You are cordially invited to stay up all night long with Punny Money’s 24-Hour Blog Marathon for charity. The party starts this Saturday, July 29th at 9am Eastern Time and runs until the same time on Sunday. We’ll be partying with hundreds of other bloggers around the world, but to help make this party even more memorable, we’ll also be having a Really Hard Trivia Contest!

When: Saturday, July 29, 2006 at 9am Eastern Time until Sunday, July 30, 2006 at 9am Eastern Time. Didn’t I already say that?

Rules: It’s a Really Hard Trivia Contest! Check back every hour at Punny Money for a new Really Hard Trivia Question. There’s no telling when the question will be posted each hour, so keep that Refresh button handy and visit often to see if a new question has been posted. Oh, and absolutely any topic is fair game for the questions, so you may need some help from friends, family, or your favorite search engine to answer some of them.

Here’s how it’ll work:

1. One Really Hard Trivia Question will be posted during each hour of the Marathon. Since the Marathon is 24 hours, there will be 24 questions.
2. Write a comment on the post with your guess, making sure to specify your Name and E-mail Address in the proper fields (and your website, but that’s optional). One guess per person per question, but you can take a guess at all 24 questions!
3. Points will be awarded like this:
   
   
   • One (1) point for the first guess each question receives, even if it’s wrong or complete gibberish! So be the first to see the question and post any comment, and you’re guaranteed a point! But remember, you only get one guess per question, so if you know the correct answer, you’ll want to be sure to give it.
   • Three (3) points for the first correct guess. If you’re the first with a correct answer and your guess is also the first comment received, you’ll receive four (4) points total!
   • One (1) point for each subsequent correct guess after the first. So even if you weren’t the first with the correct guess, you can still reply with the correct guess before time is up and score a point.

   
   

4. When the time comes to post the next question, I’ll close the comments for the previous question. Be careful, I won’t be giving any warning as to when the previous question will close! The next question will include the point standings so far along with–surprise surprise–the next Really Hard Trivia Question!
5. In the event of a tie after all 24 questions have been asked and closed, I’ll post one more tiebreaker question. The first person tied for the lead (or for second place, if that’s where the tie is) to answer the tie-breaker correctly wins sole possession of their place.

Prizes: The first place prize will be awarded to the person with the most points at the end of the contest. That person will receive a $50 e-gift certificate to any store of his or her choice that offers gift certificates you can send by e-mail in the amount of $50. In addition, the first place winner will also have a $25 donation made by us in his or her name to Punny Money’s Blog Marathon charity, First Book.

The second place prize will go to the person with the second most points at the end of the contest. He or she will receive a $25 e-gift certificate to any store of his or her choice that offers gift certificates you can send by e-mail in the amount of $25.

Disclaimer: Punny Money is the final judge as to the validity of contest entries. Immediate family of Nick are ineligible (sorry, sweetie!). Contest rules subject to change (but why would I do that?), void where prohibited, live long and prosper.

And that’s all there is to it! Leave a comment here if you have any questions about how the contest works.

What’s that? You want a Really Hard Trivia Question right now? Okay, then here’s one to get you started. I’ll leave it open until the Marathon starts on Saturday at 9am, and I’ll even award points as specified above (1 point for first guess, 3 points for first correct guess, 1 point for subsequent correct guesses). Those points will carry over to the rest of the contest, so here’s your chance to get a jump on the competition!

Really Hard Trivia Question #0:
What 1980s televised animated series still holds the crown for the Disney cartoon which ran for the most seasons?