Last Week in Friendlies #8
A summary of quizzes published as friendlies in the last couple of days.
Another week, another dozen new question sets. Here's what we saw this week.
Seinfeld by Siddhanth Rao
Oscar Hemimirs by Vivek, Dhruv and Sourjo
Movies Old/New by Sourjo Sengupta
Lit Awards by Abhinav Dasgupta
You Can't See Mir by Dhruv Mookerji
Revolutions by Pravin
Lit Set 26: Jeopardy Style! by Vivek Tejuja
Age of Empires: A History Set by Sander van der Heyden
General Knowledge Sets by John McKenzie
1. Seinfeld by Siddhanth Rao
This 60-question friendly is probably my favourite of the sets released this week, for all the same reasons that I've elaborated before. It's a "themed" set, but the questions themselves are general. That means it's a vehicle for one fan to share his fandom, and that's exactly what Siddhanth has done. Questions require no prior familiarity with Seinfeld, although if you have watched the show then you're probably in for a few extra chuckles.
Aside from the workable nature of the questions, I particularly loved how consistent the quads and questions were, across the whole quiz. We've had weeks and weeks of friendlies, most of which are set quickly by people trying their hand at something new and something fun. In that world, this friendly with its elegant quads and error-free levelling seems out of place, but it should come as no surprise considering Siddhanth runs a whole quiz league of his own!
I wish I could write more about this set, but as is inevitable with quizzes, that would give away some of the answers. For now, it's enough to say that this set is probably my new gold standard for themed-yet-accessible Mimir friendlies.
2. Oscar Hemimirs by Vivek, Dhruv and Sourjo
A hemimir is 32 questions, which usually (but not always) corresponds to 8 quads. This means it's much easier to write than a "full Mimir" of 60- or 64-questions, and much faster too.
Last week Vivek Tejuja released an Oscar-themed Hemimir, and then in practically the same breath released a second edition, giving us two independent Oscar sets. Both are extremely straightforward and breezy, with a typical run being completed in under 20 minutes.
Dhruv Mookerji followed this with another quickly-put-together Oscar-themed set, which he branded Nomimir since it was based more on Oscar nominations than winners, and also just to help distinguish it from Vivek's sets.
Sourjo Sengupta felt no need to disambiguate, releasing his own Oscar-themed Hemimir just yesterday.
This means we now have 4 separate Oscar-themed 32-question sets. If you'd like to start a game, mention "Dhruv's Oscar Set" or similar, just so people know which one you mean.
3. Movies Old/New by Sourjo Sengupta
To feed the endless hunger of the B612 community, several setters have started reaching into their own stores and pulling out old sets to be re-released on our forums. Dhruv started this trend with "Dhruv's Old/New" (abbreviated to DON), Vikas followed it with "Vikas's Old/New" (confusingly abbreviated to SON), and now Sourjo's brought one out too.
This one is an 8*4*2 Movie set, initially branded as a 'Hollywood set' but renamed after it became clear that there was plenty of other stuff going on aside from Hollywood.
Strictly in terms of question framing, Sourjo is probably my favourite setter in the world right now. Every question in his sets is like a challenge he undertakes, trying to squeeze in lateral clues in every last word, packing it so efficiently that occasionally you'll find yourself giving correct answers just cos your subconscious has picked up on them before your conscious mind can resolve the question. I also noticed that this set had some incredible image selections for its media questions: screengrabs that gave you just enough without giving you too much. This is an underrated quality in Mimir quizzes right now.
Here's an example (yes I know I'm ruining a question, please say pass if you see it in the quiz).
Even though this 1987 favourite is most famous for the romance between Frances "Baby" Houseman and instructor Johnny Castle, who have the time of their lives in a Catskills resort, its actual plot revolves around a botched abortion, thus making it one of the first mainstream films to depict it. Which film, denounced as corrupting and unclean by several bigots upon release, is this?
I count about 2, maybe 3 hidden clues, but there are probably more.
4. Lit Awards by Abhinav Dasgupta
If you've been part of the B612 community for a while, you know that Vivek Tejuja is getting pretty good at coaxing entire Mimir sets out of people. 60 questions powered by pure guilt.
