Creepy Board Game, Crappy Questions
In yesterday's PI, Regina Hackett wrote about Ryan Hobson, a local artist who's put together the Serial Killer Trivia Game but who's having a hard time getting it published. Apparently people think it's too morbid -- one publisher rejected it because "it's too dark, morbid, not funny, not PC and sick-o," though that critic did "admire his execution (design/production)."
We're not amazed that a nice illustrator of children's books has a dark side. We've been fascinated with serial killers ourselves: we did a fifth-grade research paper on Jack the Ripper, enthusiastically decorating the cover with drips of red candlewax. (We're lucky it was the pre-Columbine era.)
We suspect there's a market for a game like this. But we wouldn't publish this one. The design may be top-notch, the questions need a rewrite.
We'll tell you why. Here are the 10 examples given at the end of the article:
1. Born to 16-year-old prostitute Josephine Maddox, what was Charles Manson's registered birth name?2. What serial killer said voices in his head told him to "sing the die song?"
3. Who told the judge after being sentenced to die, "See you in Disneyland?"Eesh. And we're not just saying that because we only got 4 right.4. Who claimed to be a mistake of nature, a mad beast?
5. Who said about the women he murdered, "What's one less person on the Earth?"
6. Who boasted that clowns get away with murder?
7. Who said, "There's a lot left in a girl's body without a head. Of course, her personality is gone."
8. Which American state was the last to ban the use of firing squads to execute prisoners?
9. Who taunted the judge at his trial, "If I do escape, I promise you I will kill and rape again, and I will enjoy every minute of it?"
10. Can art made by serial killers be sold on eBay?
The fundamental problem: these are mostly brute-force recall questions catering to people who've already obsessed about serial killer trivia. There's no way for a casual player -- assuming a casual player would pick up this game -- to figure out the answer. And there's no real skill involved in writing questions that stump people
Most of the questions as written aren't that interesting. There's no wit or insight. They're not clever. Take #2 -- if, like us, you haven't heard of Herbert Mullin, the question doesn't give you any reason to remember him after hearing it. Voices in his head? "Sing the die song"? So what? That's a cliche and a banal quote, not an interesting fact or insightful perspective.
Most of these 10 questions work that way. If you haven't heard of the killer in question, you can't possibly get the answer right, and neither the question nor the answer gives you a reason to care.
They're not all bad. The first question is probably the best. You've heard of Charles Manson. The question gives you what his last name at birth probably was. And even if you don't guess "No Name," the answer works almost like a punchline. It's not witty, exactly, but it offers a glimmer of insight into the forces that made Manson what he was.
Here's how we'd rewrite #3, which has some great raw material:
Q: When he was given the death sentence, Richard Ramirez told the judge he'd see him where?
A: Disneyland
And #6:
Q: According to John Wayne Gacy, what profession can get away with murder?
A: Clowns
As Ken Jennings has said, "trivia can’t just be produced by opening the Encyclopedia Britannica to a random page and throwing a dart." Facts are the raw material of questions, but the questions themselves need to be written and polished just like any other writing. (Blogging excluded.)
Hobson's game as it stands is less a collection of trivia questions and more a set of serial killer flashcards. Run through 'em enough times and you'd kill -- pun intended -- in a murder round on Jeopardy!
(Answers for all 10: 1. No Name Maddox; 2. Herbert Mullin; 3. Richard Ramirez; 4. Andrei Chikatilo; 5. Ted Bundy; 6. John Wayne Gacy; 7. Edmund Kemper; 8. Utah; 9. Westley Allan Dodd; 10. no)
