Quizmaster reveals how the Los Angeles Times news quiz is made

When the Los Angeles Times decided to launch its version of a news quiz earlier this year, I suddenly found myself tapped to serve as quiz director, the person responsible for coming up with each week's questions. While this may seem random, it is not.

Before coming to the newspaper, I spent some time as a question-and-answer guy on game shows. I wrote for the Maury Povich-hosted remake of “Twenty One” and a couple of incarnations of “Weakest Link,” among others. Although all the questions I have written down over the years are a blur at this point, I do remember, with absolute clarity, the first question that came up when I was telling someone what I did for a job: “How do I do it?” that?”

It seemed like an odd question for something that, after a few weeks, took on such a comfortable cadence that it seemed like second nature.

For most of us in the writers' room, each day would begin with a scan of as many newspapers as we could get our hands on. Part of this was the search for current and accessible topics. But I was also motivated by the desire to meet our daily quota of questions, and copying the news of the day reduced the chances that one of us would accidentally duplicate (or worse, reveal the answer to) a question that already existed in the database. constantly growing data. (The day after a Hollywood awards show was always a mad rush to ask those superlative questions: the youngest, oldest, most and least type questions.)

Creating the Los Angeles Times news quiz is a lot like that: only with a single newspaper (this one) as source material. Because each week's quiz is based on stories that appeared in print or online during the previous seven days, I begin each morning by reading the emailed digital version of the newspaper, followed by a section-by-section tour of the website. (Sometimes a story that is published online may fall outside the one-week window, but if it later appears in print, it's fair game!)

While almost any story is worth the time and effort of my Times colleagues could become a test question, not all ought be. Part of this is because, to differentiate our news quiz from the many, many others out there, I'm looking for questions that focus primarily (but not exclusively) on California. But it's also because I want this to be fun and, where appropriate, funny. Quizzing readers about the names of Big Bear's pair of bald eagles or the new Clippers logo can be both.

Asking about the death toll in a recent avalanche is neither. That's why I tend to lean toward the lighthearted with the topics I turn into questions.

Because these are multiple choice questions, which means I'm giving you the real answer somewhere, most of my time is spent finding three wrong answers that seem to be absolutely the right answer. And they might make you laugh a little at the same time. (For those of you keeping track, that's 30 possible wrong answers per week.)

Once all those boxes are checked and the corners are turned, the quiz questions go through the same editing and proofreading process as every other story published by The Times before being published early Friday morning.

A few hours later, I open the e-newspaper and start all over again.

Combining my TV show skills with my journalism career has turned out to be a lot of fun. The only thing I really miss is seeing the questions I've created in a live game show format.

Turns out I won't have to quit my day job to get my live gaming fix. The folks at Molly Malone's Irish Pub in the Fairfax District (one of my most recommended trivia bars in the city) are graciously allowing us to play an expanded, in-person version of the Los Angeles Times News Quiz on April 10 as part of their game usual Wednesday night.

After that, it's on to the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books for another in-person game on April 20.

To prepare your questions and answers, subscribe to our Essential California newsletter and you'll find a link to the week's quiz at the end of each Saturday's newsletter. Are you ready to have fun? Am. Then let's get started!