NerdQuest is an annual battle between two humanities classes at UGA Term II. This was began by two formidable opponents at UGA term II 2010: Philosophy of Knowledge and Vampires and Zombies. In the end, it was Philosophy of Knowledge that reined supreme. Thusly, the class was honored with the opportunity to name the golden-winged pig that would become the prize for all future NerdQuest victors. They decided, in reverence to their instructor, to name it Porcules. Due to an exodus of many term 2 TIPsters to Term 1 in 2011 the tradition was adopted for term 1 as well. The original two classes from term 1 to participate in this epic battle were the Philosophy of Knowledge, Brain and Creative Writing classes.

The Original NerdQuest Battle

It began with trivia. Vampires and Zombies v. Philosophy of Knowledge on Star Wars. They answered difficult and specific questions. In the end, Philosophy won that round 8 v. 4. Next, Harry Potter trivia. Easy. Both teams tied with nine points. Neither team knew what the spell "Diffindo" does. And so Philosophy lead- 17 v. 13. The final battle. TWILIGHT. Again, a win for Philosophy, but who would want to win when the trivia was based on Twilight? Thus, they were the overall victors of trivia.

RPS (rock, paper, scissors) was next. Everyone opened with rock, but there were many difficulties. Sydney Bronack and Adam Williams were the final two. Adam was behind and thought Sydney may use her fire. He threw water, leading to his defeat. This considered by most as an ignorant move. Sydney won, thusly, and was gloved the Fury of Heaven. She got a cool glove "emblazoned" with her newfound title and everyone was immensely jealous.

Poetry Slam followed. Vincente Perez was opposing Devyn Post. Although Vincente did not boast this, it was a simple win. The judges gave a starting line from Robert Frost's "Into the Woods". Devyn stuttered from the beginning, but she put up a valiant effort and had quite well-formed sentences. In the end, however, Vincente won due to the fact that he had been writing songs and poetry for years.

Tetris, Philosophical Textual Analysis, and Literary Textual Analysis were the proceeding events. Ironically, a Zombie won Philosophical Textual Analysis and a Philosoraptor won Literary Textual Analysis.

The last event was Human Body Sculpture. Most TiPsters questioned the legitimate nerdiness of such an event. Albeit, it was decided that girls twisting their bodies into odd positions was just fine. This event would decide whether or not the Philosoraptors would win. As onlookers snapped photos, the teams first made a model of a sickle and hammer. Philosoraptors won this, though it was questionable why. Next, they modeled a car, and Zombies were the true vicotrs. They won this event. The final round. If only the Philosoraptors won this, they would have won the entire shebang. "Please model a shoe," said Nilay Erten, the Philosophy TA.

The TA made a questionable decision and announced the Philosophy class victors. However, most felt that the Zombies shoe was much better. It was history. JB, the Philosophy Instructor, held the golden, one-winged pig above his head. "What shall we name this?" he bellowed. Some voted Pigasus. Some fancied Porcules. Still others like Herbert (she was shunned). The emblem of NerQuest was thusly, and appropriately, name Porcules. It was heroic, it was TiP, and, most of all, it was inherently sexy.

Philosoraptors

Instructor

John Brittingham (JB)

TA

Nilay Erten

4th Years

Vincente Perez- [someone please enter the title of the poetry slam winner]

Alicia "The Dancer" Mayfield- [title for winner of Human Body sculpture]

Jamil Nayani- [winner of trivia]

Madeline Welsh

3rd Years

Sanchez "Magic Man" Sanchez

Bora "Turkish Rage" Gunay- [title for winner of tetris]

Freddy Argueta

Will Ehrensperger

Michael "The Highlander" Thomson

Archana Vasa- [winner of trivia]

2nd Years

Adam Williams

Sydney Bronack- Fury of Heaven

Patrick "The Mad Hatter" Meek

Natalie Granberry

Meredith Lewter

Marianna "Destroyer of Worlds" Hagler- [winner of Human body sculpture]

Emily Moser- [winner of Human Body Sculpture]

