In an event that may very well rival the 2002 Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, the 38th KURE 88.5 FM Kaleidoquiz is, once again, calling “trivia teams” to arms in an effort to see which group will walk away the winner of its 26-hour trivia marathon.

Groups such as “The Blatant Sexual Innuendoes,” “The Irresponsible Lawn Gnomes” and “The Flaming Virgins” appear in the team lineups for the quiz.

As strange as the team names may seem, the contest itself is a journey into the surreal and absurd. In preparation for the tournament, some teams have been known to turn entire dorm floors into fully functioning “command centers” with significant others and even team members’ parents getting involved for the cause.

KURE’s Kaleidoquiz is a trivia marathon filled with more than 200 trivia questions, music montages, single chord “name-that-tune” music samples, team challenges and scavenger hunts which push each team to answer as many questions and find as many items, racking up as many points as it can get before the final hour.

“It’s planned spontaneity,” said Chris Crouch, KURE Kaleidoquiz director.

Crouch, senior in political science, said the teams work together to answer questions, find items and complete challenges to gain the points needed to leave the quiz as champions.

“Last year the teams had to come up with some crazy things on the scavenger hunts,” he said. Crouch gave examples of some of the items the 2001 teams had to produce: $61,287 in Monopoly money, an old centipede Atari game cartridge, a Nov. 1999 issue of Wired magazine and a receipt from a business displaying the total of $6.66.

He said the planning and execution of an event of this size is just as laborious as participating in the event itself.

“We’ll have a staff of 16 to 20 people actively working on [Kaleidoquiz] at any one time,” Crouch said.

“There will be eight to 12 people working the phone banks taking the calls from the teams, three to four people running the administrative side of the quiz,” he said. “And at least one or two DJs will be on the air at any given time playing music, reading off the questions and updating the teams on the standings.”

Preparation on the side of the participants is also taken quite seriously.

“This is the only event all year that our whole floor gets involved in,” Eric Talmage, co-captain of the Irrepressible Lawn Gnomes, said. Talmage, a senior in electrical engineering, said planning for the Lawn Gnomes began more than three weeks ago. Though most teams refuse to discuss specific strategies, Talmage said the Lawn Gnomes are planning to bring the title back to Harwood House.

Living directly below the Lawn Gnomes is the Barker house.

Named the “Batter Dipped Crow Crispy Toes on Sticks” this year, Barker House has enjoyed a friendly rivalry with Harwood House through the years.

“We trade spots back and forth over the years, but both houses usually end up finishing in the top three,” said Dan Burke, Barker captain.

Burke, junior in computer engineering, said the rivalry extends past the contest at times.

“Both floors compete in a bi-annual Barker/Harwood football game,” he said.

In another friendly contest rivalry, the Fairchild house has spawned two teams in recent years. An elder faction, once the nucleus of the Fairchild house, has since left the dorm for greener pastures at Hawthorn Court. A rookie group is left in its stead, trying to fill the void left in Fairchild.

The Flaming Virgins’ name doesn’t represent its experienced talent pool.

The Virgins, led by Jeremy Natoli, senior in English, said his Hawthorn team is a three-year veteran to the Kaleidoquiz.

“The rivalry has kind of grown over the years, but it’s good natured fun and you always learn something,” Natoli said. “There’s at least one question or challenge that will always stick out in your mind.”

Among some of Natoli’s memories that spring to mind, he said he remembers having to drive down to Prairie Meadows to get a ticket stub, and also having to go into Pleasure Palace in Ames and purchase a piece of sexual enhancement equipment from the shop.

The Blatant Sexual Innuendoes, the rookie Fairchild squad, realizes it has its work cut out for the team.

“As far as the former Fairchild floor goes, they have the experience on their side and will probably win,” said Dan Nguyen, the Innuendoes captain. “But no one knows how [the contest] will turn out.”

Nguyen, a senior in computer engineering and Daily columnist, said there is a lot of bonding on the floor and the quiz is always a high point of the year.

“There has been a long tradition of involvement over the years,” he said. “It’s sort of a nerdy pursuit, but it is an incredible experience.”