Thursday Game Recaps

Even with one of our busiest Thursday venues taking a night off, we still welcomed 107 teams across 14 games:

FIRST ROUND:

We began Thursday’s game with a look at Eva Peron, the recent World Cup semi-finals, and this upcoming film set to make its star a literal ton of money:

With few surprises in the first round, we saw a whopping 32 teams run the table with perfect scores.

SECOND ROUND:

Thursday’s audio question featured clips from the TV comedies “Leave It to Beaver”, “Alice”, and “Archer”.  We went back to school with some German students and discussed this music video:

The only major speed bump for our teams in the second round was this question on scientists:

–> Which Russian chemist (and namesake for element 101) created the modern version of the Periodic Table of Elements?

Only 31% of the field responded correctly with Dmitri Mendeleev.  As a result, only six teams recorded perfect second round scores.

HALFTIME:

American “Capitals of the World” were featured on Thursday’s halftime page, which yielded an overall average of 15.9 points with six perfect scores.  These were your highest-scoring first half teams on Thursday night:

• Lowered Expectations (Quincy’s):  92
• The Bends (Dawg House):  92
• PC Principals (Fish Market):  91
• Clever Team Name (Quincy’s):  91
• SIX TEAMS TIED WITH 90 POINTS

THIRD ROUND:

Thursday’s second half began with our nightly Three Clues question, with this edition looking at a particular musical instrument:

CLUE 1: This instrument is found in nine varieties including sopranissimo and subcontrabass, the latter of which is about eight feet tall.

CLUE 2: This instrument is named for a 19th century Belgian musician.

Only 11% of our teams earned bonus points by knowing that Adolphe Sax was the namesake for this instrument, whose subcontrabass versions is shown here:

Later, we learned that Franklin Roosevelt was the first U.S. President to be inaugurated in January after the passing of the 20th Amendment to the Constitution.  Another difficult bonus question followed while discussing the novel “Great Expectations”, as only seven teams could identify Alfonso Cuaron as the director of the film adaptation featuring Ethan Hawke, Anne Bancroft, and Gwyneth Paltrow.  As a result, none of our teams recorded perfect third round scores.

6-4-2 QUESTION:

–> Which U.S. state is home to the largest county (by area) in the contiguous United States, covering more than 20,000 square miles?

Only seven teams earned the full six points by knowing that the county in question is California’s San Bernardino County:

(map courtesy of worldatlas.com)

FOURTH ROUND:

Final round topics from Thursday night included fictitious TV businesses, the history of the MLB All-Star Game, and the island of Zanzibar.  We closed the fourth round with the most difficult wagering question of the night, which was a bit of a surprise since it involved a wildly popular Disney film:

–> Not only is this composer is the most recent person to have completed the EGOT, but he is the only person to have won each award twice. For your wager, you can either name this composer or name the song for which he earned an Oscar to complete his first EGOT.

Only 14% of our teams could come up with either answer: Robert Lopez and “Let it Go” from “Frozen”:

Once again, the final round did not yield any perfect scores.  These were your top Thursday team heading into the final question:

• PC Principals (Fish Market):  164
• Anarcho-Syndicalist Commune  (​Smoketown Brewing):  156
• Fan Club (Quincy’s):  155
• Lowered Expectations (Quincy’s):  153
• Uranus Fly Trap  (​Smoketown Brewing):  152

THURSDAY’S FINAL QUESTION (34.6% success rate):

–> Which food brand derives its name from a Spanish word meaning “little golden things”?

Just over one-third of our teams responded correctly here: perhaps they remembered that the lost city of gold was “El Dorado”, or that diminutive Spanish usually end with the letters “ito”.  Either way, they gave us the correct answer of Doritos.  Congratulations to Brother of Menelaus (Fish Market), who recorded the only Perfect 21 on Thursday night thanks to correct answers on all wagering questions.  Here is your final Thursday leaderboard:

• PC Principals (Fish Market):  165
• Lowered Expectations (Quincy’s):  165
• Anarcho-Syndicalist Commune (​Smoketown Brewing):  165
• Brother of Menelaus (Fish Market):  164
• Uranus Fly Trap (​Smoketown Brewing):  164
• Breadsticks (Quincy’s):  161
• 1-2-3 Drink (Cushwa Brewing):  159
• Syn Storm (Beef ‘O’ Brady’s):  158
• Five Sure (Black Walnut Brewery):  157
• Clever Team Name (Quincy’s):  154

THURSDAY’S WINNERS:

The Grille at Flower Hill in Gaithersburg, MD:  Farewell Tour  (Next week’s first category: “Big Brother” – U.S. Edition)

Black Walnut Brewery in Leesburg, VA:  Five Sure  (Next week’s first category: Ireland)

Dawg House in Waynesboro, PA:  Bends  (Next week’s first category: “Talladega Nights”)

After a night off to celebrate Independence Day, Pour House Trivia returned with a full slate of Thursday games.  Overall, we welcomed 110 teams across 14 venues.

FIRST ROUND:

We began Thursday’s game with opening round questions concerning film prequels, Ralph Lauren (and his cameo on “Friends”), and this majestic National Park:

The first stanza also included a surprisingly difficult bonus question.  After most of our teams knew that Yellowstone was the first National Park in U.S. history, we offered two bonus points to any team that could also name the year in which the park was commissioned.  Even with a ten-year window either way, only eight teams landed close enough to the correct answer of 1872.  As a result, only six teams earned a perfect first round score.

SECOND ROUND:

Thursday’s audio question included three songs which included the word “Tears” in the title: “Tears in Heaven” by Eric Clapton, “Tears of a Clown” by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, and “No Tears Left to Cry” by Ariana Grande.  Later, we asked about this celebrity who once referred to himself as a “Cablinasian” due to his diverse ethnic background:

After a difficult bonus question regarding Scottish geography (specifically, the Orkney Islands), only two teams ran the table in the second round: Clever Team Name (Quincy’s) and Brother of Menelaus (Fish Market).

HALFTIME:

Thursday’s halftime round featured pictures of film scenes featuring dancing, with the bottom half quizzed our teams on the highest-grossing restaurant chains in the country.  As with any question in which teams must give a straight list of answers, earning most of the points is easy, while earning all of the points can be extremely difficult.  Such was the case tonight, as the overall average reached a relatively high 17.2 points with just ONE TEAM earning the full 20 points: We Just Blue Ourselves (Fish Market).  Here is Thursday’s halftime leaderboard:

• Clever Team Name (Quincy’s):  92
• Brother of Menelaus (Fish Market):  90
• PC Principals (Fish Market):  88
• We Just Blue Ourselves (Fish Market):  86
• Wingin’ It (Dawg House):  85

THIRD ROUND:

Whenever the Over / Under category is announced, it is a popular choice for the bonus category (especially when Opera as another option), and Thursday was no exception, as the Over / Under topic would be sports.  However, this proved to be one of the more difficult questions of the night, with less than half of our teams answering any two of the three questions correctly, and only nine teams earning bonus points with three correct answers.  We continued with a discussion of the alloy electrum and this fashionable piece of TV history:

The latter portion of the round did not let up on our teams, as questions on the Volkswagen Golf and the opera “Madame Butterfly” meant that the third round did not yield any perfect scores.

FOURTH ROUND:

We began Thursday’s final round with a look at the Chris Issak song “Wicked Game” (and its sultry music video), but only seven teams earned bonus points by knowing that Issak would go on to appear as a SWAT team member in the film “Silence of the Lambs”:

Speaking of wicked, we closed Thursday’s game with the two most difficult wagering questions of the night.  First up, this query combining politics and sports:

–> Instead of pitting the two major parties against each other, the annual Congressional Women’s Softball Game features a team of bipartisan Congresswomen playing a team of women with what occupation?

