Photo by Yunbo Wu

The final round of Mindfight, a monthly trivia game show competition within the A2 Residence Hall, will take place on Dec. 5 at 8 p.m. in the East Forum of the Campus Center and is open to the entire NYU Abu Dhabi community.

Four students from each of floors of A2 banded into 10 teams at the beginning of the semester. Participants earned points by correctly answering trivia questions in a series of 10-question rounds against two other teams.

After two sessions, the top six teams advanced to the semifinals. Roberto’s Pussycat Dolls took the lead by earning a perfect score of 10 points after only scoring 3 points in the previous round. Manifest Destiny followed with 12 points, followed by the Dream Team, The United, Cleonardo and Khaleesi’s Tomatoes.

Six teams were pared down to the final three during the semifinals on Nov. 22. Roberto’s Pussycat Dolls, Manifest Destiny and The United will compete in a 25-question final round and vie for the Mindfight trophy.

The questions ranged from former olympic sports to Pablo Picasso quotes.

“We have to do a lot of reading and research to develop unusual and intriguing questions with twists. We don’t ask questions that you can easily google on your phone,” sophomore and Residential Assistant Ieva Liepuoniute explained.

One question asked why 19th-century English football players were paid before games. Another asked contestants to name the location of a famous book titled July IV MDCCLXXVI that no one had read. The answer was: in the hands of the Statue of Liberty.

Mindfight is spearheaded by Liepuoniute and organized by the RAs of A2. Senior Jamie Sutherland hosts the show while fellow senior Roberto El Khoury facilitates the game by reading out loud the contestants’ answers, some of which Liepuoniute described as “ridiculous, that from time to time made everyone laugh,”

Mindfight calls for intellectually curious individuals with “diverse interests. It’s academically challenging, but fun at the same time,” added Liepuoniute.

Liepuoniute began Mindfight in order to create opportunities for freshmen to bond in a relaxed yet intellectually stimulating atmosphere. An experienced Mindfight contestant and facilitator herself, Liepuoniute was inspired by a popular trivia competition among Lithuanian high schools called Mindfight.

“As we've gone on we've seen the teams get more and more competitive,” said Sutherland, anticipating that the competition will culminate in an intense final round. “The competitors have ended up very invested in it all, and it's great to see some healthy competition developing. I hope we'll have a good turn-out to see who's crowned the Mindfight champions — it's been a tough slog to get through to the finals!”

Attendees to the event can win points towards the College Cup by posting a photo with one of the final teams on Facebook at the event.