lies in America
Tremors
Trumps

Chemical Elements (Complete List)
Actinium (Ac-89)
Aluminum (Al -13)
Americium (Am-95)
Antimony (Sb-51)
Argon (Ar-18)
Arsenic (As-33)
Astatine (At-85)

Barium (Ba-56)
Berkelium (Bk-97)
Berylium (Be-4)
Bismuth (Bi-83)
Bohrium (Bh-107)
Boron (B-5)
Bromine (Br-35)

Cadmium (Cd -48)
Calcium (Ca-20)
Californium (Cf-98)
Carbon (C-6)
Cerium (Ce-58)
Cesium (Cs-55)
Chlorine (Cl-17)
Chromium (Cr-24)
Cobalt (Co-27)
Columbium (aka Niobium, Cb-41)
Copper (Cu-29)
Curium (Cr-96)

Dubnium (Db-105)
Dysprosium (Dy-66)

Tantalum (Ta-73)
Technetium (Tc-43)
Tellurium (Te-52)
Terbium (Tb-65)
Thallium (Tl -81)
Thorium (Th-90)
Thulium (Tm-69)
Tin (Sn-50)
Titanium (Ti-22)
Tungsten (W-74)

Aaron retained his commanding lead and won the title, with Pitt finishing second. Congratulations!

I'd like to thank all of the players for participating and especially Tiger von Pagel for assisting me in sorting the scorecards for scoring purposes. The only changes I'd make for next year are a larger room and a start time at least two hours before Slapshot.