Only 16% of the field responded correctly with journalists.  Finally, our nightly Three Clues question dealt with three uses of the word “Birdman”, but even after hearing all three clues, only 37% of our teams earned any points here.  Just as in the third round, none of our teams swept the final round on Thursday night.  These were your highest scoring Thursday teams after four rounds of play:

• Brother of Menelaus (Fish Market):  158
• PC Principals (Fish Market):  157
• We Just Blue Ourselves (Fish Market):  152
• Wingin’ It (Dawg House):  150
• Thoroughly Screwed (Bunker Sports Cafe):  148

THURSDAY’S FINAL QUESTION (7.9% success rate):

–> For your wager, what is the only letter of the alphabet which begins the names of three different countries that all border each other on the continent of Africa?

In what was the most difficult final question of the Summer Fling season, only eight teams gave us the correct answer on the final question.  Our successful teams headed to west central Africa to derive the correct answer of C:

Thanks to the final question, none of our teams managed to record the Perfect 21 tonight.  Here is your final overall leaderboard from Thursday night:

• We Just Blue Ourselves (Fish Market):  164
• Fan Club (Quincy’s):  159
• Rum Ham (Olde Mother Brewing):  157
• You Can’t Sit With Us (Fish Market):  154
• 1-2-3 Drink (Cushwa Brewing):  149
• Slapsgiving (Cushwa Brewing):  148
• Brother of Menelaus (Fish Market):  146
• PC Principals (Fish Market):  145
• Pen Cap (Fish Market):  145
• Interrogangbang (Fish Market):  145

THURSDAY’S WINNERS:

The Grille at Flower Hill in Gaithersburg, MD:  Salty Spittoon  (Next week’s first category: Nintendo History)

Black Walnut Brewery in Leesburg, VA:  Five Sure  (Next week’s first category: FIFA World Cup)

Dawg House in Waynesboro, PA:  YOLO Swaggins  (Next week’s first category: Triple 50/50: Starbucks or Dunkin’ Donuts)

Orioles Nest #331 in Frederick, MD:  NO GAME THIS WEEK  (Next week’s first category: “SpongeBob SquarePants”)

Thursday’s game of Pour House Trivia featured 112 teams playing at 16 venues:

FIRST ROUND:

The opening round featured our nightly Three Clues question, with Thursday’s version asking about a certain animal:

CLUE 1: Found in the Castor genus, a variety of this animal is the national animal of Canada.

CLUE 2: It is the namesake for a film starring Mel Gibson and Jodie Foster.

Considering it was worth bonus points, the second clue referenced a film that was rather obscure, as only 11 teams earned this two-point bonus:

In a bit of a coincidence, the third clue mentioned Oregon State University, whose baseball team won the College World Series on Thursday night.  After a quick video game break and a visit to Shondaland, only six teams ran the table in the opening stanza with a perfect score.

SECOND ROUND:

We played three songs with questionable titles in Thursday’s audio question: “Where is the Love?” by Black Eyed Peas, “Do Ya Think I’m Sexy?” by Rod Stewart, and “What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?” by R.E.M.  We also discussed the George Clooney film “Up in the Air” and looked at this process by which a new Pope is chosen:

The second round proved to be the easiest of the four rounds, as nine teams earned perfect scores.

HALFTIME:

Celebrities with edible names were featured on Thursday’s halftime page.  Eight teams recorded perfect scores, with the overall average coming in at 17.5 points.  These were your highest scoring first half teams on Thursday:

• Momentary Lapse of Reason (Beef O’ Brady’s):  89
• Washington Foreskins (Bunker Sports Cafe):  89
• Harsh Reality (Beef O’ Brady’s):  88
• Not Your Team (Dawg House):  88
• PC Principals (Fish Market):  88
• Your Mom (Bunker Sports Cafe):  88

THIRD ROUND:

The third round opened with questions on foreign currency and this meteorological device:

As usual, the most difficult wagering question of the night was asked in the third round:

–> After South Sudan gained its independence, the country of Sudan lost the distinction of being the largest African nation in terms of land area.  What African nation is currently the largest on the continent?

Only 17% of our teams answered correctly with Algeria.  After concluding the round with a look at Sikhism, only one team ran the table in the third round: Dave Martinez School of Management (The Grille at Flower Hill).

6-4-2 QUESTION:

–> Which U.S. state is home to more minor league baseball teams than any other state in country, despite the fact that NONE of those teams play at the Triple-A level?

