Short Stories
Soul Food
Biographies and Autobiographies
Get Silly!
Great Moments in Peaceful Protest
Whoops!
Toys and Fads
100

This story by O Henry tells the story of a man who pawned his watch to buy decorative combs for his wife and her beautiful hair, only to find that she cut off and sold her hair to buy him a chain for his watch. 

What is Gift of the Magi?

100

To make this dessert, take the state fruit of Georgia and cover it with a light cake batter. Bake and serve with ice cream. 

What is peach cobbler?

100

Long Walk to Freedom is the autobiography of this South African leader and the first Black man to be that country's president. 

Who is Nelson Mandella?

100

In this Pacific Northwest city, the fingerprint unit of their police force had to take a class on rolling chairs, after 3 people filed compensation claims upon falling off them. 

What is Seattle?

100

in 1989, the wall that separated the East and West of this city was torn down after months of protest.  To some, it was the perfect symbol of the "Iron Curtain" that separated the democratic western countries and the communist countries of Eastern Europe throughout the Cold War. 

What is Berlin?

100

The most tragic part about the sinking of this unsinkable ship in 1912 was that most of the deaths occurred because there weren’t enough lifeboats onboard. The ship only had 20 lifeboats, which even filled to capacity could have only saved about half the passengers. 

What is the Titanic?


The cut the number of lifeboats to improve the view. 

100

The first head put on this pocket-sized candy dispenser was a witch in 1957.  Two years later, Popeye the Sailor Man was the first licensed character to have this chalky goodness shoot out of his neck hole. 

What is PEZ?

200

Ba boom. Ba boom. In this short story by Edgar Allan Poe, the unnamed narrator kills the old man he lives with and buries him under the floorboards, only to be driven mad by what he's certain is the man's heartbeat. 

What is the Tell Tale Heart?

200

This stew is the official dish of Louisiana, made with shellfish stock, thickeners such as filé powder and Vegetables such as bell peppers and celery. 

What is Gumbo?

200

The biography of this founding father, written by Ron Chernow, was the loose basis for a broadway musical of the same name. 

Who is Alexander Hamilton?

200

Featured on their coat of arms since the 12th century, this is the national animal of Scotland. 

What is the unicorn?

200

On March 25, 1969, 5 days after their wedding, this Beatle and his wife staged a bed-in in protest of the Vietnam War. A couple months later, they held a second bed-in where they recorded the song "Give Peace a Chance."

Who is John Lennon?

200

Locally, in 2019, a $1.1 million one of these in South Portland was declared a total loss after it ran into some local utility wires during a training exercise.  

What is a ladder fire truck?

200

At least as accurate as an actual fortune teller, this oversize billiards ball is filled with dark liquid and a floating die that answers questions. Do you know someone who has this toy, "It is decidedly so."

What is a Magic 8 Ball?

300

This Hannibal Missiouri native's short story, the Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, is about a charming drifter named Jom Smiley who will bet on anything, and the frog who he trained to be the best. You know many of his classic works of literature, , but this was the first to bring him to prominence. 

Who is Mark Twain?

300

This quick bread is a southern staple, which can be fluffy or dense (depending on your grandma's recipe), served with either a savory gravy or a sweet jelly. If you order this in England, you'd get a cookie. 

What are biscuits?

300

The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Man is a biography/autobiography of this actor and philanthropist, Star of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and head of a salad dressing empire that gave all its proceeds to charity, he taped conversations about his life which is daughters have turned into a book. 

Who is Paul Newman?

300

The name of this profession is the only one that contains 3 sets of consecutive double letters

What is a bookkeeper?

300

in 1930, to avoid paying the British tax on salt, this man decided to walk 240 miles over 24 days to get the Arabian Sea to get his own salt.  It did not work immediately, but eventually, this lead to India's independence. 

Who is Mohandas Ghandi?

300

On November 17, 1968, during a football game between the Oakland Raiders and the NY Jets. A staunch rivalry and the Jets were up by a healthy margin. Well, the geniuses at NBC decided to cut away to a filmed version of this book by Johanna Spyri. how were they supposed to know Oakland would score 2 touchtowns and win in the last minute?

What is Heidi?

300

Taking these insects and encasing them in glass and sand was thought to show us how they acted under the surface. Send away $1.98 and "Watch them dig tunnels! See them build rooms! Marvel as they erect bridges and move mountains before your very eyes! "

What are ants?

400

In his book, Different Seasons, this Mainah wrote 4 short stories. Three of those have become major motion pictures. Most prominently, Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption (called The Shawshank Redemption, starring Morgan Freeman) about an innocent man who breaks out of prison. 

Who is Stephen King?

400

The name of this dish is misleading, as it contains no poultry. instead you batter and fry your flank in the same manner that KFC or Popeye's might do. 

What is chicken fried steak?

400

Kitchen Confidential is the autobiography is this American chef, author and travel documentarian. 

Who is Anthony Bourdain?

400

In 1907, this breakfast cereal company that started in Battle Creek, Michigan had a  campaign that offered free cereal to any woman who would wink at her grocer. 

What is Kellogg's?

400

In 1960 in Greensboro, NC, Ezell Blair Jr., David Richmond, Franklin McCain and Joseph McNeil sat down at counter the local lunch counter of this Five and Dime store and refused to leave, to protest racial inequality in the south, as well a specific event where a young man named Emmett Till was murdered after allegedly whistling at a white woman in a Mississippi store of the same name. 

What is Woolworth's?

400

If you're gonna mess up, do it big. NASA launched a probe to check explore this place in December 1998. 9 months later, at a loss of $300 million, they lost all contact with it. Turns out, the ground team was using imperial units of measurement while the probe was calibrated for metric units. Whoops!

What is Mars?

400

This game was created in 1965 to hone your hand-eye coordination (as well as trigger your anxiety), by taking a metal tweezers and digging around a character named Cavity Sam to remove things like Butterflies in the stomach and his funny bone.  Bzzt!

What is Operation?

500

School teacher Ichabod Crane and his fellow residents of a small New York town are stalked and frightened by the local bully, or a headless horseman, in this story by Washington Irving. 

What is the Legend of Sleepy Hollow?

500

This  corn porridge is made by boiling ground corn and then adding milk, salt, water and butter. In the north, its often sweetened and used as a breakfast treat, but in the south, they're usually savory, served with cheese and shrimp. 

What are grits?

500

Naked at the Feast by Lynn Haney is the biography of this american born actress and dancer who found fame in France. When not dancing in the Folies Bergere, she was a spy for her adopted country's resistance movement. 

Who is Josephine Baker?

500

Interestingly, this cartoonist was afraid of mice. 

Who is Walt Disney?

500

On March 3, 1913, lawyer Inez Milholland Boissevain led a procession of more than 5,000 marchers down this street that houses the White House, an event that became one of the most important moments in the struggle to grant US women the right to vote — a right that was finally achieved seven years later.

What is Pennsylvania Ave in Washington, DC

500

In 1631, a new edition of the recently translated King James Bible accidentally left this word out of the seventh Commandment.  When the Bishop of London found out about the error, he told the King, and the King ordered the printers dragged before a high commission to explain their mistake.That edition is now called the Wicked Bible, since it basically condoned infidelity. 

what is not? (printed: Thou shalt commit adultery.)

500

Ray Kroc opened the first of these in Des Plaines, IL on April 15, 1955. The cost of a hamburger at the time was 15 cents. Right now, they're $2.54. Inflation, right?

What is McDonalds?