It started in the
original Trivia thread - that one was closed because of trolling. This here thread is the
Revised Tolkien Trivia, which was started with slightly different rules a bit later. And the "bell" business was something that just started - people started awarding something extra to the person that gave the right answer. Wasn't only bells, at first, either - I remember Nesacat* being given tinsel, amongst other items.
*Nesacat is a long-time member, who still (very) occasionally pops in - like every three years or so...
And your memory is going, far: I explained this to you only three and a half years ago...
The Revised Tolkien Trivia