17th Annual
The Kings County Spelling Bee is Brooklyn RFC's annual charity spelling competition. Seventeen editions in, we've added a few wrinkles.
November 11
Doors 6:30PM · Bee 7:30PM
The Cutting Room
44 E 32nd St, New York, NY
The bee starts in
This is a real spelling bee. A field of contestants takes the stage and, one at a time, each must spell a word correctly. They have 90 seconds, from the moment the word is read, to use any standard spelling bee assists (definition, part of speech, language of origin) and then spell the word aloud.
Spell it correctly and you advance. Spell it wrong and you're out. The words get harder each round. Last person standing wins.
Every contestant has a Honey Pot, a live fund that the audience controls. Back any contestant at any time from your phone. Their balance shows up on the scoreboard in real time.
Contestants can spend their Honey Pot in two ways:
Pause mid-spelling and have the Judge reveal the next correct letter in the word (up to three at a time). The clock keeps running.
After being ruled incorrect, buy a second shot at the same word.
The more the crowd loves you, the better your safety net.
Starting in Round 2, every round opens with a live auction. The Host puts a Punishment up for bid. Audience members shout out bids (feel free to pool with other audience members, just make sure you're good for the payment) and the winning bidder assigns the Punishment to any contestant they choose.
Punishments escalate as the night goes on:
The targeted contestant gets the word. Just the word. No definition, no sentence, no language of origin.
Eat a spicy chicken wing before you spell. Hot Ones follows you: every round it's active, the sauce gets hotter.
The winning bidder takes the stage and covers the targeted contestant for two full rounds, spelling their words and absorbing any punishments aimed at them along the way. If the bidder succeeds through both rounds, the contestant walks free. If the bidder misspells or loses a challenge, the contestant is out.
Two contestants, four hot dogs each, race to finish. The loser is eliminated.
Two contestants lip sync battle. Winner advances without spelling a word. Loser still has to spell.
A wheel of gouda. A knife. The winning bidder and the targeted contestant each split it as evenly as they can. Whoever's cut is further off loses, and for the contestant, that means elimination.
The winner takes home
The audience has a hand in getting them there.