Only nine teams earned the full six points with the correct answer of Florida, which is home to more than 40 minor league teams.

FOURTH ROUND:

Thursday’s final round began with a look at this blaxploitation film (and its recent remake):

In a somewhat related question, we also looked at the the two countries which have legalized recreational marijuana use: Canada and Uruguay.  Three teams scored 36 points in the final round: Lowered Expectations (Quincy’s), Harsh Reality (Beef O’ Brady’s), PC Principals (Fish Market).  Here is Thursday’s overall leaderboard after four rounds of play:

• Dave Martinez School of Management (The Grille at Flower Hill):  163
• Harsh Reality (Beef O’ Brady’s):  160
• Power Vacuum (Champion Billiards):  157
• PC Principals (Fish Market):  156
• Washington Foreskins (Bunker Sports Cafe):  154
• Momentary Lapse of Reason (Beef O’ Brady’s):  154

THURSDAY’S FINAL QUESTION (15.7% correct):

–> With more than 120 million followers each, these two females are the most-followed American celebrities on Instagram.  Name BOTH of these women, each of whom is currently 25 years old.

Just under one-sixth of the field earned points with the correct answers of Ariana Grande and Selena Gomez.  With such a difficult final question, only one team earned the Perfect 21 tonight with correct answers on all wagering questions.  Not surprisingly, it was Dave Martinez School of Management (The Grille at Flower Hill).  These were your highest scoring teams on Thursday:

• Dave Martinez School of Management (The Grille at Flower Hill):  175
• Momentary Lapse of Reason (Beef O’ Brady’s):  166
• Castle Greyskull (Quincy’s):  164
• PC Principals (Fish Market):  163
• Power Vacuum (Champion Billiards):  157
• Unathletico Madrid (Guido’s):  157
• Harsh Reality (Beef O’ Brady’s):  153
• Dan Quayle’s Dumpster Fire (Quincy’s):  146
• Washington Foreskins (Bunker Sports Cafe):  142
• Cranius Maximus (Bunker Sports Cafe):  140

THURSDAY’S WINNERS:

The Grille at Flower Hill in Gaithersburg, MD:  Dave Martinez School of Management  (Next week’s first category: Uruguay)

Black Walnut Brewery in Leesburg, VA:  Mouse Rat  (Next week’s first category: Spiderman)

Dawg House in Waynesboro, PA:  Wingin’ It  (Next week’s first category: “Dirty Dancing”)

Thursday’s game of Pour House Trivia featured 113 teams across 16 venues, one of which featured a three-way tie for first place after the final question!

FIRST ROUND:

Our opening round questions were fairly easy on Thursday night, but in what would become a running theme, one bonus question in each round prevented many teams from notching a perfect score.  In the first stanza, we looked at the advertising taglines of the U.S. Marines, celebrities with the surname of Oliver, and the courtship of Barack and Michelle Obama.  The final bonus question of the round asked our teams to name the recent film which depicted the early days of that relationship.  Only seven teams gave us this correct response:

As a result, only two teams ran the table in the first round: Lowered Expectations (Quincy’s) and Washington Foreskins (Bunker Sports Cafe).

SECOND ROUND:

Thursday’s audio question featured three music groups whose names include those of baseball teams, specifically Thompson Twins (“Hold Me Now”), Damn Yankees (“High Enough”), and They Might Be Giants (“Birdhouse in Your Soul”).  The second round also included questions regarding the newest “Jurassic Park” sequel, the E3 Convention, and the NFL playoffs, but once again, a single bonus question proved to be the only roadblock for most teams.  We asked our teams to name the two most populous U.S. cities whose names contain the letter ‘Q’.  While virtually every team remembered that Albuquerque was at the top of the list, only seven teams earned bonus points by remembering that suburb of Dallas:

Once again, only two teams earned perfect scores in the second round: Just Good Enough (Champion Billiards) and PC Principals (Fish Market).

