In general, players do not utilize the Presidents Gazeteer as advantageously as they might. Many clues are written in such a way that players can use the gazeteer to eliminate some presidents from the range.
Here are some examples for the range 13-24.
- The clue says, “I was from a different party than my predecessor.” Then you can eliminate Buchanan, a Democrat who followed a Democrat, as well as Hayes, Garfield, and Arthur, all Republicans who followed Republicans.
- Clue: “I was born and died in the same state.” That narrows down the choices to Fillmore (born and died in New York), Pierce (New Hampshire), Buchanan (Pennsylvania), Hayes (Ohio), and Cleveland (New Jersey).
- The clue mentions the president’s service in the Army during the Civil War. You can eliminate #13-17.
During practice, review the clues of each question to point out to students how they could have narrowed the possibilities from some or all of the clues. At least, they can make a better guess if they still are not sure after the 2-point clue. Players should cross out the numbers of the eliminated presidents on their answer sheet. In this way, they won’t pick an answer on the 2-point clue that they should have crossed out on the 6-pointer.