Last Week in Friendlies #13
Also, steps to release your new quiz to the world
Sorry for the delay folks, but wait till you see how much happened in the one weekend I was away. Plenty of new quizzes, including several that are experimenting with new formats and themes. My favourite kind. Let's go.
Madibamir and Sanimir #1-2 by Sander van der Heyden
Beatles Hemimir and Nursery Rhymes by Vivek Tejuja
20th Century Art by Rithwik Kambil
Conundrums #7 (Conun the Barbarian), DON#8-9, and Wordsmash #1 by Dhruv Mookerji
RON #3 by Ruru
What Have the Romans Ever Done For Us? by Navin Rajaram
All these sets can be found linked on the Friendlies Checklist.
How to Release A New Friendly Quiz
There was at least one more set that was briefly mentioned in the Friendlies group, an Art hemimir but intended for everyone. Unfortunately, the set was never shared publicly and so we've got no way of tracking it here. Akshay Gurumoorthi also wrote a really inventive numbers-themed set a while ago, but again I don't think it's been properly released yet.
For new setters, here's a handy playbook for releasing your new sets:
Step 1: Ping Harman. Honestly, this is the single most important step you need to do. Even if you miss all the others, it's okay, cos I can do them for you. Skip this step and, well, you're on your own.
Step 2: Upload your set to the Friendlies Drive. If you don’t have a folder there already, let me know and I’ll create one. I'm in favour of making sets available on the Drive even before mentioning them on the Friendlies group. The idea is that once they get mentioned, people will want to play, and you want them to have easy access to the set so they can schedule games independently.
There are arguments in favour of withholding the set for a while ("I will run the quiz myself for the first few runs, to avoid cheats") but none of that stuff works and cheaters are gonna cheat either way. Might as well make it easy for everyone else.Step 3: Do an announcement on the B612 Friendlies group: Use some emojis. Use the word ‘incoming’. And do a write-up! People will play anything, whether you do a writeup or not, but it's always nice if you can add a few sentences explaining why you made this question set, and whom it's been written for. For example, you might want to mention if a themed set is intended to be an introduction for newbies (like Vivek's Cricket set) or a challenge for fans (like Vivek's Beatles set).
Finally, a good name always helps. Giving the set a short, easily usable name makes it easier for people to remember that a new set is out, and to quickly schedule games. Don't fall for the acronym trap! Your set will be consigned to perpetual "arre but what is DON??" questions. Maitrey's Mimirosaurus is a nice example of a short, descriptive name that still continues the trend of throwing in a 'mimir' reference.
Step 4: Have an announcement done on the B612 Friendly Announcements Group. The main Friendlies group sees too many messages for anyone to really keep track of new sets, so make sure your set is mentioned in the Announcements group too. Send a message that looks like this to Harman or Vikas or Bindu, and have it posted.
If you’re not the group yourself, join by clicking here:
Now your set has been released.
1. Madibamir and Sanimir #1-2 by Sander van der Heyden
In his own words:
We've seen friendlies about one music genre or one topic like sport, but let's take it to the next level: a friendly about one person: the one and only Nelson Mandela. Who's up for a tribute quiz?
Madibamir is a new kind of themed set, in that it’s a fairly narrow subject being about the life of one man. I’ll up front though, it’s certainly not an easy set and it definitely assumes you’re quite familiar with Mandela’s life and achievements. The narrow scope and high degree of difficulty mean that a unique exercise becomes available to you: Try reading up on Mandela before playing this quiz. Prep for it, as you might for an exam, and see where it gets you. The English Wikipedia page is still some 17,000 words, so it’s no easy undertaking, but it might be fun!
Sander had a particularly productive week because, in addition to the Madibamir, he also released two general sets which he’s calling Sanimir #1 and #2. And that’s in addition to a whole mini-league he’s running on the side!
2. Beatles Hemimir and Nursery Rhymes by Vivek Tejuja
Speaking of leagues, the organizer of the newest league in town Culture Quiz League hasn’t eased up on his friendly sets output. First up, he basically made a dream come true for me personally by releasing a 32-question Hemimir themed around Beatles songs! Not the best set for a newbie, but one to be cherished if you’re a fan. Every answer is a track title and (I’m speaking from experience here) it’s really difficult to not break into song every time you crack a question.
