This isn’t meant to be an exhaustive list, as always detectives should use their best judgement when pursuing the unpredictable MNPigPen.
- The contest runs from 10PM to 6AM Eastern Time.
- The winning team is the one that accumulates the most points throughout the night.
- The prize for winning the contest is eternal bragging rights, sainthood, plus the huge honor of continuing a 40+ year tradition and running the next contest
- Points are earned in a number of different ways:
- Continuously through the night are the so-called “On Air” questions...we will ask trivia questions and then play a song. You have the length of the song to answer the question, for 1 point, and identify the song title and the artist for another point.
- The song is usually, though not always, a hint to the answer of the trivia question. And, of course, vice-versa!
- You can submit answers to your designated handler via IM, which has been/will be communicated to each agent. If you have any problems contacting your handler, you may request assistance from any of the addresses listed on the Contact HQ page of the trivia website. Phone numbers are available, if you must. Sigh. You can submit as many guesses as necessary until you get it right or the question closes. If you are nice, charming or funny, you may get a clue... if not, well, you won’t. Once the song ends, that’s it. We’ll repeat the question; give the answer, song and artist and smartly move on to the next one.
- Every hour there is a “bonus question” which is usually multi-part in nature, often 50 or more answers required. Boni will be made available on the Field Assignments page of the trivia website each hour on the hour. They are worth a maximum of 15 points. Answers should be submitted through the website and may be edited as many times as you wish until the bonus is due. You will be asked to indicate if you use the Internet to find your answers; if yes, the maximum value of the bonus will be reduced to 10 points. Use of the Internet for all other aspects of the contest is assumed.
- Every four hours, there is a “Super Bonus” question, even bigger and worth more points than mere, mortal hourly boni. Like regular boni, super boni can be obtained and submitted via the Field Assignments page of the trivia website and are worth 30 points each.
- Throughout the night there is one special bonus called the “Ultra Bonus,” in which once an hour a series of three clues are revealed, all related to each other and to the subsequent clues in some manner that you must determine. The earlier you identify the unifying theme, the more points you receive, with a maximum of 10, and decreasing by 1 point per hour.
- Finally, there is an “Action Bonus,” in which you will be asked to act out an answer to a creative challenge that we will announce at the beginning of hour 4. Our totally subjective scoring system does allow for partial credit. Be prepared to record your response, upload it to the Internet and provide us a link.