“This film from Wes Anderson features big names such as Greta Gerwig, Jeff Goldblum and Bill Murray,” Sydney Gray ‘26 posited at the Film Society’s first meeting of the year, which featured a game of Jeopardy on Sept. 11.
The event provided a space for students to learn about documentary and film fun facts, and each category focused on films from specific eras, ranging from the early 20th century to present day. The atmosphere was buzzing as the executive board split everyone into three teams of nine.
Mercer's Film Society "has expanded so much since last year. It was fun to interact with new people and geek out a little bit,” Marques Moscott ‘28 said.
Early on, there was pushback against the rules as players didn’t enjoy having to buzz in to answer a question. To remedy this friction, the exec board opted to do rounds instead. Each question had multiple choice answers the players could choose from. If a team member answered the question incorrectly or didn’t phrase their answer in the classic Jeopardy format, “What is,” other teams had the opportunity to steal the points.
“People were a lot more passionate than I thought they were going to be,” Cayden Owenby ‘29 said. Students cheered as the losing team breached 1000 points.
Members of the winning team included most of the executive board, concluding the festivities.
“Before they switched their band’s name to Maroon 5 in 2001, they were originally named what?” Malajah Grice ‘27 asked at QuadWorks’ version of Jeopardy the next night, on Sept. 12. The answer? Kara Flowers.
Categories ranged from food to pop culture to movies, and turnout was so successful that QuadWorks members had to rethink the game rules due to an inadequate amount of buzzers compared to the abundance of attendees. In place of the buzzer system, QuadWorks members asked people to split into six teams. The winning group would receive a goodie bag.
Hands shot up around the room as people attempted to steal points from other teams. Since there were so many players, the Quadworks staff seemed to give players who hadn’t gotten the chance to steal last round the opportunity to guess the answer.
“If you wanted to be strategic about it, you really couldn’t,” Noxe Caseria ‘26 said.
Incorrect answers resulted in teams losing points. This caused an uproar as team scores were kept secret until the end of the game. Many students left before the double Jeopardy even began.
“I’m a big fan of trivia and I learned that the Titanic sank in 1912,” Shivani Trivedi ‘26 said. “I don’t think I will forget that.”
And despite the controversial ruling to keep scores secret, Caseria enjoyed the event. “It’s fun to meet new people. Our team didn’t win but at least we bonded together,” Caseria said.
