On Tuesday, 28 April 2026, as part of the FUZ&JA project, a lecture by the well-known Croatian quiz player Morana Zibar was held under the title The Quiz Mindset and How to Acquire It: Or What University Taught Me and What Life Taught Me. Through her personal story and diverse professional experience, Morana Zibar presented her journey from a passionate reader to a well-known “Chaser” on the Croatian quiz show Potjera.
Morana began the lecture by reflecting on her “analogue” childhood and what shaped her most, both as a person and as a quiz player – namely, the “quiz brain”. As the only child of university-educated parents, Morana showed a great love of reading from an early age, as well as watching what was then the most famous quiz show, Kviskoteka. Although her desire to demonstrate the knowledge she had acquired continued to grow, opportunities that matched her broad interests were simply lacking. This eventually led her to take part in various school and extracurricular activities that greatly contributed to her relentless thirst for knowledge.
After briefly looking back on her childhood and the beginnings of her curiosity, Morana Zibar also spoke about her first experiences of participating in quizzes of different formats. In her early twenties, she attended a pub quiz for the first time and realised how much she enjoyed being part of such a friendly yet competitive atmosphere. Although her first steps in pub quizzes involved somewhat less strategy than today, Morana believes that those experiences were just as valuable as those that followed. In addition to pub quizzes, Morana also took part in the well-known World Quizzing Championships, which she still describes as a wonderful experience that further shaped her as a quiz player.
The next part of the lecture focused on her path to Potjera and advice for aspiring quiz players. When Potjera was looking for its “Chasers”, a large number of men and women took part in the selection process. The testing consisted of a written and an oral part, although some candidates withdrew because they felt uncomfortable in front of the cameras. Morana stood out in particular as someone with extensive experience and a very natural presence in front of the camera, as demonstrated by the fact that she remains a regular on Potjera to this day. Speaking from personal experience, Morana gave the audience a realistic insight into the fact that quizzes were never like exams for her, but rather an opportunity to assess her own knowledge and participate. Among the most important characteristics of a good quiz player, she highlighted organic learning, which should continue throughout life and be driven by inexhaustible curiosity, as well as having a broad range of interests. She also emphasised the importance of viewing everything around us as a question to which we want to find an answer. For her, the quiz mindset is highly useful and desirable, and through it we can connect with others in the most unexpected situations, for example with a taxi driver from Mauritius in New York.
She concluded the lecture with the thought that general knowledge and keeping up with current events can provide a strong foundation for anyone’s knowledge, which is particularly important in today’s world of artificial intelligence and information overload. The lecture was followed by interesting questions from the audience, ranging from the most neglected areas of knowledge, fees and artificial intelligence to both pleasant and less pleasant moments in front of the camera. Morana stressed that such moments should not discourage us and that we should always keep moving forward despite mistakes and (self-)criticism.
Text: Ivana Duvnjak
Photographs: Reroot Agency