The shindig featured flashing lights, hundreds of college kids, a good amount of dancing and even a few pick-up lines. But it wasn’t a party, per se.

More than 100 Boston University students passed on the Ashford Street scene Friday night to compete for big bucks at the Thinkfast Big Prize Game Show, testing their brains, musical talent and dance moves.

Thinkfast, one of several Student Activities Office events for its “Weeks of Welcome” campaign, boasted a $1,000 grand prize and took place in the Sargent Activities Center.

“We want to give students the chance to have fun on Friday and Saturday nights on campus, doing things they could probably do downtown, but spend a lot more money [on downtown],” SAO program coordinator Susanna Bartlett said.

Red and green strobe lights flashed through the dark gym while two large, flat-screen televisions flashed video of trampoline acrobats, framing both sides of the competition set.

BU’s Undergraduate Student Fee funded the game show, and the $1,000 prize was included in SAO’s contract with TJohnE Booking and Productions, a traveling game show production company, Bartlett said.

The TJohnE announcer quizzed contestants on trivia in groups of four. He also asked contestants to give their best pick-up lines, perform their best song and show the crowd their best dance moves.

In addition to traditional trivia, a special section called “Straight Talk” asked contestants to predict the answers of random people interviewed on the street.

One question asked what a teenage boy’s “substance of choice was,” and another asked how many one-night stands an elderly man had had. The answers were Cheez Whiz and fewer than five, respectively.

“It was Jeopardy! for the knowledge I actually have,” College of Communication sophomore Amanda Parker said.

Parker said the game show was a nice alternative to the usual weekend activities.

“You do the same thing every night,” she said. “Why not test your skills? You can even tell your mom about it.”

Many contestants said they came with their eyes on the $1000 prize, but first-year School of Law student Amanda Tholke won the prize this year. Tholke, who said she plans to spend her money on “student loans, grocery and bar bills” attributed her success to recording Jeopardy! on TiVo.

SAO Activities Consultant Kyle Langan, a College of Arts and Sciences junior, said the event was originally supposed to take place earlier in the day, but the administration said it was an opportunity to make the event a late-night alternative to alcohol.

Langan said he thinks the trivia show could have been better publicized, because only just over half of the seats were filled.

“It was fun for everyone who did come out, and besides, who doesn’t love winning money?” Langan said.