HALFTIME:

A floral arrangement highlighted Thursday’s halftime page, which saw an average score of 16.7 points, while 11 teams showed off their horticultural skills with perfect scores.  Here is Thursday’s halftime leaderboard:

• Just Good Enough (Champion Billiards):  90
• PC Principals (Fish Market):  90
• Your Mom (Bunker Sports Cafe):  88
• Momentary Lapse of Reason (Beef O’ Brady’s):  87
• Tuna Noodle Casserole (Guido’s):  87
• Sack of Marbles (Cushwa Brewing):  87
• The Bends (Cushwa Brewing):  87

THIRD ROUND:

Thursday’s second half began with a question on European geography before moving into the subject of the Olympics.  Many of our players were surprised to hear that three-on-three (or half court) basketball will be included in the next Summer Olympics in Tokyo:

After a Three Clues question on “The Sopranos”, we asked the most difficult wagering question of the night:

–> As the counterpart of Ceres, who is the Greek goddess of agriculture and the harvest?

Only 21% of our teams responded correctly with Demeter.  Once again, only two teams earned perfect scores in the third round: Brother of Menelaus (Fish Market) and PC Principals (Fish Market).

FOURTH ROUND:

The final stanza opened with a three-part question on candy statistics, including a reference to the largest Toblerone bar available on Amazon.com:

After continuing with questions on camels and the band Hoobastank, we closed the final round by asking our teams to name any two of the three wishes put forth by the title character in the animated Disney film “Aladdin”.  Only 12% of our teams earned bonus points with the three correct answers of become a prince, be saved from drowning, and free the Genie.  The final round did not yield any perfect scores.  Here is Thursday’s overall leaderboard after four rounds of play:

• PC Principals (Fish Market):  164
• Brother of Menelaus (Fish Market):  159
• Lowered Expectations (Quincy’s):  155
• Tuna Noodle Casserole (Guido’s):  153
• Uranus Fly Trap (​Smoketown Brewing):  153

THURSDAY’S FINAL QUESTION (65.2% success rate):

–> At a state dinner held in 1972, Richard Nixon held a toast for which infant, correctly predicting that that he would eventually become a world leader?

Nearly two-thirds of the field responded correctly with Justin Trudeau.  Only two teams earned the Perfect 21 tonight with correct answers on all wagering questions: PC Principals (Fish Market) and Brother of Menelaus (Fish Market), but the accomplishment of the latter is the only “official” one, as PC Principals played tonight’s game with nine team members.  Here is your final leaderboard for Thursday night:

• Brother of Menelaus (Fish Market):  165
• Lowered Expectations (Quincy’s):  162
• Clever Team Name (Quincy’s):  161
• Unatheltico Madrid (Guido’s):  161
• Breadsticks (Quincy’s):  160
• North Country (Quincy’s):  160
• I Dont Care, You Do (Right Around the Corner):  159
• 50 Shades of Grey Matter (Dawg House):  158
• Vitrifiers (Champion Billiards):  158
• Power Vacuum (Champion Billiards):  157

PC Principals (Fish Market) recorded the highest score of the night with 172 points, but only receives an honorable mention thanks to its oversized team.

THURSDAY’S WINNERS:

The Grille at Flower Hill in Gaithersburg, MD:  King’s Bitches  (Next week’s first category: Triple 50/50 – Marvel or DC Comics?)

Black Walnut Brewery in Leesburg, VA:  My Name is Judge  (Next week’s first category: Famous Dogs)

Dawg House in Waynesboro, PA:  50 Shades of Grey Matter  (Next week’s first category: “Star Wars: The Clone Wars”)

Thursday night featured the opening of the newest Pour House Trivia venue: Art’s Tavern in Falls Church, where host Scott had his hands full with nine teams!  We also returned to Orioles Nest #331 in Frederick for a new Thursday night game.  All told, we welcomed 103 teams across 16 venues:

FIRST ROUND:

The first round was a breeze for our teams on this Thursday evening, as the field rolled through questions regarding U.S. Presidents, the McIntosh apple, and the Ernest Hemingway House in Key West.  We closed with a question on the early 1980s comedy film:

After one round of play, 14 teams were sporting perfect scores.

