The Oasis Quiz, first quiz of the fest, is also its most popular. This year, the quiz was hosted by quizzing circuit stalwart Kushan Patel at his third time hosting at BITS. Oasis Quiz being his first time hosting a quiz at the fest, the quizmaster was very enthusiastic from the get-go. With close to fifty teams participating, competition was high but not dry.

The quiz itself started only a half-hour late, relatively early by Oasis standards. It was held in two phases, a written preliminary and a final round. There were twenty-five questions in the preliminary round, with questions ranging from popular culture to historical incidents. Patel repeatedly encouraged participants throughout the round to take risks and make obvious guesses, given the lack of negative marking in the round.

The top nine teams progressed to the finals which opened with a written round. This round was presented in the form of a 3×3 grid with each cell containing one question. The answer to each cell had a number associated with it, said numbers adding up to fifteen along both rows and columns.

Following this, the quiz went to a regular “pounce and bounce” round. Fifteen direct questions were asked, with teams being given the option to ‘pounce’ at each question at the risk of losing some points for an incorrect answer. This was followed by a round where two questions, asked together, had answers that only differed by one letter.

The quiz then moved on to another pounce and bounce round, again for fifteen questions. The last question—also Kushan’s favourite—connected the Occidental and Oriental worlds together, the gift of the Magi being the link. The beginning of the final phase was quite close, with no particular team leading the pack. However, by the end, the team comprising Samksha Bharadwaj, Mustansir Mama, and Vishal Rangarajan swept the floor with the competition by the end; being a massive forty-two points ahead of the team that closed second after them, they were the clear winners of the day.

Pleased with the response to the quiz, the quizmaster said that a good quiz is when you forget that you’re asking the contestants questions—it’s just you hanging out with old friends, which is what a quiz is supposed to be.