Book smarts win Elgin trivia bee

Who knew trivia could be this dramatic?

It took four sudden-death questions to decide the winner of the 13th annual Literacy Connection Trivia Bee on Saturday at the Grand Victoria Casino in Elgin.

At the end of the third and final round of questions, after more than two hours of brainteasers that covered everything from Baltic history to the moon landing, two teams were tied for first place: the Gail Borden Public Library and the Courier News.

The first sudden-death question asked the teams to decipher the following letters and numbers, written on a sign on a building outside Wrigley Field: AC0164101.

No one got it. (Answer: The AC stands for anno catuli, or year of the Cubs; 01, 64 and 101 represent the years since the Cubs won their division, their league and the pennant.)

Next question: What is the French or Italian abbreviation designating wine produced in a defined region?

No luck there, either. (Answer: AOC or AC in French, DOC or DC in Italian.)

Question three: Who produced the 1935 Nazi propaganda film "Triumph of the Will?" (Answer: Leni Riefenstahl.)

Both teams put up their arms to signal victory - but they both had the right answer and it would take at least one more question to decide the contest.

Question four asked what Sequoyah was best remembered for. The answer: He developed a syllabary, or symbolic writing system, for the Cherokee language.

This time, only one team got it right: the three librarians from Gail Borden.

It was a dramatic finish for a team that hadn't won since 2002 and finished the first round of questions in 14th place out of 19 teams.

"It's great, considering the way we started near the bottom," said Andy Hollister of the Gail Borden team. "I was - in a state of stunned silence."

The three members of the winning team went home with $50 gift cards, but the Literacy Connection, which runs literacy programs for area adults, expected to take home about $15,000 from the event, the organization's major annual fundraiser.

"Considering the current economic times, we think it's really good," said Executive Director Karen Oswald.

The Elgin-based Literacy Connection recently started a financial literacy program and has expanded its work in the Carpentersville area. To learn more, visit elginliteracy.org.