Trivia Nerds Unite

Photo by Magnus Skoglöf

Are you an expert in World War II? Do you know all about Britney Spears? Or is Australian wildlife your special area?  Trivia buffs of all kinds get to flex their geeky biceps on Vetgirig.nu, Sweden's biggest quiz site.

Vetgirig.nu began in 2004, with a mission to help people learn in a playful way. The fledgling site caught the attention of Magnus Palm, head of Bonnier's crossword magazines, and in 2007, Bonnier acquired the site.

We have lots of quizzes from 12-year-olds on topics like Lord of the Rings.
—Magnus Palm

It's a short leap from crosswords to quizzes, but audience participation makes Vetgirig.nu special."The site is entirely user generated," says Magnus Palm. "People write questions about their favorite subject, which then areapproved by a reference group before the quiz is published. We have lots of quizzes from 12-year-olds on topics like Lord of the Rings."

But the quizzes cover every topic under the sun, from film togeography to technology. And sticklers can report factual errors  they find.

The most popular section of the site is Vetligan ("The Knowing League"), which boasts more than 22,000 participants. The topics are randomly chosen from the 170,000 questions in more than 5,000 topics on the site.  In a series of playoffs,which take just over three weeks, the two best players move up to a higher division, while the last four are demoted.  As you get higher up, the questions get tougher.

And no game would be complete without some trash talk—you can send messages to your competitors, or challenge your friends to a match. "Vetgirig.nu combines the hunger for knowledge with competition," says Magnus. "It's simply fun to challenge people!"

With more than 60,000 visitors a week, advertising sales are starting to move the needle. And Magnus is excited about new projects like Krysset.se, a new online game and crossword puzzle Venture.

But Vetgirig.nu is still the site to beat.  English speakers can get in on the action at quiz4fun.com.  

Everyone's trying to be smarter.  Why not have a little fun while you're at it?