Sacrificing sleep, food and even their vehicles for their team,

students competed for the chance to win bragging rights as

champions of Kaleidoquiz, or KQ 2003, on Friday and Saturday.

KURE, 88.5 FM, held its annual Kaleidoquiz, beginning at 4 p.m.

Friday and running until 6 p.m. Saturday. The 26-hour event tests

teams on random trivia knowledge and includes a scavenger hunt

requiring members to gather items from throughout Iowa.

Two teams in particular have a long and vested interest in the

outcome of the competition.

Residents of Barker and Harwood Houses in Lyon Hall admitted to

an age-old rivalry that extends beyond Kaleidoquiz.

“You come in freshman year to learn Barker is the enemy,” said

Tom Stroman, first-time team member from Harwood House and senior

in physics.

Barker set up their team headquarters in the den. The

headquarters consisted of a computer lab with more than 10

computers and a library consisting of more than 150 books checked

out from Parks Library, said Jana Maxwell, team librarian and

junior in English.

Before the event began, members discussed strategy.

The Harwood team’s headquarters included wall-to-wall computers

and team members who worked elbow-to-elbow on answers for the

questions. Three circuits ran into the computer room to prevent

blown fuses. They also had a back-up dial-up Internet connection in

case the network went down on campus.

Mark Truckenbrod, team captain and sophomore in electrical

engineering, said the team did not have a library because most

people found their information over the Internet.

Mark Fiddelke, three-year veteran of Barker’s team and senior in

marketing, said his team used the Internet as well.

“Obscure search engines work because they bring up all sorts of

odd information,” he said.

The Barker team remained optimistic through two blown fuses,

even though all of their computers had to be rebooted. Barker and

Harwood team members were sent to eat in shifts. Some opted to not

eat at all.

The mental strain of the event was evidenced by the large

consumption of caffeinated beverages and Papa John’s pizza.

One of the questions asked how many bits are in a byte.

“Anyone geeky enough to donate 26 hours to this will know how

many bits are in a byte,” said Zachary Schmid, senior in electrical

engineering.

After the competition began, teams received their scavenger hunt

list and their mega-traveling question, which required traveling to

the Capitol in Des Moines to take a picture. Each group received

their question at 5 p.m. and needed to have the picture taken by

5:30 p.m. Teams were also involved in other activities, such as a

video game contest, a music montage and an arts and crafts

competition.

The 19-hour scavenger hunt included items from towns across

Iowa, including Keokuk, Sioux City, LeMars and Sioux Center.

Lisa Ungerer, junior in biology, drove her car to Sioux City,

LeMars and Sioux Center for the Barker team. The drive was supposed

to take six hours. However, she said it ended up taking eight hours

because she hit a deer that took out her car’s headlights.

The Barker and Harwood teams both found all items on the

scavenger hunt list except for one. Both teams missed 600 points

for not being able to find a picture of people playing naked soccer

at Luther College in Decorah.

The wee hours of the morning were the hardest on both teams.

Barker said from 4 to 8 a.m. they were short on people.

Harwood also had difficulty. They had “more computers than

man-power from 4 to 6 a.m.,” Stroman said.

Dan Burke, head of the Barker team and senior in computer

engineering, said there were several team members who did not sleep

at all that night.

The Harwood team placed second in the competition. The Barker

team did not place in the top three. Final results will be posted

on the KURE Web site, www.kure885.org, later on this week.