Deuce! Trivia Quiz

Answer: Tennis

Scoring in tennis follows the pattern love (0), fifteen, thirty, forty with deuce declared when both players have reached forty. Play then continues until one player is able to score two points in a row to win the game. If a player gains 'advantage' but can't win the next point, the score reverts to deuce.

This can make for some rather long games, with advantage going back and forth, especially if the players are evenly matched.

Answer: Figure Skating

Double jumps in figure skating have largely been superceded by triples and even quads, but the double axel remains a good indicator of whether or not an aspiring skater has what it takes to win competitions. The axel is the only standard jump for which the takeoff is made whilst skating forward, making it the hardest of all jumps to perform, as this adds an extra half-rotation to each turn.

Answer: Snowboarding

Snowboarding terminology, I admit, is confusing to me. Essentially, the double cork involves spinning and turning upside down a number of times, whilst high up in the air above the playing surface known as a halfpipe. Invented by American Shaun White, the move caused some controversy before the Winter Olympics in Vancouver in 2010, being thought to be too dangerous. Since then Englishwoman Katie Ormerod has become the first female to perform a double cork 1080.

Answer: Basketball

The double dribble involves using both hands to dribble (bounce) the basketball, and is not allowed. Being called for a double dribble results in the other team getting the ball, and your team being upset with you (at least in gym class). Formally called an illegal dribble, a double dribble also occurs if you stop dribbling, pick up the ball in both hands, then start to dribble again.

Answer: Baseball

For a double play to occur, there must be at least one player already on base, to allow for two outs being made on a single batted ball. A ground ball double play is the most frequent type and typically involves a runner on first base, a ground ball hit to a middle infielder (shortstop or second base) who then throws to the other middle infielder at second base, who touches second, pivots and throws to first to complete the double play. Your scorecard will read 6-4-3 or 4-6-3 after one of these. Occasionally a ball hit to third will result in a 5-4-3 'around the horn' DP, or a fly ball or line drive will be caught and a careless runner will be 'doubled off' their base. Clear as mud? Thought so!

Answer: Darts

At most levels of darts play it is necessary to "double out" to complete, and thus win, a leg. This involves placing your dart inside the narrow space between the two wires around the outside edge of the playing area of the board. Double top refers to the double twenty, at the twelve o'clock position on the dart board.

Answer: Canadian Football

In American Football teams get four attempts (downs) to move the ball ten yards and achieve a first down. The Canadian version of the game only allows three downs to move the ball the same distance, and is played on a longer and wider field (which may or may not be frozen or covered in snow).

Answer: Motorsport

The Formula 1 website describes downforce as 'negative lift', or simply the aerodynamic force that keeps racecars on the track at high speeds. The various airfoils and wings are designed to exert maximum downward force on the cars, especially in corners, to provide as much contact between vehicle and track as can be provided to enable them to go fast without taking flight.

Answer: Cricket

In this case a duck is not a good thing, as it equates to zero, zilch, no runs scored. The reference is to zero being shaped somewhat like a duck's egg, and North Americans might like to compare this to the term 'goose egg' which also means no score, zero, zilch. Even the great Don Bradman was out for a duck, in his final test match for Australia, in 1948 at the Oval.

Answer: Golf

I'm a duffer when it comes to golf - completely incompetent. Only other duffers would want to play with me, and no doubt we'd be very annoying for the competent foursome coming up behind us! The word, unsurprisingly, stems from the Scots word dowfart, meaning a stupid person.