TV Total Quizboxen
Tonight, 9:30 UK time, Pro7
Denk! Tonight is the inaugural edition of Stefan Raab’s TV Total Quizboxen. It takes the modern sport of chessboxing and replaces the chess with a quiz.
Five two-minute rounds of boxing interspersed with five rounds of quiz duelling. A knockout can happen in either. The winner wins €25,000 and will get to defend their title next time, a fifth victory is worth an additional €100,000. There will be three fights this evening.
Looking forward to this, it’ll be interesting to see how it turns out.
A quick YouTube search yielded this about Chessboxing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kK5TQSKmS3o
It’s amazing how the Germans can combine 2 seemingly random things (chess and boxing, woks and tobogganing, cars and football) and make them AWESOME!
Well here’s the basic rules translated-
The scoring is based on a round system- 5.5 rounds win if it goes the distance.
Quiz rounds are 2 minutes, correct answer scores a point in that round, incorrect answer gives a point to the opponent. If a player scores no points in a quiz round, they are then asked a KO question- if they miss, they lose by Quiz KO. Most points win the round (half-round for each if tied)
Boxing is similar to amateur rules- 2 minute rounds, 5 judges press buttons on a keypad when a hit is made by a person, 3 judges have to hit the button within a second of each other to record a point. Most points scored win the round (half-round for each if tied). Standard KO rules apply here, and you can’t be saved by the bell.
If there’s a tie at 5 rounds each, they go to the total points accumulated though the 10 rounds.
Mmm, think that’s going to be too hard to get a quiz knockout. We’ll see how it plays out though, thanks David.
I can’t seem to get connect.prosieben.de working, so the following link should take you to a decent livestream:
http://kinofilm2020.ucoz.com/index/stream/0-9
Alright, so the first bout is a Middleweight bout between Dr. Thomas Logemann and Murat Demir, a personal trainer
Round 1 – 1st boxing round. Thomas is in the red trunks, Murat is in the blue.
Thomas took an early lead, but Murat was able to equalise as the time expired. 2-2
Overall score – Thomas 0.5 – 0.5 Murat
Not sure I like the quizzing in a seperate ring, but it’s fun so far.
Round 2 – 1st quiz round
Murat makes too many mistakes when buzzing in, giving the points to Thomas. As the time expired, Thomas won 3-0.
Overall score – Murat 0.5 – Thomas 1.5
Since Murat scored 0 points in the quiz, he gets a KO question which he gets correct, so no Quiz-KO as yet.
I think there is a bit too long between questions, really.
Maybe but there has to be roughly the same number of questions per quiz as hits per boxing round, so the pacing and difficulty of the questions has to reflect that.
The to-ing and fro-ing between the two rings is clumsy though. In chessboxing the swap from one round to the next is very quick, otherwise you’re allowing time for recovery.
Unfortunately the pacing was greatly different for the flags round there. So no idea.
I think they want to make it so the quiz rounds and the boxing rounds will generally be close together when it comes to total points if the rounds end up even at the end…and trying to answer questions after boxing for 2 minutes can’t be the easiest thing in the world…
On the other hand, it does increase the theoretical chance of a Quiz KO.
In my mind, I thought of something a bit tug-of-war-y for the quiz rounds – something like “getting five buzzer questions first and correct in a row, or a net difference of seven buzzer questions first regardless of timing” being enough for a QKO or, I suppose, a QTKO respectively.
Mmm, I had considered a Quiz o’ War as well.
This “be a particular number of points ahead and the other one is k.o.” was exactly what i thought!
Is this a one-off special, a pilot or… what?
First of a regular thing, winners will be able to defend their title.
Round 3 – 2nd boxing round
Murat takes the round with a score of 2-1
Overall score: Murat 1.5 – 1.5 Thomas
Round 4 – 2nd quiz round
This is a picture round, requiring the fighters to recognise flags of the world. Murat seems to be excelling at this round, buzzing quickly but making some mistakes. As the time expires, Murat wins 7-3
Overall score: Murat 2.5 – 1.5 Thomas
looks like each quiz round is on a specific category…this flags round is faster paced.
BTW- anyone remember when the next SDR is?
17th November, if I remember right
November 17th
Round 5 – 3rd boxing round
Thomas steps up his game in this round, as he has been keeping on the defensive in previous rounds. He wins this round 4-0 bringing it level
Overall score: Murat 2.5 – 2.5 Thomas
Round 6 – 3rd quiz round
I think this round involves seeing names of sportspeople and the fighters stating what sport they play
Murat makes another strong showing in this round, taking it with a score of 4-2
Overall score: Murat 3.5 – 2.5 Thomas
Is there a point mercy rule like in usual amateur boxing?
