by PATRICK LEJTENYI

On a recent weeknight in a large empty room in the bowels of McGill's Shatner Building, about 15 very clever young students were answering some very difficult questions. Sitting around a long table, fingers poised above a buzzer, munching on chips, cookies and cheesies, they are asked and attempt to answer questions on antiquity, mythology, literature, history, sports, politics, movies and science. Some are absurdly hard, others less so, and all are important.

This is the McGill Trivia Club, an organization dedicated to the most worthy pastime of answering difficult questions based on factoids from a wide range of categories. Founded in January 2003 by undergrads Andrew Segal and Jonathan Klein, it now boasts about 50 paying members who meet regularly to play, practice and compete.

And compete they do. This weekend, Segal, Klein and two others will be travelling to New Orleans to compete in the National Academic Quiz Tournament (NAQT)'s Intercollegiate Tournament Championship at New Orleans' Tulane University. They face 31 other teams in Division II (undergrads - Division I is limited to students with a degree and/or those who've participated in previous Div. II tournaments), playing over a dozen games over two days. The only other Canadian team in Division II is from the University of Ottawa. The rest are American.

Up against the best

Because the NAQT is an American organization, some of the questions have a distinct American flavour. This puts Canadians at a slight disadvantage, says Segal, 20, but "they throw in a Canadian question here and there."

The competition will be stiff. The reigning powerhouses, he says, are Berkeley, University of Michigan and the University of Chicago. "These schools have well-established teams," he says. "They do recruiting, placing new members in junior teams, and cycle them through. They're like factories."

Typically, Canadians are more low-key about their trivia competitiveness. "The way we do it is much less hardcore than in the U.S.," he says. "They spend a lot of time practicing, but we're more laid back and relaxed." That, of course, will probably reflect their ultimate finishing spot. "It'll be next to impossible to win," he confides. "I'm hoping to finish in the top half of the standings."

Still, the McGill club - most of them aged between 19 and 21 - know their trivia (at least better than this reporter, who was kindly invited to participate but, aside from correctly answering a few questions about H.P. Lovecraft and some geography, thoroughly embarrassed himself). The questions are designed to be tough but unambiguous, with only one possible answer. The NAQT has a list of editors who write questions according to their specific field of expertise. Among them is Jeopardy! millionaire and media star Ken Jennings, who edits the literature and mythology questions (when Jennings' name is mentioned, however, some club members groan - "He's so boring," says one).

Montreal's place

Montreal has its own place in trivia lore. The most famous of all trivia games, Trivial Pursuit, was created by two bored Montreal journalists - Canadian Press sports editor Scott Abbott and Gazette photo editor Chris Haney - who were later joined by Haney's brother John and lawyer Ed Werner, in the early 1980s. It's since gone through numerous editions and variations, and remains one of the most popular board games ever created, making its creators very rich in the process.

Segal, who admits he would love to appear on Jeopardy!, says Montreal is actually a good city in which to be a trivia buff. Bars like McKibbin's, Brutopia and Quartier Latin host trivia nights, which are "good ways to spend an hour or so a week. But I am a bit disappointed that there's no NTN Trivia [the popular TV-based bar game, which asks a question and provides multiple-choice answers and awards points based on speed of correct answer]. Trivia purists don't like it though. They don't like pop culture questions, they like questions that are more difficult. They don't like questions where you can just guess and probably be right."

There is some snobbishness associated with trivia purists, as with any field that requires intelligence. But Segal, a generally down-to-earth person who claims he doesn't know his IQ, says, "You have to be smart to be good at trivia, but you don't have to be good at trivia to be smart. Some of the most intelligent people I know aren't good at it. You just have to have the right aptitude and a willingness to learn."

For more information on the NAQT, and to try your trivia expertise, visit www.naqt.com.