Game show puts UA students’ knowledge to the test

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Kristina Aiad-Toss

Students participate in the interactive game in the Student Union.

By Zach Bush, Writer

Around 35 University of Akron students filled the seats of the Student Union theater on Nov. 20 in hopes of revealing their inner genius while experiencing two hours of pure fun and entertainment.

ThinkFast Interactive, a traveling game show that visits high schools, colleges, businesses, and even U.S. Army and Navy installations, made its way to UA’s campus yesterday for an event unlike anything Akronites have seen this semester — a game show.

The Zips Programming Network, which organized the event, was on hand to provide guests with hamburgers, fries, and drinks from local dining favorite Swensons. Gifts cards were given out over the course of the night.

As visitors finished off their sandwiches, the beginning of the event was signaled by the host, a representative from ThinkFast! known only to the crowd as Marshall.

Bright lights flashed from illuminated podiums; screens and popular music boomed through speakers; and the host posed questions to the varied crowd divisions of one to four people.

Questions such as the decade in which the show Mad Men takes place and the kind of vegetable a Maris Piper is did their best to confuse, frustrate, and ultimately crack up students in their quest for a coveted spot in the championship round.

Junior Brian Giannangeli, with clicker in hand, could hardly keep from shouting out responses.

“Oh!” he exclaimed after answering incorrectly. “I knew that!”

Separate from team play, anxious volunteers completed four other tasks: perform the proper dance for the proper song, debate whether “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” should remain on the air, explain to an imaginary police officer why you were speeding, and sing as well as you can for thirty seconds.

Upcoming ZPN events include World AIDS Day on Dec. 1 and a Self Expression event on Dec. 3.