by Colin Bridge
Daily Lobo
Football and basketball weren't the only UNM teams competing over the weekend.
Thirteen teams of students tested their knowledge Saturday in a round of College Bowl, a trivia challenge that mimics games like Trivial Pursuit, "Jeopardy!" and "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?"
The bowl was coordinated by UNM Student Activities and held in the SUB.
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The Polynomials won this round and will compete in the regional competition in February at University of Colorado.
The team swept every match and won the final round 315-110.
Josh Ogren, a member of the Polynomials, said he was surprised his team did so well because there was stiff competition.
"It feels good to be representing UNM at the (regional competition) again," he said. "We had a pretty strong team this year."
This will be Ogren's third year playing in the regional competition. A team from UNM has made it to the national competition for the past four years.
Last year's UNM team placed 10th in the national competition.
The trivia game pits two teams against each other for 14-minute rounds.
The moderator asks a question on a random subject, and the first team to buzz in has three seconds to answer for 10 points. If answered correctly, the team has five seconds to answer a bonus question, worth 10 to 30 points.
The questions cover material students learn in the classroom, including history, science and literature, said Andrea Hart, an employee at the Student Activities Center.
There are also questions about pop culture and sports, Hart said.
Jason Zuffranieri, a member of the winning team, had the third-highest individual score at last year's national competition, according to the College Bowl
Web site.
Zuffranieri said he has played trivia games as long as he can remember.
Zuffranieri competed in his first College Bowl 10 years ago as an undergraduate at Arizona State University. He played at UNM for the past two years.
"I love trivia. I've always been good at it," he said. "The more you play, the more you pick up."
Hart said the competition is a good exercise in academia.
"We had a lot of variety out there," she said. "The teams seemed to have fun, and there was a lot of good competition."