Gabby Rivera

Assia Whats-her-face

Zombies and Vampires

Instructor

Mama Bear

TA

Danny

4th Years

Olivia Archambault

Olivia Colomb

Rachel Thomas

Travis Robertson

Nia McDuell-William

3rd Years

Devyn Post

Sam Gray

Cheyanne Westcott

Julia Wickersham

Taylor

Elaina

Vanessa

2nd Years

Beth "Tail Girl"

Sierra

Noah

Madison

Rebekah

Fabulous Prizes

Every participant received a crown made of golden pipe-cleaners. Some of said crowns were adorned with fake ivy, but most weren't because of the cheap-o TiPeople. In addition, the winners of each game received a prize, as follows:

RPS: A glove emblazoned with "Fury of Heaven". By "emblazoned", it is meant "written with Sharpie".

Poetry Slam: Lobster Cocktail Napkins

Human Body Sculpture: Disney Princess wand

Trivia: A sponge with the word "nerd" written on it

The ultimate prize of the first NerdQuest battle was, of course, naming rights of Porcules. The pig currently resides with Bora Gunay and Freddy Argueta. In all subsequent battles, the prize will be Porcules and, obviously, bragging rights.

The Term I prize for NerdQuest is The Diamond Cutter. It is a rocket shaped piece of wood that is about the size of a human head.

NerdQuest 2012

In Term I, the philosophy team under the instruction of J.B. won.

In Term II, the Philosophy team won again in a close battle with the Inspired writers. They won the literary analysis, philosophy analysis, bannagrams and bossed Tetris(both players, Michael and Alex got higher scores than the other two teams combined!). The inspired writers won rock paper scissors, trivia and Take a pebble from my hand.

NerdQuest 2013

In Term I, the eight games were narrowed to five ultimate games. There was RPS, Bananagrams, Trivia, Tetris, and the new "Push Game". There were three classes that played: Philosophy, Apocalypse, and The Brain. Philosophy came away the victors again! Philosophy won Tetris, Trivia, and the Push Game.

In Term II the games played were RPS, Bananagrams, Trivia, Tetris, and the new "Push Game" aka Penguin Wrestling. The competitors this term were Philosophy of Knowledge, Inspired Writers, and The Brain. For the first time ever Philosophy did not win the games, The Brain took the crown.

NerdQuest 2014

In Term II, the games this year were Take a Pebble From My Hand, RPS, Bananagrams, Tetris, and Team Trivia. The competing classes were Philosophy of Knowledge, Inspired Writers, and Robotics, because The Brain had opted out of the games this year. The Philosoraptors, under new leadership of Raff and Henry, took back the crown, winning Take a Pebble, RPS, and Tetris. Inspired Writer won the other two games, leaving the newcomers behind.

NerdQuest 2015

In Term I, the games were RPS, Scrabble, Take a Pebble From My Hand, Tetris, and Team Trivia. The competing classes were The Art of Satire, Philosophy of Knowledge, and The Brain. Philosophy won four out of five games and came out victorious, with The Brain winning one and Satire getting solid third place, except in Scrabble, where they got second. But the reason Satire opted to do so poorly was that they were satirizing the competitive spirit placed in learning institutions for young people that untimely impairs the adolescent population's growth.

In Term II, the competing classes were Philosophy of Knowledge, The Brain, and Foreign Policy. Although the Philosophy of Knowledge class prayed to the Rock God for good luck (especially during Take a Pebble From My Hand), they did not win the final competition; albeit winning the Tetris portion of NerdQuest, where chants of "TETRIS! TETRIS! TETRIS!" were frequently heard.

