Viva Las Trivia!

The basement of Monte and Tina Raske's home in Vernon Center is ready for a 50-hour trivia contest sponsored by St. Cloud State University radio station KVSC, complete wih five computers, four of them Internet ready.  Their team, 'Stewart Smalley's Dungeon,' started the marathon at 5 p.m. Friday.

By Brian Ojanpa,
Mankato Free Press Staff Writer

There are trivia players and then there are Monte and Tina Raske.

When it comes to combining the countryside and beyond for trivia contest answer, the Vernon Center couple is nothing if not obsessed.  "once we called West Point at 2 a.m.  We've called Germany too," Tina said.

At 5 p.m. Friday, the Raskes began playing a 50 hour trivia marathon conducted annually by St. Cloud State University's radio station, KVSC (88.1 FM).  Monte, who has St. Cloud ties, has been competing for more than a dozen years.  His wife is newer to the game, but no less rabid.  "We'll be going through a lot of caffeine, a lot of Mountain Dew and Pepsi". Tina said of their round-the-clock team effort that will involve a revolving roster of friends and relatives.

The contest themed "Viva Las Trivia" this year, works this way: 70 teams have signed up and will try to answer eight to 10 questions an hour.  The radio station broadcasts the questions--- Monte rigged up a funky antenna to pull in the signal----and players have 10 minutes to phone in their answers to each question.

Because contestants are allowed to employ any research and source material they can come up with, the questions are far more arcane than your typical living room board game trivia. 

Tina gives an example: One year players were asked to give the name of the statuary bucking bronco outside the Rodeo Hall of Fame in Springfield, Colorado.  

The Raske team made some frantic phone calls, finally connecting with an employee of a Holiday Inn across the street from the Hall.  The employee ran across the road, read the statues inscription and reported back in time for the Raskes to answer.

What was the horse's name?  Tine doesn't recall and doesn't care, because it's all about the thrill of the hunt----for answers.

The Raskes' research "ammo" on hand includes 200 books checked out from the Blue Earth County Library, six sets of encyclopedias and assorted fact books on topics ranging from TV to weather to old radio shows.

And do they Google"  Do they ever.   They are equipped to make full use of this poplar internet search engine.  This week they brought in four computers, all hooked up to high speed Internet, plus another computer to quick search CD-Rom's.

And if they win?