Two people stare at each other in total concentration. Each has 45 seconds to identify the pictures that will appear in front of them and win the duel.
I have no doubt that last night you watched the first episode of The Floor, the new and innovative game show on NOVA, one of Bulgaria's main TV channels. If you didn't, it's not too late at all—there are still 12 whole episodes to come. It is a reason to celebrate in itself that a game about knowledge, not scandal, has made it to prime time, and I believe it will be the hit of the season. Rumor (and ChatGPT) has it that I'm in it too.
But we're here for a slightly different digital story, one closely tied to the game. It comes to show us that when we are together, we are capable of miracles. That if people brought together supposedly to compete and beat one another can reach out a hand for something bigger, then our society can do it too.
Do you like to provoke and test your knowledge? Are you looking for meaningful causes to help, knowing for sure that your help goes to the right place and supports something important and lasting?
If your answer is “yes” to even one of these questions, then this Digital Story is just for you!
Let me introduce Quizza! A website we built as volunteers. Where you can challenge yourself by taking any of our many permanent quizzes on all sorts of topics. Where you can face off in a weekly contest against some of the heroes you know from online and offline competitions! And, last but not least, where you can discover causes that each of us stands behind with our own name!
An Optimistic Theory of the Bulgarian Quiz
You have hardly ever seen 100 more varied souls at Sofia's Vasil Levski Airport than on one early morning before a flight to Amsterdam. People “of every age, sex and occupation,” united by the fact that they had dared to challenge themselves in a competition being made for Bulgarian television for the very first time.
What happened on The Floor you will see for yourselves (and I definitely advise you not to miss a single episode). So many colorful and different personalities, so many stories and so many causes. And although in the end there is supposedly only one winner, it turned out that we were all winners, because after the rather demanding and far from easy shoot we came back with new friends, new causes and new ideas.
Do you know what a quiz is? I know, I'm changing the subject abruptly, but The Floor has plenty of unexpected questions and sudden twists too.
The truth is… nobody knows. The origin of the word itself is shrouded in legend. According to a popular story from Dublin, a theater manager named Richard Daly bet that he could invent a meaningless word that within a matter of days would be the talk of the whole city. In 1791, the story goes, he scrawled the letters Q, U, I, Z on the walls, and soon everyone was talking about this strange word.
The story may be dubious, but you'll agree it's a charming one. The word “quiz” appears in print toward the end of the 18th century, but with a different meaning—an odd or eccentric person. Only in 1867 is it first found in the sense of a set of questions to test knowledge.
Strange People
We used to have a different word for the same thing: “viktorina.” A quiz is nothing more than a pleasant way to challenge and test your knowledge. A contest in which you try to solve puzzles—alone or as a team. They can be general knowledge or on a specific topic. Every duel you will see on The Floor is a quiz of sorts, and so is every other popular TV contest built around knowledge.
TV quizzes are a favorite pastime all over the world. It's enough to mention the Russian classic What? Where? When?, the American Jeopardy! or the homegrown Minuta e mnogo (A Minute Is a Lot). But in the online world quizzes come alive with full force on the web as well.
For many people, quizzes happen mainly… in pubs. I mentioned that “quiz” first turned up in old newspapers, so here is one more quote from a press review of ancient, prehistoric times.
“At first glance—a pub like any other. But if you look closely, you see sheets of paper and pens on the tables between the full beer mugs and the fries. And if you watch the people more carefully, you notice them staring thoughtfully at the sheets and puzzling over something that seems very important.”
The quote is from a Saturday feature in the daily 24 Chasa from 2009, headlined “A New Craze: Sport for the Brain in a Pub”. Perhaps you've guessed: I wrote it. In the years since—they have almost come of age by now—far more people have become convinced that pub quizzes are an extremely enjoyable pastime. Today almost every town has its local versions, and in the bigger cities you can choose where to join in with friends every day of the week.
Quiz Vadis?
The people who frequent such places have got used to calling themselves “quizzers,” though in my view we could try a little harder with our word-making.
What sets them apart from the “non-quizzers”? Erudition, perhaps, pretension, experience? I think the only difference is that the former have already discovered how pleasant it is not just to meet friends for a drink during the week, but also to try to get your brains moving together. That way even the beer tastes sweeter…
You may be wondering what all this has to do with the beginning of this story. Let's skip straight to the climax.
The Floor adventure in Amsterdam came to an end (although for viewers it is only just beginning!). And we decided that… we wanted to do something more! Many of the contestants love quizzes, and a good number of them talked about important, worthwhile, valuable causes they would support. So we wondered: isn't there a way to bring all of this together? Then, one word leading to another, we figured out how to make it happen.
Let me introduce Quizza! A website we built as volunteers. Where you can challenge yourself by taking any of our many permanent quizzes on all sorts of topics. Where you can face off in a weekly contest against some of the heroes you know from online and offline competitions! And, last but not least, where you can discover causes that each of us stands behind with our own name!
Bits and Soul
In some contests (in most of them, I'd even say) winning is not what matters most. I confess I wouldn't have guessed that 100 Bulgarians, most of whom had never met, sent off to compete against one another for a prize, could set an example of… community?
Could this be a direction, an idea, a hope that we can bring to life on a larger scale?
The idea for the site came about quite spontaneously. There aren't many places in the Bulgarian online space where you can put your knowledge to the test. At the same time, many people in our community create quizzes, and quite a few of us have an important cause we would like to support.
Can a good idea and a meaningful cause unite people, inspire them?
It turned out they can.
In a time when social networks have torn apart the dialogue between generations and points of view. In a time when authorities are as scarce as public conversation. In a time when artificial intelligence calls fundamental human notions into question…
Could it be that knowledge is what can bring us together?
A Quiz for a Cause
More than half of the contestants from the first season of The Floor are already part of the venture!
The programmers among us took on the site itself, and our designer is responsible for its wonderful look. The copywriters pitched in with texts, and the quiz authors with a huge number of quizzes varied in difficulty, topic, logic, even format, a challenge for anyone! We have quizzes for the most seasoned masters, quizzes for beginners, even quizzes for kids. We have sports and science quizzes, picture quizzes and text quizzes. A quiz for every taste and for everyone with taste!
On top of that, everyone had the right to propose a cause they stand behind with their own name.
Waiting for you already are 69 quizzes with 1,777 questions, contests twice a week and no fewer than 37 causes you can support if you so choose. Behind the venture are 88 of the 100 people from the Floor!
You can see who we are and what our causes are here.
I'm not starting with thanks by name, because here the strength truly lies in the team. In the example, in the meaning.
In the message that when an idea can unite us, we are capable of miracles. Of creating something useful for others. With no thought of profit, fame or personal success.
Is there anything more important?
Now it's your turn.
Come and try our quizzes!
(For fans of The Floor there is a special challenge with 100 questions—one for each of the topics on the “floor.” Score 60 points and you win a certificate!)
Join our contests.
Explore our causes.
Conquer the game!
I'm sure the best is yet to come…
