Marathon Rounds

And it is VITAL that you tell them at the start whether the marks for the marathon count towards the total, or towards a separate prize, or not at all and it's just for fun. Two hours worrying over a very fiendish marathon round, only to find out it's 'just for fun' can cause some angry growling from the crowd...

Here are some examples - ranging from the very straightforward compiling of lists to the more cryptic puzzles:

Simple Lists

• Name all the Bond Movies (Actors, Villains, Cars etc etc)
• Name all the countries in Africa (55 if you include Seychelles, Cape Verde and St Helena!)
• Name all the movies with the word Paris in the title (actually don't, Internet Movie Database lists 572!)
• Name all the Olympic field (or track or indoor or winter) events
• Name the length, number of junctions, start and end of each UK motorway (or name the motorway from that same information)

  These are not too inspiring, but all you need is a good reference book (and this season's absolute best-seller is Schott's Original Miscellany), blank sheets of paper and a list of answers. Expect most teams to score highly, these are just a time-filler.

Pictorial Marathons

• Identify the Countries from basic outlines
• Identify the companies from their logos, slogans
• Identify the car maker from the picture of the model
  - old magazines are great for this)

  More effort is involved as you'll need to find the images or clues and produce copies. This can be very much harder - outlines of islands, counties or countries are fantastically hard, shapes of rivers all but impossible. Perhaps a strategically located town or city as a clue might make it less likely to offend...

Cryptic Marathons

• Initials: HoND, MitIM, TTM (Hunchback of Notre Dame, Man in the Iron Mask, The Three Musketeers - it helps if you reveal the theme before you start!)
• Numbers: 88 K on a GP (Keys on a Grand Piano), 52 CiP (cards in pack), 50 sotu (States of the Union)
• Odd clues to birds, countries, UK towns: dockside equipment (crane), porcelain (China) etc

  These can take quite a considerable amount of time and effort to set up, but will usually keep the crowd quiet for hours. Typically 50 questions, some nice and easy, some impossibly obscure - the quizmaster has to maintain an image of wisdom and superiority after all...