‘Family Feud meets Jeopardy!’ in Riverhead’s first annual Black History Bowl

There’s a new game coming to town this weekend and according to the organizer it’s going to be a “Family Feud meets Jeopardy ton of fun.”

Tia Fulford, the founder of the Butterfly Effect Project, designed the game — the Black History Bowl — as a way of bringing people of all ages, races and genders together while having fun and learning at the same time.

Each team has 10 players — but there’s a catch. The teams must be diverse. There must be an age range among the team members that qualifies it as intergenerational. Fulford hopes that the older members of the teams will act as a bridge to connect younger members to their history. Diversity on each team will bring awareness to all members of the community about black history, Fulford said.

The rules are simple. Teams register by paying $100 (that’s $10 per teammate) to compete in the quiz bowl. Each team receives a booklet that has all the information needed to answer the questions that will be asked during the game. Fulford said it’s not a question of “gotcha! or to embarrass anyone. The goal is fun and learning.”

The game will be played like a cross between Family Feud and Jeopardy format. Yes, there will be a buzzer to ring in on if you want to answer a question, courtesy of Southampton Town which lent the equipment to Fulford. Players from two opposing teams will come to the podium to get a question. The first player to buzz in gets to answer the question. If he or she is correct, that team then gets to choose the next category — categories range from national historic events to people to local history and others.

The winning team gets all the registration money collected to donate to a charity of its choice. Fulford said that the winner’s donations cannot go to the Butterfly Effect Project. The young women from the Butterfly Effect Project have their own team — she was quick to point out that they had to earn their own registration fee to keep everything completely unbiased.

Fulford herself came up with the questions after doing “lots and lots” of research. She combed the archives of RiverheadLOCAL and other newspapers, the local museum and spoke with historians.

“I learned a lot about Riverhead researching the questions and answers,” said Fulford. “Some of it was pretty shocking.”

Six teams are already registered for the event, but Fulford is looking for four more. To register, download the registration form here. (Note the deadline for registration has been extended.)

Fulford is “looking forward to wearing her Alex Trebek and Steve Harvey hats as emcee.” Members of the community are invited to take part in or watch the first annual Intergenerational Black History Bowl on Saturday, Feb. 17 from 5:30 to 8 p.m. at the David Crohan Center in Flanders.