They’re scoring by round primarily, so I wouldn’t imagine so. I think you have to be flat on your back (or ref stops fight) to KO.
Not sure, because in theory you can make it back in the other discipline.
Round 7 – 4th boxing round
Another great round for Thomas, winning it with a score of 7-1, which will come in very handy should it be tied at the end
Overall score: Murat 3.5 – 3.5 Thomas
Round 8 – 4th quiz round
This round involves solving anagrams based on fruit
A furious tug-o-war battle in this round, but Murat obviously knows his fruit to go on to win 9-5
Overall score: Murat 4.5 – 3.5 Thomas
To me this seems a little slow. Set could be a little better, Raab is not perfect at asking the questions and it all seems a bit pilot-ish
I don’t think it’s slow, but I think the rounds coukd do with slightly better balance. I quite like it, but I don’t love it.
The show needs a little spruce up. If it was a little more colourful; dark blue or red set background, quiz podium with a ‘light-grey wooden effect’ floor and not as much lighting during the boxing rounds then it would look better.
The different quiz rounds are good, and the boxing is good, but this show does emphasize that the presentation of any show is incredibly important.
Round 9 – final boxing round
Once again, a very strong showing by Thomas, winning 5-1 but he will need to take the last quiz round to win
Murat 4.5 – 4.5 Thomas
Or draw as he is ahead on cumulative points
Yeah, that too 😀
Round 10 – final quiz round
These seem to be memory based questions. Stefan will read out a number of items in pairs (e.g. 11 elephants, 5 camels) and will ask questions about how many of a particular item he said, INCLUDING those he mentioned in previous statements.
Thomas wins the round 7-5 and wins overall with a score of 5.5 to 4.5
Prize presented by a blonde model with the LARGEST HANDS in the WORLD.
Stefan has found the model in his casting on TV Total. She’s great and does a lot of stuff, Elton used to do for Raab (e.g. mocking celebrities with listening to Stefan’s commands through an earpiece).
Who’s Perfect logo uses the wrong ‘smart quote’ as its apostrophe. That bugs me immensely.
Alright, we’re back with the second bout of the evening. A Lightweight bout between Ole Muggenburg and Christoph Teege
Round 1 – 1st boxing round
Christoph is wearing the blue trunks, Ole is in the red.
A strong start by both men, ending in a 4-1 win for Christoph
Christoph 1 (4) – 0 (1) Ole
Round 2 – 1st quiz round
General Knowledge round, ending in a 5-4 win for Christoph
Christoph 2 (9) – 0 (5) Ole
Round 3 – 2nd boxing round
Christoph quickly looking to be the favourite in this bout, knocking down Ole twice! The round ended with a 6-0 score to Christoph, but I think it’s over…
Christoph wins by KO
I presume it’s time to kill a bit of time as the bout ended so quickly
I think I would perhaps be enjoying this more if I spoke German and liked boxing.
I’m quite enjoying playing ‘spot the piece they’ve borrowed from Schlag den Raab’
And as usual, an easy call-and-lose question to win a Peugeot car
What must a good Quizboxer be?
‘Strong and smart’ or ‘Thick and stupid’?
When I think of Fisherman’s Friend Cherry flavour, I don’t think of 2 girls in red bikinis play-fighting in a paddling pool full of cherries. Should I be….?
The problem is it can be anti-climatic in the last quiz round- if one of them already has 5.5 rounds, all they need is one correct answer in the quiz to lock the fight up. I think there needs to be another way to get a KO in the quiz round other than skunking your opponent- maybe get 7 points in a row or something- then at least they have a remote chance in the last round even if they’re down 9-0.
Hadn’t considered that, but yes you are right. We were discussing up there the idea of a Quiz o’ War and wondered if that would work.
Isn’t it all over at 5,5 rounds?
3rd bout of the evening, a Heavyweight bout between Sascha Schmitz and Helge Georg
Round 1 – 1st boxing round
Sascha is in the blue trunks, Helge is in the red.
Both men let loose with a flurry of punches, Sascha taking the early lead then Helge coming back in the last minute to win 9-4
Sascha 0 (4) – 1 (9) Helge
Round 2 – 1st quiz round
General Knowledge round, which Helge wins 8-0 showing he has both the brains and the brawn!
Sascha 0 (4) – 2 (17) Helge
Since Sascha scored 0, he gets a KO question which he gets correct, so no Quiz-KO
Maybe the simplest way of doing a Quiz KO is if you lose the bout by (x) points or more, you have to get the knockout question right.
This has the advantage of stopping rounds fizzling out when both are on non-zero scores but one’s too far ahead.
Round 3 – 2nd boxing round
Sascha starts his fightback, winning the round 7-4
Sascha 1 (11) – 2 (21) Helge
I wooooonder if they have this in mind as a SdR Game 15 at some point?
