The First Question

A good trivia game begins with a good first question. I probably wrote that in "Secrets of Host Jeop" in 1995 and I really haven't changed my mind.

For 1911, we will begin with a question from the William Howard Taft book. Why? Because that particular chronology series is very reliable in giving a lot of facts from which to select the right first question. Even if it didn't, it would at least be a decent first question. We can guarantee it will be in American History (since nearly all the players are Americans), and, heck, William Howard Taft is funny.

No, I'm not going to tell you the question. You'll have to come on the last Wednesday of the year to see it.

But here are some of the facts I've discarded (since I haven't actually written the game, I'm listing the ones I doubt I'll use from other sources, too, though you never know):

Appointed Joseph R. Lamarto to the Supreme Court. No one's ever heard of Joseph R. Lamarto. I could turn this into this question:

Q: IN JANUARY, PRESIDENT TAFT APPOINTED JOSEPH R. LAMARTO TO WHAT JOB HE HIMSELF HAD TURNED DOWN?
A: ASSOCIATE JUSTICE OF THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT

In a pinch, i.e., if there were no other questions from the source, I'd use that. It works with Taft because he had in fact turned down the Supreme Court. But unless it's a Supreme Court justice someone has heard of, random appointments like that aren't the source for good questions.

The United States Commerce Court opened. I don't care. You don't care.

Appointed Walter L. Fisher Secretary of the Interior. Probably the most boring thing I've ever read is the endless arguments between Gifford Pinchot (whose acolyte Fisher was) and Richard Ballinger over conservation during the Roosevelt and Taft administrations. I try to avoid it like the plague (but can't always; I have some books with titles like "100 Years of Federal Forestry").

Appointed Commission on Economy and Efficiency to study governmental reorganization. Are you still awake?

President and Mrs. Taft celebrated their silver wedding anniversary in the White House with a night garden party for 5,000 guests. This wouldn't be that bad, you could ask people to estimate the number of their anniversary, or the number of guests. 5,000 guests at the White House is a huge crowd, and do you think you could think of 5,000 people to invite to your party? But there are better facts; pass.

There are about half a dozen others, some just as boring and some of which are the possible bases for questions either now or later in the game.

It is perfectly possible that notwithstanding that the source is called "William Howard Taft", the first question will be not include Taft's name in either answer or question.