SECOND ROUND:

Hopes for a perfect second round were quickly dashed as the round began with a audio question featuring current TV theme songs.  I suppose most people hit the “Skip Intro” button now when watching these shows, as very few teams recognized the theme songs to “Veep”, “The Good Place”, and “Brooklyn Nine Nine”.  Only 34% of the field earned any points here, with just nine teams earning bonus points with three correct answers.  Later, we looked at the Gregorian calendar, the Irish phrase “Erin Go Bragh”, and closed with a question in the category of pop singers:

–> At just 19 years old, which Canadian singer has already scored numerous hits such as “Treat You Better”, “Mercy”, and “In My Blood”. Last week, he landed his third consecutive studio album atop the Billboard 200 chart.

Just over half of our teams knew that the correct answer was current sensation Shawn Mendes:

The second round yielded just one perfect score: Brother of Menelaus (Fish Market).

HALFTIME:

Thursday’s halftime page featured items that share their names with dog breeds.  We saw several teams offer up the clever resonse of ‘golden retriever’ beneath the picture of Mark Spitz.  Overall, eight teams earned perfect scores with an overall average score of 16.3 points.  Here are your Thursday leaders at the halftime break:

• Brother of Menelaus (Fish Market):  91
• PC Principals (Fish Market):  89
• Fan Club (Quincy’s Bar):  89
• Your Mom (Bunker Sports Cafe):  88
• Dire Wolves (Olde Mother Brewing):  86

THIRD ROUND:

Thursday’s second half began with our nightly Three Clues question, which focused on an NBA team:

CLUE 1: This was the only expansion team to join the league in the 12 years following the merger with the ABA.

CLUE 2: One of its two official mascots is an anthropomorphic horse named Champ.

Only 12% of our teams earned two bonus points here with the early correct answer of the Dallas Mavericks:

We continued with a question concerning the derivation of the phrase “40 Acres and a Mule”, the achievements of actresses named Helen (Hunt and Mirren), and the invention of Kevlar.  Once again, the third round yielded just one perfect score, and once again it Brother of Menelaus (Fish Market) who notched 36 points.

FOURTH ROUND:

We threw a few of our teams for a loop on this question in the category of alcohol:

–> Which French liqueur introduced in the 18th century lends its name to a color that is a mix of green and yellow?

While absinthe is certainly a green-colored spirit, it does not lend its name to a color.  About half of our teams came up with the correct response of chartreuse, but we saw many teams wagering nine points on an incorrect answer.  The final round also included a question on this recently revived TV series:

Four teams earned perfect final round scores on Thursday: fan Club (Quincy’s), North Country (Quincy’s), Title One Forever (Fish Market), and PC Principals (Fish Market).  Here are Thursday’s top teams after four rounds of play:

• PC Principals (Fish Market):  163
• Brother of Menelaus (Fish Market):  167
• Fan Club (Quincy’s Bar):  156
• Uranus Fly Trap (Smoketown Brewing):  155
• Your Mom (Bunker Sports Cafe):  154

THURSDAY’S FINAL QUESTION (63.3% success rate):

–> What is the only independent African nation whose current national flag consists of red, white, and blue (and no other colors)?

Nearly two-thirds of our teams answered correctly with Liberia:

None of our teams earned the Perfect 21 tonight.  Your final overall leaderboard for Thursday is as follows:

• PC Principals (Fish Market):  170
• Brother of Menelaus (Fish Market):  169
• Arrondissements of Ouagadougou (Champion Billiards):  165
• Fan Club (Quincy’s):  165
• Title One Forever (Fish Market):  164
• North Country (Quincy’s):  164
• Power Vacuum (Champion Billiards):  162
• Hashtage Divorce (Belly Love Brewing):  161
• Uranus Fly Trap (Smoketown Brewing):  161
• Breadsticks (Quincy’s):  160
• Dire Wolves (Olde Mother Brewing):  160

THURSDAY’S WINNERS:

The Grille at Flower Hill in Gaithersburg, MD:  Blood Legion  (Next week’s first category: “The Golden Girls”)

Black Walnut Brewery in Leesburg, VA:  Circle of Trust  (Next week’s first category: Colorado)

Dawg House in Waynesboro, PA:  50 Shades of Grey Matter  (Next week’s first category: “Gunga Din” – poem)