It's been my experience that the power marking is intended to reward "unusual" or "un-academic" facts about the answer. Here's an example..."Known in Latin as Aquisgranum.." was all I needed to get "Aix-La-Chapelle" or "Aachen" at NAQT sectionals because of my fascination with the Carolingian Empire and Charlemagne's Capital. Everything about knowing the answer from just that information is strictly non-academic, meaning, in my understanding of the word, that, whatever knowledge you may have learned in school about "Aachen" PROBABLY doesn't include your professor telling you something as trivial as "The Romans named it Aquisgranum". Things like that, are just that, trivial...either you have to really pay attention or have some teacher who's crazy enough to find that important. Another example, from ICT was (Roughly) "It was originally thought to be from the 3rd or 4th century but in actuality from the 7th or 8th century" the answer was "The Donation of Constantine" which is somewhat obscure, but students who have studied Lorenzo Valla or historicism will know that. I would say, however, that the power in that situation, was based upon the obscurity of the answer and not, per se, an entirely trivial clue. And such are examples of the NAQT Power. As personal preference, I think Powers are great for rewarding players who possess the knowledge to be able to answer the question before the final clue. Those are my Two Cents.
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