CIC Discover India 2018 - The Rules of the game
It is almost here. We are just over 24 hours from the fourth annual Discover India presented by Vimana. Before we get to the rules and all that, let me remind everyone about the event.
Date and Time: Sunday, 2 pm at Cambrian Library (please remember to set your clocks for Daylight Savings tomorrow)
Venue: Cambrian Park Library, 1780 Hillsdale Ave, San Jose, CA
Duration: 3 to 3.5 hours based on how quickly we go through the rounds.
Entry Fee: $5 per team. Can be paid in cash at the venue or as a check to Cambrian Indian Community (cash preferred)
Snacks: There will be small snacks (and chai) for purchase. Please bring change.
FAQs on Rules and Logistics:
What time should I be there?
You need to be there at 1.45 pm. We will start getting people split into teams and seated immediately. If you arrive after 1.45, it is likely you will end up in whatever team with openings. The plan is to START the event at 2 pm. The later we start, the fewer the rounds we can run.
I signed up as an individual (or as part of a partial team). Who will be my teammates?
We will sort all of you into teams at 1.45pm tomorrow. So please arrive on time. While it won’t be truly random, I am thinking of keeping things interesting by doing an on-the-spot pairing exercise.
Will there be a break during the event?
Yes, we will take a 15-minute break around 3.30 or so. There will be chai and some small snacks for purchase. Please bring change.
Can I bring my kids?
There is limited space at the library community room, specifically for kids to run around. If your kids can bring a book or activity to do and hang out among adults, it will be perfectly fine.
So about those questions…..
How many rounds will we have?
There will be 6-8 rounds of movies based trivia depending on how fast we roll. We will finish no later than 5:30 pm. Earlier if possible.
Will all questions be focused on Bollywood movies?
No. The questions are designed to cover the broader Indian spectrum. That being said, some rounds are more Bollywood centric than others. Three of the rounds will give teams a chance to pick from a selection of Hindi, Tamil or Telugu movies. So you can play to strengths in those rounds.
Should I be a movie buff to do well? Will the questions be from the black and white era?
You don’t need to be a movie buff but it will help if are someone who occasionally watches (or used to watch) Hindi/Tamil/Telugu movies. If I were to plot a Bell curve, the healthy center of the distribution will be movies from 1985-2005 which coincides with the time many of us used to watch a lot of movies.
Will the questions be hard?
For folks who have attended earlier edition of Discover India, this year will be the easiest by every metric. My goal with this event is to ensure that over 85% of questions are answered by participants. This year will be no different. I expect the hit rate to be higher than 90% this time around.
Are there only direct question type rounds?
No. There will be dumb charades and Pictionary in addition to audio and visual rounds. The event is designed to keep you on your toes.
Should I prepare?
Not sure how you can prepare. If you want to look at my earlier responses and do some prep, you can but it will not make a huge difference one way or the other.
Are there prizes?
In the first year, I offered gift card prizes. There was overwhelming feedback that participants preferred no prizes. So keeping with that, we will not have prizes but you do get valuable bragging rights until next year's event which is a bigger deal than any prize I can give.
Parting thoughts?
Be prepared to meet new people, hang out with old friends and have a lot of fun in a very intimate setting. It gets crazy in a good way. Discover India is one of our smallest events designed to have people crammed into a room and feed off each other’s energies.