I keep a list of saved eBay purchases (mostly as a way of buying trumpet mouthpieces cheaply) and one of them is for "Rochester Americans jersey." Amerks jerseys are over $200 a pop at the team store, so it's important to snatch one up for the boys when you can get one for $20. I snagged one last week and it arrived this afternoon.
"Who are you going to give it to?" J asked. "Is it a good size for one of them in particular?"
"I know what I'll do! I'll make a quiz tournament based on their school, and whoever wins can win the jersey."
In J's defense, she warned me off. She then warned me off again when James hid in his room upon hearing the news in fear that "he would be a failure" if he didn't end up winning the jersey.
"No," I reassured him, "it's just going to be a fun way to figure out who gets to unwrap one extra Christmas present!"
It was a modified version of Jeopardy. For one thing, it wasn't strictly questions for answers. There was only one "round" before Final Jeopardy, and everyone had a clue (age and grade appropriate) for each category.
Here was our board:
- LANGUAGE
200 Felix: A person, place, thing, or idea
Owen: Takes the place of a noun
James: Expresses a complete thought, starts with a capital letter, ends with a punctuation mark
400 Felix: A special person, place, thing, or idea, that always starts with a capital letter
Owen: A, an, the
James: Proposition, converse, inverse, and this
600 Felix: Does an action
Owen: The exact words a person says are enclosed in these marks
James: The meaning of a pyramid made of three dots in logical notation
800 Felix: Our home address
Owen: The four types of sentences
James: The meaning of P, right facing arrow, Q in logical notation
1000 Felix: Dad's phone number
Owen: In direct quotation that starts a sentence, periods are replaced by these marks
James: And, but, and or
- LATIN/SIGHT WORDS
200 Felix: "the"
Owen: amo
James: How the future perfect is formed
400 Felix: "and"
Owen: laudo
James: res
600 Felix: "but"
Owen: pax
James: clamo
800 Felix: "cape"
Owen: war (in Latin)
James: translation of "in umbra, igitur, pugnabimus"
1000 Felix: "bare"
Owen: ablative singular ending, 2nd declension masculine
James: city (in Latin)
- SCIENCE
200 Felix: Blood type (warm or cold) of cats
Owen: Atoms are made up of protons, electrons, and this particle
James: The eight planets of our solar system in order
400 Felix: A mammal that lives in the ocean
Owen: Elements are arranged on this type of chart
James: Spiral and elliptical are types of these
600 Felix: A carnivore eats this type of food
Owen: A reason why you wouldn't want to keep uranium in your bedroom
James: The hottest planet in the solar system
800 Felix: Amphibians live in what type of environment?
Owen: These non-reactive gases aren't royal, but they are in the upper right hand corner of the periodic table
James: Aquarius, Capricorn, and Sagittarius are all members of this group of constellations
1000 Felix: Vertebrates have this type of bone
Owen: (Daily Double) Iron turns into rust by this process
James: More meteorites strike Mars than Earth because Mars lacks this feature
- HISTORY
200 Felix: This pharaoh was discovered intact by Howard Carter
Owen: This president saved the Union during the American Civil War
James: Peter the Great modernized this cold country in his reign from 1613-1725
400 Felix: This African folk hero was a spider
Owen: Under Otto von Bismarck Prussia, parts of Austria, and Alsace-Lorraine became this new country
James: English protestants ruled Catholics in this unwilling neighboring country...
600 Felix: This Egyptian god was tricked into a coffin that he thought was a box
Owen: This ailing empire was called "The Sick Man of Europe"
James: The time of Locke, Leibnitz, and Descartes was known as the Age of this
800 Felix: This biblical patriarch had a baby when he was 100 years old...
Owen: Japan was opened up to the West when this showed up in its harbor...
James: The shining Louis XIV of France was known as this king
1000 Felix: (Daily Double) This Egyptian woman wore a false beard and pretended to be a man in her reign as pharaoh
Owen: By this type of transportation thousands of people moved to California and Oregon in the nineteenth century
James: (Daily Double) The names of all fifty states and their capitals
- MATH
200 Felix: Half of thirty
Owen: 306-202
James: The perimeter in millimeters of a square that has a side measuring 2.3 centimeters
400 Felix: 12-7
Owen: The number of days in September
James: The meaning of the Roman numeral XLV
600 Felix: 20 plus 21
Owen: 6 times 8
James: Products are the answers to these sorts of problems
800 Felix: The hand tells the hour on an analog clock
Owen: The area of a square whose sides measure 4 inches
James: A dividend has this function in a division sentence
1000 Felix: 12 split into 3 equal parts
Owen: 2 squared plus 2 cubed
James: The value of 8w if 8w is equal to 64
- SPELLING
200 Felix: hat
Owen: adventure
James: scientist
400 Felix: jump
Owen: sweater
James: slightest
600 Felix: clap
Owen: bought
James: counselor
800 Felix: ball
Owen: antelope
James: chocolate
1000 Felix: Quincy
Owen: chestnut
James: serious
The game was close enough by the time that we came to the end that everyone was still in play for the Final Jeopardy clue, which was:
FINAL JEOPARDY: What is an adverb?
The kids had a great time playing and were all deeply supportive of Felix, who ended up winning the jersey.
Just kidding, of course. James was in tears at the beginning of the game after missing his first question, and Owen went and hid in his room after he realized that he wasn't going to be able to win with his Final Jeopardy answer (which, to his credit, he got correct...) and both of them told me that this was a terrible idea and that we should never, ever do it again.
"Why would you do this to us?" they asked, sobbing into their dinner.
"Because I was trying to do something nice for my kids?"
"I think it was nice!" said Felix, dancing in his new jersey
"PROMISE us that we will never do this again!"
I promise.