NerdQuest 2016

In Term I, the competing classes were Philosophy of Knowledge, The Art of Satire, and American Foreign Policy. Philosophy won one event, and both FoPo and Satire won two, which lead to a tie breaker. Satire ultimately won by untangling their human knot faster, and afterwards got down on their knees to praise their TA, Justine. MVP was Jacob Dowell, who helped Satire come back during Take This Pebble From My Hand. Jacob was so fast that the RC holding the pebble reported not even feeling Jacob touch him. "I closed my hand, and when I opened it, the pebble was just gone." FoPo did have the last laugh though, as FoPo Bro Mark proclaimed, "The pen isn't a weapon, a freaking nuke is." (satire's response: a pen can be a weapon if you try hard enough, just like anything can be a dildo if you're brave enough)

For the events that actually required skill (Bananagrams, Trivia, and Tetris) Satire lacked the ability to prevail in any of those events (i love you guys <3). However, in Take the Pebble (in which Jacob Dowell saved the class) and Rock Paper Scissors, Satire gained the two points needed to tie with FoPo and go into the tiebreaker round. Throughout the event, Satire screamed "HOLD THE EASTERN FRONT" for reasons unknown both to the class and other competitors.

The Diamond Cutter, the prize for winning NerdQuest, was handed down from Julia Norton to Scottie Pearson-Thompson. The legend of the hardened nipples will live on forever.

In Term 2, Arch and Anthro, the Brain, and Team Programming participated in nerdquest. Arch and Anthro won, and Porcules went to Willa Buresh.

NerdQuest 2017

In Term 2, only two classes participated in nerdquest: FoPo and Philosophy. FoPo won, and Porcules went to Robert Loveall, who was in Arch and Anthro when they won in 2016.

In Term 1, Philosophy, Satire, and FoPo participated in NerdQuest. After a stressful tiebreaker (between Satire and Philosophy) of listing the Top Ten Highest Grossing Movies of All Time, Philosophy won and the Diamond Cutter went to Jonah Cashel, the MVP of the Tetris competition. However, he could not make it to UGA T1 2018 so he mailed the trophy to Alisha Simmons.

NerdQuest 2018

In Term 1, Tipsters had to fight to keep NerdQuest alive, as John Brittingham (JB) had ceased being an Instructor at TIP (the best Instructor ever!) and he was the main orchestrator of this beloved competition. However, Tipsters Alisha Simmons and Shaun Rousso planned out the event and got the Philosophy, Satire, and FoPo instructors on board. The Art of Satire won Tetris (thanks to Chas McCrary, the legend). Philosophy won Trivia, HeadsUp, & Pebble Snatch. Foreign Policy won Rock Paper Scissors. In the end, Philosophy of Knowledge won NerdQuest by a landslide with Satire in 2nd and Foreign Policy in 3rd. The Diamond Cutter went to Wesley Leach.

In Term 2, three classes participated in NerdQuest: FoPo, Philosophy, and Stones and Bones. Stones and Bones won, and Porcules went to Franklin Kennedy, who will bring him back in the summer of 2019 as a fourth year.

NerdQuest 2019

In Term 1, Speculative Fiction, Foreign Policy, and Philosophy participated. The events were Harry Potter Trivia, Tetris, Bananagrams, Rock Paper Scissors, and Pebble Snatch. After completing the events (very competitively.) Foreign Policy and Speculative Fiction were tied. The tie breaker was an intense game of Heads Up (Act it Out, no words), where Speculative Fiction beat Foreign Policy....twice. The trophy holders were Miriam Crotwell (MVP of Heads Up) and Trystyn (MVP of Pebble Snatch).

In Term 2, three classes participated in NerdQuest: American Foreign Policy, Philosophy, and Speculative Fiction. FoPo won, and Porcules went to Gracie Rosenberg. However, since she receive both the party glasses and girls serenades, Gracie decided to pass Porcules down to Bridget Straw, who will bring him back in the summer of 2020 as a fourth year.

Winners

• Term I
  • 2012: Philosophy of Knowledge
  • 2013: Philosophy of Knowledge
  • 2014: Apocalypse
  • 2015: Philosophy of Knowledge
  • 2016: The Art of Satire
  • 2017: Philosophy of Knowledge
  • 2018: Philosophy of Knowledge
  • 2019: Speculative Fiction
• Term II
  • 2010: Philosophy of Knowledge
  • 2011: Philosophy of Knowledge
  • 2012: Philosophy of Knowledge
  • 2013: The Brain
  • 2014: Philosophy of Knowledge
  • 2015: The Brain
  • 2016: Arch and Anthro
  • 2017: FoPo
  • 2018: Stones and Bones
  • 2019: FoPo