In his own words:
They are one of the most inspiring, most amazing, and definitely in my top 3 list of bands I admire and how! Having said that, everyone must listen to “The Beatles” and on loop! Every day if possible.
So here’s my way of showing my love. A Beatles quiz. A hemimir to begin with and this won’t be the only one. So there will be Beatles 2, 3, 4 and 5 because there are songs by other bands and then there is the life and times and work of The Beatles.
In addition, Vivek also found time to release a quick, breezy set themed around Nursery Rhymes. Like cartoons and etymology, questions around nursery rhymes play with the fact that you’ve probably heard a lot of these answers before, and the challenge will be in pulling them out when they’re needed. Be warned though, apparently, we didn’t all learn the same rhymes when we were young 😅
3. 20th Century Art by Rithwik Kambil
Rithwick followed up his 19th Century Art set with another one, this time covering the period from 1900 to the present day. Like its predecessor, this is intended to be a challenging set, written to be played by a very wide range of quizzes, from brave art noobs to real aficionados, and even then you can expect a couple of Xs and new learnings. Unless someone in your group did some pre-reading of course.
4. Conundrums #7 (Conun the Barbarian), DON#8-9, and Wordsmash #1 by Dhruv Mookerji
Dhruv’s been busy this week as well, finding time to release (or re-release) 4 new sets.
DON #8 and #9 continue Dhruv’s practice of re-releasing his own older Mimir sets for a wider audience. Both are 64-question sets and are as good as they come.
Conun the Barbarian has nothing to do with Arnie (presumably), but is just a handy way to remember that this is a new Conundrums set! It’s longer than any of its predecessors, with 18 questions this time. If you’ve never played a Conundrums set before, you are missing out. Here’s a recording of C#4:
Finally, the Wordsmash quiz uses a new format called Lob and Dunk that works within the Mimir framework but is a whole new experience designed specifically for teams. Here’s how it works:
Wordsmashing is basically joining two answers via a common sound. So Matt Damon + Moneypenny becomes Matt Damoneypenny. Or Mocha + Kardashian becomes Mocharadashian (sound-based, not spelling-based).
Lob and Dunk requires teams of exactly 2, so 8 people in all. All questions have 2-part answers. One teammate answers any one part, and the other completes the answer. They can’t discuss the question, only the strategy of who knows or who should answer which part first. Same logic on passing, except that it only counts as a Bonus Attempt if the team goes for the full answer - so one teammate can say one part, and if the other teammate can’t work out the rest, they can pass, and it won’t count as a BA.
It’s exactly as fun as it sounds, although if you’re on bad terms with your teammate before the quiz I can only assume it’s going to get worse.
5. RON #3 by Ruru
Among all the setters who release regularly on B612, all of whom are pretty bad at promoting their new releases, Ruru is probably the worst of them all. His sets come and go with barely an announcement, and this is a tragedy because his last few have been some of the best quizzes I’ve ever seen.
FAQ: What is RON/DON/SON? RON stands for Ruru’s Old/New. It’s essentially an Old set that’s being re-released for B612 members, giving them a New set. Old/New.
In RON #3, Ruru has written some truly inventive quads that I can’t even begin to describe without completely ruining them for you. The only way to know why I’m gushing is to play the set. Let me know if you need a reader.
6. What Have The Romans Ever Done For Us? by Navin Rajaram
I came very close to forgetting this one, and I’m glad I didn’t cos this was probably my favourite set this week.
In his own words:
Here's a friendly I set on What Did The Romans Ever Do For Us (WDTREDFU)
The quiz is largely on words that have come to us from Roman ways of life, but since the Romans were fans of the Greeks, there will be a fair smattering of Greek etymologies in the quiz also.
Someone, who I ran this quiz for, remarked that in a quiz about Romans, there need not be any Italy-cising of clues. Accordingly, I have not formatted/italicised any part of the question so interpretations of what part of the question is a clue is best left to the quizzer.
An etymology quiz! Best.
All these quizzes can be found listed here: