ThinkFast Game Show
Students lined up in front of Grainger Auditorium on Saturday night for Exeter’s annual ThinkFast Interactive Game Show, a trivia competition which challenged participants to answer obscure questions on a range of topics from retro pop culture to US History. Teams of students competed to earn the most points, which would guarantee them a spot in the final show-down. Participants whose teams did not earn the most points could vie for spots in the finals by showcasing talents like singing, dancing and showmanship. Competition was tough, because the winner of the finals earned a two-hundred dollar cash prize.
The ThinkFast Interactive Game Show is part of a larger tour by TjohnE Productions. Since its conception in 1995, the game show has toured the nation and won multiple prizes for its innovative interactive technology. The show has been enjoyed at corporate parties, hospitality events, black-tie fundraisers, the Armed Forces Entertainment and some of the country’s most renowned college campuses, including Columbia, MIT and Princeton.
The bulk of the Think Fast Interactive Game Show featured trivia questions in pop culture where announcer Rob Pedini added his own touch of comedy for the audience. With a wireless remote, participants answered the questions from their seats, and faster answers yielded higher scores. At the end of each question, a board displayed team scores so groups knew how they stacked up.
A variety of challenges accompanied the trivia. The show featured an Extra Sensory Perception Question (ESP), where the host asked a survey question, and afterwards, each team guessed how many people voted for a specific answer; ThinkFast-ER questions, where groups had to answer five questions in less than twenty seconds; and talent contests, where contestants volunteered to compete in various “talents” such as singing, dancing, salesmanship and acting. The winners of each of the four talents competed on-stage in a semi-final round to determine the wild card in the finals who would go up against representatives from the top three groups in trivia.
Upper John Woodward found the show interesting despite having anticipated the questions to be more based on general knowledge. “Though I didn’t expect for there to be as many questions on pop culture, it was a nice event to both hang out with friends and test our trivia skills,” Woodward said.
Senior Majestic Terhune said that the most memorable part of her night was winning the dance talent contest. During this contest, the DJ played popular dance songs such as “Gangnam Style” and“Watch Me.” “I knew that I wouldn’t win just by trying to dance the best, so my strategy involved a lot of flailing,” she said. “I accidentally hit myself in the face a few times and quickly became lightheaded. After we stopped dancing, I looked to the back of Grainger and saw Mr. Vorkink shaking with laughter.” However, Terhune said she cared more for the trivia part of the game show than the talent contest and was surprised she had won one of the talent contests. “I will admit that I’m proud to be featured on a few Snapchat stories, however,” she said.
Upper Sagar Rao won the singing contest after he went up against lower Gabby Brown. They were each given 30 seconds to sing a song of their choice. After being given 20 seconds to think, Rao decided to sing a song in a foreign language that surprised everyone in the crowd. His opponent, Brown, sang “Nice Guys,” an original soundtrack by YouTuber NigaHiga. Rao’s song won over the audience, and so they voted Rao’s performance as better than Brown’s. “I thought it was really fun,” Rao said. “I didn’t really care about the cash prize—I just wanted to win.”
Brown described the singing experience as frightening but entertaining. “It was so scary singing in front of people,” she said. “To be honest, I have no idea why I volunteered, but I’m glad I did it because it was a silly and fun experience.”
Upper Nick Song was a part of the team that won the entire competition. As a co-head of Quiz Bowl, Song was drawn to the competition because of its trivia aspect. He expressed his excitement at receiving the prize upon winning. “I think getting handed the $200 in cash was probably the most memorable part. That doesn’t happen nearly enough to me,” he said. Song also expressed his appreciation for his team, consisting of uppers Keyu Cao and Traxler Scott, as well as lower Dylan Yin. They split the $200 evenly among the four of them. Song joked about using his team’s win to prove his parents wrong. “My parents have always told me doing Quiz Bowl wouldn’t take me anywhere in life, but here I am $50 richer. Life’s funny like that,” Song said.