I'm an ex-game show writer. Here's how I make the Los Angeles Times News Quiz fun

Key Facts

When the Los Angeles Times decided to launch its version of a news quiz earlier this year, I suddenly found myself tapped to serve as quizmaster — the person responsible for coming up with each week’s questions.
(The day after a Hollywood awards shows was always a mad dash to gin up those superlative questions — the youngest, oldest, most, least type questions.) Creating the Los Angeles Times News Quiz is a lot like that — just with a single newspaper (this one) as source material.
(Sometimes a story that’s published online might fall outside of the one-week window, but if it later appears in print, it’s fair game!) While just about any story worth my Times colleagues’ time and effort could be turned into a quiz question, not every one should be.
The folks at Molly Malone’s Irish Pub in the Fairfax District (one of my top-recommended bar trivia haunts in the city) are graciously allowing us to play an expanded, in-person version of the Los Angeles Times News Quiz on April 10 as part of their regularly scheduled Wednesday-night game.