His latest win came in the form of Abhinav Dasgupta, who has made for us a *5*4*3 lit-themed Mimir. The set is loosely themed around Literary Awards, you don't need to actually follow the awards to score some points in the quiz.
This one is a small step up in terms of difficulty from the usual Lit Set fare that Vivek has gotten us used to, so make sure you go into this with a sympathetic reader!
5. You Can't See Mir by Dhruv Mookerji
In his own words:
64-question set on something I was mad passionate about in the 90s, but don't follow quite as intently now: WWE.
An attempt has been to make the set accessible to the gen quizzer. Fans of WWE will have a slight advantage of course, but I’d like to believe that 90% is workoutable for Gen quizzers. And most wrestlers names to guess would be famous.
Also, there is a bias towards the 90s and 2000s, and less content from recent years. It's not a fandom set, so don't expect hardcore WWE funda - it's an experiment on making it friendly to all.
I wish I could tell you more about this, but I still haven't played myself! Would you like to join us for a game? Ping, please.
6. Revolutions by Pravin
Folks you read it here first, I think we have a new Zubaer in the making. I've seen Pravin quizzing in friendlies for a while now, and I can confirm that his answering (and presumably his reading) is a little off-beat relative to the majority of quizzers. This means every time he puts together a set himself, it's the good stuff.
His Ideas and Insights set was pathbreaking because it was released at a time when we hadn't yet started to appreciate the merit of a truly challenging set. His Ai-AI-Yo set covered new developments in Artificial Intelligence and was similarly refreshing. Both sets have a knack for making you forget about your own score and just start looking forward to the next question.
His latest in a 4*4*2 set in that same vein, and this time it's set around Revolutions around the world, the places they affect and the people who made them happen. It's quite a ride. I'd recommend playing with a sheet of paper at the side to note down reading material for later.
7. Lit Set 26: Jeopardy Style! by Vivek Tejuja
Did you think Vivek made only 2 sets last week? Oh, yee of little faith. He also released the latest instalment of his long-running Lit Set series. This one's unusual in both its length and its format.
It's a 6*4*2 set, and the questions are written in the style of the American quiz show Jeopardy!, meaning all 'questions' are answers, and therefore all answers must be given in the form of a question. It's a cute little quirk that has benefitted Jeopardy for decades, and now you can try it too!
8. Age of Empires: A History Set by Sander van der Heyden
Three separate themed-but-accessible sets in a single week! We're so spoiled.
Age of Empires has been a useful weapon in the arsenal of gamer-quizzers for years now, affording everyone plenty of backpocket guesses for their history quads. Trust me, the only reason so many people know what a jannissary is, is because they played the game in college.
But wait, Sander has decided to mine this treasure trove of sometimes-historically-inaccurate references for legitimate history quiz questions! It's a 5*4*3 set and it's pretty incredible in its scope. Expect a challenging quiz.
Aside: I read this quiz twice today, and realized that like Sander's Quiztory set, this one too might lend itself nicely to a 'remix'. If you've got a weekend to spare, I'd recommend reading a little about each of the answers in this quiz and seeing if you can't produce a new question for each one. Our reward would be a whole new history set (probably with the AoE component erased), and your reward would be a weekend full of interesting Wikipedia rabbit holes.
If you do decide to do this, let me know first. That way we can avoid multiple people making the same set 😅
9. General Knowledge Sets by John McKenzie
John doesn't like themed sets. He'll play them if there are no alternatives, but he far prefers a good, solid, general knowledge quiz. Something expansive and far-reaching, diverse and fresh.
You can see his preferences in his own work too. He's quietly put together three 5*4*3 general knowledge sets already, all of which you can now find on the Drive!
10. Mixed Bags #14-#17 by Huang Yi
I’ve been doing Huang an injustice, barely even noticing while he’s quickly racked up 4 new editions of his Mixed Bag series.
Impressively, Huang has put together editions #15-#17 intended to act as ‘practice sets’ for the upcoming OQL ICC.
Other posts about Friendlies can be found here.
If you’ve written a quiz set that you’d like to share with the B612 community, get in touch!