Odyssey Quiz, known for its reputation of conducting some of the nail-biting quiz sessions in the league of open quizzes in India, took all quiz lovers to the next level of competition. The quiz was held like every year on the 26th January at the Music Academy, Chennai.

Odyssey's quizzing event has become synonymous to 'Republic Day' and is presented itself for 7th consecutive year. The quiz saw a mammoth 800 teams participating this year.

This event had total prize money of over Rs. 1.7 lakhs, tipped to be one of the biggest prize monies for an open quiz in India.

Metaquizziks (Arul Mani, Mitesh, Kiran) took the honor this year as they took away Rs.45,000 worth of Odyssey Gift Vouchers along with glittering trophies and the first & second runners-up took Rs. 30,000 & Rs. 22,500 worth of Odyssey Gift Vouchers respectively. QED’s Samanth, Swami and Ramana scored 10 points on the last question of the quiz to emerge 2nd. Vaanar Brothers (of the Bombay Quiz Club) emerged 3rd with 76 points against 73 by 'Eternal Moonshine of the Spotless Behind' who came close at 4th.

Odyssey had announced a special prize for the ‘Best Team Name' with everyone giving it a shot to win Rs.6000 worth vouchers. The Aussie uproar found quite a few takers who came up with names like 'Best Seller: How to win friends & influence umpires by Ricky Ponting', 'Dr. Symonds - How we stopped worrying and loved bhajji'.

There were the usual names based on Madras – 'Idly, Sambar, Vadai', 'Mama, Machan, Maapilley', 'Madipakkam Mannagkatties'.

The 2nd best team name was 'Nano Tatapolama' and the winner team name was - 'Hi, please leave a message after the beep. We are the answering machine!'

In school category PSBB & Vidya Mandir took the honor. The team from PSBB Sr. Sec. School, Nugambakkam, came 1st, followed by a team from Vidya Mandir, Mylapore, in 2nd and PSBB Sr. Sec. School, K.K. Nagar, at 3rd.

Some of questions asked during the quiz include:
Q: T.N. Srikantaiah was a Kannada writer whose most famous work was a book about Indian poetry. He is best remembered today for coining a word as a member of the Indian Constitution council. This was accepted unanimously and is still in use. What is the word?
A: RASHTRAPATI

Q: On which specific date was the Boeing Dreamliner unveiled to the public?
A: July 8, 2007

Q: What common Indian dish is etymologically a combination of flour and salt in at least four major Indian languages?
A: UPPMA

Q: The word is derived from the Latin 'dictus' meaning 'having been said'. The word was originally used in religious manuscripts to avoid repetition of month names in a series of dates. What commonly used English word are we talking about?
A: DITTO

Q: Also called the intertidal or littoral zone, what term is given to that part of a beach that is exposed by low tides and submerged by high tides?
A: FORESHORE

Q: This place recently reverted back to its pre-British era name of Sohra. The British finding the name to be a tongue-twister simplified it and added a Bengali term to describe a cluster of villages as a suffix. What was the British name of this place?
A: CHERRAPUNJI

Q: A new competitive route to the Panama and Suez canals is emerging and this will drastically cut some shipping distances. Who or what is responsible for this emergence?
A: GLOBAL WARMING

Q: Simon's aunt asked him whether there was a book on this subject to give to a friend. Simon discovered that none had been published, and with Schuster, launched a company to exploit the opportunity. Their first book employed a clever marketing ploy:
1921 - Coue
1922 - Mah Jongg
1923 - Bananas
1924 - ?
A: CROSSWORD PUZZLES

Odyssey Quiz 2008 was brought in association with Radio City, Emaar MGF. Television Partner is Jaya Plus and Outdoor Partner is Outdoor Advertising Professionals.