Searching For Sio Bibble

Yesterday Braden participated in a Star Wars Trivia Tournament. He’s played Star Wars Trivial Pursuit a couple of times before, but has never attempted to test his skill in a public forum.

We got to the meeting room and found 19 other children (ages 10-12) waiting for the game to begin. The kids were divided into teams and each team assigned a game piece. During play, the first answer called out would be deemed the correct one, so each team was encouraged to consult with each other before answering.

The tournament was scheduled to last for 90 minutes and, honestly, I did not look forward to this. Ninety minutes can be a loooong time. Now, I have seen all the Star Wars movies, and I actually enjoyed the first three that were made. However, unlike the four men in my family, I do not enjoy watching these movies ad nauseum. I do not memorize lines beyond those akin to “Laugh it up, furball!” I neither dwell nor delight in Star Wars minutiae. “What kind of gas is mined at Bespin?” “What alien designed the B-wing?” Puh-lease.


These kids were in their element. If you sign up for a public competition, you have feel pretty confident in your knowledge of Star Wars trivia, and these kids did. They loved Star Wars, you could tell. They were totally geeked out about spending the next 90 minutes discussing Star Wars. Some dressed up like characters, some brought props, but most just chatted excitedly with their teammates about the movies.

I watched the kids interact, somewhat bemused, and I commented to the mom sitting next to me that I didn’t realize that this sort of thing started so early. I remember boys gathering like this in high school. I’d overhear snippets of them discussing the newly released book in the “Dune” series, or arguing over their favorite Piers Anthony books. But I don’t remember any of that appearing in elementary school. She laughed and remarked that it was a relief to see other kids with an interest (obsession???) in the films.

It was neat, too. It was fun to see these kids in their element. Poor Braden tries to talk Star Wars with me (Or Bionicle. Or Transformers.) and I have no idea what he’s talking about beyond a very basic level. I nod and smile, but he knows I don’t really know the intricacies of what he’s talking about. But these kids did, and they’d banter back with him: “Dude, if Vader fought Palpatine, who would win?”


The contest was fun to watch. Braden earned two pie pieces for his team. They came out of the box strong but lost momentum when, midway through the game, the judge made a controversial call:

The question for a pie piece was, “What part did Qui-Gon go to Watto’s shop looking for?” The boys all called out “Hyperdrive! The hyperdrive!”

Everyone was stunned when the judge said, “I’m sorry. That is incorrect.” What? Incorrect? How? Even I knew it was a hyperdrive.

“The correct answer is ‘hyperdrive generator,’” the judge ruled. Huh?

The boys tried to appeal their case, but the judge was firm. His reasoning: “If your team was behind, I’d give it to you. Because you’re in the lead, though, I’m going to insist on the exact answer.” Good grief. The boys were deflated and tried to come back from that, but they didn’t and in the end they took second place.

Overall he had fun, and is excited about participating again next fall. Until then, movies will be watched, books will be read, trivia will be practiced, and I'm fairly certain I'll learn more than I ever wanted to know about Naboo's governor, Sio Bibble.