Granted, as far as I can tell, SdR Game 15s are usually very trad. and quite short, but if the point of SdR is that anything can happen, a convoluted, complex, brains-and-brawn Game 15 could be an interesting counterpoint, as well as one which gives a hell of a boost to quizboxing at large.
Quizboxing for four and a half million Euros! etc.
I don’t think you could do that because Stefan Raab beating up a woman would look quite bad.
Obv., and weight discrepancies would also likely make it a one-sided contest as well. However, is it established that the fifteen games to be played are always the same regardless of which contestant of the five is selected? I imagine there are more than 15 planned and the final selection made after the opponent is known.
I can’t imagine that to be the case at all, there’s so much to set up for a live show I can’t see them deviating from a running order, not to mention the additional costs of creating props that won’t get used, the additional time briefing the host and camera crews etc.
I doubt that too. The rehearsal for this kind of thing will be a nightmare as it is – getting the right number of bodies and correct equipment in the right place at the right time – that it’s far easier just to set up a varied journey of games and let the leaves fall where the wind takes them.
Round 4 – 2nd quiz round
This round involves recognising countries highlighted in red on a map of the world. The fightback from Sascha continues, taking the round 5-1 and drawing the bout level
Sascha 2 (16) – 2 (22) Helge
Round 5 – 3rd boxing round
A strong showing from both men, culminating in a very close scoreline. Helge pulls away in the closing seconds to win the round 10-5
Sascha 2 (21) – 3 (32) Helge
Round 6 – 3rd quiz round
This round involves being shown song titles and the fighters must say which band performed that song (e.g if they were shown ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’, the answer would be Nirvana). Stefan chips in with a bit of singing if needs be :D. Helge wins the round 5-1
Sascha 2 (22) – 4 (37) Helge
Sascha only got his point in that round due to a slipup by Helge too. He could have been up for KO again if Helge had just not buzzed.
Round 7 – 4th boxing round
A more defensive affair in this round, with almost a minute elapsed before any points are scored. The round ends with Helge getting a 6th point JUST as time expires to win 6-5
Sascha 2 (27) – 5 (43) Helge
You have to say, as a first show this is a bloody good attempt. The quiz and set need work but they’ve managed to get quite a wacky principle to work pretty well.
Agreed. As the show has gone on, the better it has gotten (you can tell that they’re improving it on the go though). With a bit of work on set, and a time limit (5 seconds after the question has been asked) on the quiz section, then it would be a great.
I distinctly heard the 5-second beeps when someone buzzed in
I didn’t mean the 5-second beeps. I meant as soon as Raab finishes asking the question a 5-second clock starts, therefore eliminating the waiting around between questions which the contestants didn’t know the answers to. The 5-second beeps would start as soon as the contestant buzzed.
Round 8 – 4th quiz round
The fighters are shown a 10×10 grid of coloured shapes, and Stefan will ask them how many of a particular shape (e.g. blue triangles) there are. Sascha keeps the bout alive, winning 6-4
Sascha 3 (33) – 5 (47) Helge
Potential format flaw here – with Sacha with Matchball against him and so many points behind, if it gets to the final quiz round his only chance is an unlikely quiz KO.
Round 9 – final boxing round
Sascha battles hard to take the bout to the last quiz round and make up the deficit in cumulative points he has. But just as quickly as he gets a 5-0 lead, Helge equalises and overtakes just as quickly. In the end, Helge wins the round 7-6 and wins the bout overall 6-3
Sascha 3 (39) – 6 (55) Helge
Round 10 – final quiz round(?)
I thought Helge won outright since Sascha can’t possibly come back, but they’re doing the last quiz round anyway!
A repeat of the memory round from the first bout. Helge needed to gain just 1 point diectly to win outright and he did it.
Er… what the hell happened there? Is there some rule about having to fight an even number of quiz/boxing rounds to allow equal opportunities to knock out?
Probably the equivalent that in a boxing match, one fighter could win the first 11 rounds on points but could lose it if he got knocked out in the 12th.
Yeah, I get the analogy but it’s rather subtle. They need to make the quiz KO more workable.
I suppose continuing to the end as far as is possible does mean the bouts will likely last a more predictable amount of time, so there are good planning reasons for doing this.
Well the second bout finished at round two and they still overran by ten minutes, so…
Maybe they just always go on to round 10 anyway, just in case a KO happens at some point even if the winner by points is already decided. it’s rather unclear when they only had the one round to go.
Meh, how ugly is that. It means that you win if:
– you get a Knock-out, but if you don’t manage that then…
– you win more rounds, but if you don’t manage that then…
– you win more points.
Rather a complex situation.