Listeners will be able to tune into 88.5 KURE on Friday and Saturday for the 49th annual Kaleidoquiz, which will last 26 hours on the radio station.  

Competitors in the quiz will battle to earn the most points in challenges that will be announced over the radio. Some challenges will include events like quiz questions, random games, scavenger hunts and photo and video challenges.

KURE announced the quiz on Facebook on Feb. 12. 

The challenges and questions designed for the competition are not typical quiz questions, Abigail Romano, director of Kaleidoquiz, said.  

“You never know what you are getting into, which is part of the fun,” Romano said. “There are always twists and the element of surprise.”

Romano and the Kaleidoquiz committee have been perfecting the quiz’s challenges to make their competitors think critically and test their knowledge.

Romano said 240 questions have been created for the contest. The competitors will not know any of the challenges or questions until the start of the quiz.

The KURE website states that some on-air questions that have been asked in the past have been, “If you have 100 cents but you’re completely broke, what do you have?” and “How much taller is the tallest man in the world than the tallest man on earth, in barleycorns?”

Below is a video uploaded by The Iowa State Daily that shows a challenge a team from the 2012 Kaleidoquiz had to complete. 

The website also featured past challenges such as “running from Curtiss to Beardshear Hall wearing as much clothing as possible” and a “song cover contest using trash as instruments.” Scavenger hunt items from other competitions have included “a blade of grass 88.5 mm long” and a “strawberry with all of the seeds picked off.”

Romano has been a competitor in the past, and this is her first year directing the competition. She has made the quiz a tradition during her time as an ISU student, and she said many people on and around campus also share this tradition.

“We get a decent amount of alumni, clubs [and] residence hall houses that do it every year,” Romano said.  

She expects about 20 teams to compete this year, with some competing off campus. KURE will crown a champion among the groups that come from other places and can only compete during the on-air challenges.

Romano hopes challenging puzzles, teamwork and fun are just some of the things people will get out of the quiz.

“I hope that they’ll form some memories,” Romano said. “There’s memories of the quiz that I’ll remember forever.”  

To find out more about Kaleidoquiz and listen to it live, visit the KURE website.