Blokken 4000

One of the most popular TV programs here in Belgium is without doubt Blokken. It's a daily quiz broadcasted around 6.30 pm until the seven o'clock news. Five days a week, from the first week of September until the last week of June.

The quizmaster is - and always was - Ben Crabbé, drummer of popgroup De Kreuners. The quiz goes like this:

Every day two competitors start against each other. In the first round they have to answer 10 questions. He or she who answers first can put down two blocks on the Blokken-field.  When you can make a line, you get extra points. In the next round each player plays individually. Five questions, and you can start with whatever item you like best, giving one to five blocks to each answer. When you play well, you can earn 300 points, or even 350. Then in the third round each answer gains 50 points, but when you're wrong, 50 points are deleted. Some players gain over 1,000 points per episode.

The winner of the third round plays the finale, in which he or she has to find a word of 8 letters. If you succeed, you win 1,000 Euro, and you can return as often as you keep winning. The best player ever came 11 times.

Now the quiz is near its four thousand episode, and for this reason only the best players of the last years are competing against eacht other, two men against two women. Alas, the women are out and the final round will be Sander against Dean. (I hope Sander wins, he plays most fairly.)

You can also play this quiz at home, on your computer. Then you play against another online player, and I like this game. I often win, scoring high.