What do we do when everybody wants the last-place pineapple?
Funny'Leave that answer blank,' my cousin whispered. 'We need the pineapple.'
I had bought a pineapple, stuck paper eyes on it and made it the last-place prize at our family quiz. First place got a perfectly respectable paper certificate. The pineapple was meant to stop losing from feeling miserable.
By the final round, one team was openly trying to finish last. Another complained that they had been too good in the early rounds to catch down. My sister won the quiz and then asked whether she could trade the certificate for the pineapple. The actual last-place team declined.
Everyone was laughing, but two people had spent the evening trying to answer properly and felt their teammates had abandoned the game. We're doing another quiz next month. Should I make the silly prop a separate draw, give it to the winner, or ask everyone what kind of game they want before appointing another tropical consolation prize?