A Whole Bucc'ing Year

This weekend marked the thirteenth Buccaneer Bowl, Second Life's monthly team-based trivia event. It's astonishing to me that the Bowl has been going on for a year now: it still seems so new, and I remember clearly when it was just a vague idea kicking around in the trivia crowd, until Thornton Writer, Lillian Shippe, and Lette Ponnier decided to go for the gusto and make it happen. And now the Buccaneer Bowl is as much a Second Life trivia institution as any of the long-running games. Even though I'm just a player, it's kind neat to have been a teeny part of helping create such a successful event.

Trivia fans assemble for the January 2010 Buccaneer Bowl

For January's game, teams assembled on the floating pirate ship 2000m above [MonoChrome]: Rain Ninetails and I teamed up with trivia stalwarts Circe Falta and JoshuaStephen Schism to form up the impromptu team "Frivolous CirceSchism" team. Josh and Circe usually team up with Chaddington Boomhauer and Shale Nightfire on a team "BoomFire CirceSchism"—see the theme to the naming?—but Chadd and Shale couldn't make it to the January game. Rain and I only had two people for the Frivolous Corsairs too, so we combined forces. And after a disheartening first round, we did OK, managing to win two out of five rounds and rolling into a fourth place finish overall—which is no small feat considering the level of competition at the Buccaneer Bowl.

Josh Schism, Circe Falta, Rain Ninetails, and me (atop the barrels) at the Buccaneer Bowl; the JOB Squad is to our left: Juke, Jewels, Hilda, and Sal.

This month, the champion team was the JOB Squad, consisting of Juke Badger, Hilda Static, Sal Zulaman, and Jewels Carminucci. They not only played great, but were solid performers in all five rounds—and their victory also means that the gallery of teams that have won the Buccaneer Bowl is still expanding. The many-time-champion Triviators are mighty, to be sure, but they aren't unbeatable…because plenty of people have beaten them!

As always, a mad round of applause to Lette, Lillian, and Thorn for putting on the Buccaneer Bowl—the game is still evolving and changing, but the three of them have got things down to a solid system that runs smoothly. It's also great to see new players trying out the Buccaneer Bowl each month—although the so-called "trivia regulars" form a lot of the regular teams, new teams are putting on remarkably good showings!

On a personal note, I would just like to say that my perch atop the barrels once again put me head and shoulders above everyone else at the game. It wasn't intentional, but back a the November Buccaneer Bowl I was also the most-elevated player, and maybe I've got a theme going.

Congrats to JOB Squad, and all the Buccaneer Bowl teams!