Wednesday Game Recaps

Wednesday night featured one of the biggest opening nights in Pour House Trivia history, as host Katie welcomed 16 TEAMS to the inaugural game at Lost Dog Cafe in Arlington!  That obviously gave our overall numbers a big boost, as last night’s game featured 121 teams across 14 venues:

ROUND 1:

Wednesday’s opening round asked our teams to identify the two most populous U.S. cities whose names begin with the letter ‘P’ (Philadelphia and Phoenix), as well as the two planets of our Solar System which have no moons (Mercury and Venus).  Not surprisingly, the most difficult bonus question of the first round was asked as part of our nightly Three Clues question:

CLUE 1: In cents, this is the current price of a first-class U.S. postage stamp.

CLUE 2: This jersey number was worn by Hall of Famers David Robinson and Mike Singletary.

About one-third of our teams earned this bonus by forgoing the final clue and turning in the correct answer of 50.  The first round featured 17 perfect scores.

ROUND 2:

Wednesday’s audio question featured clips from the films of Hugh Jackman, specifically “Les Misérables”, “Van Helsing”, and “Swordfish”.  Next up was the most difficult wagering question of the first half:

–> Derived from a Greek word meaning ‘dreadful’, which term refers to the trio of mythological Greek sisters whose hair was composed of live venomous snakes?

While the monstrous Medusa was a member of this group, she was not the correct answer in this case.  Along with her sisters Stheno and Euryale, this trio comprised the Gorgons.  Only 27% of our teams earned points here.  We continued with a look at these two title characters portrayed by Melissa Joan Hart:

After a question on the recent World Golf Championships, we closed with a throwback to 30 years ago, when the Beach Boys topped the charts for the final time with the song “Kokomo”.  Only 19% of our teams tacked on two bonus points by remembering that the song appeared in the Tom Cruise film “Cocktail”.  Nine teams ran the table in the second round, with seven of those teams closing the first half with a perfect 72 points.

HALFTIME:

Wednesday’s halftime depicted fictional butlers from film and TV, while the bottom half matched up music groups to the stage names of their members.  With 17% of our teams notching perfect scores, we saw an overall average of 16.6 points.  A record 13 teams scored 90 or more first half points!  Here are Wednesday’s top scores after the first half:

• Bad Hombres (Lost Dog Cafe):  94
• Wall Eyed Vision (Lost Dog Cafe):  92
• Hamster Relish (Memories):  92
• Dave Martinez School of Management (Bennigan’s – Clarksburg):  92
• Kitten Mittens (Quinn’s):  92
• Dry Heat (Delirium Cafe):  92

ROUND 3:

As with so many games of Pour House Trivia, the third round is the true test of our teams, and last night was no exception.  After the second half began with a three-part question on NBA coaches, we gave our teams a one-two punch that knocked many of them to the canvas.  First up, this question on casinos:

–> At 546,000 square feet, the world’s largest casino contains over 4,200 slot and table games.  In what location on the western banks of the Pearl River would you find this casino?

Only 16% of our teams answered correctly, which pretty much outed those players as gambling degenerates.  You would have to travel halfway across the globe to find the world’s largest casino: the Venetian in Macau, China:

The second half of this brutal stretch came in the form of the Last Word / First Word category, which is ALWAYS a favorite choice for the bonus category.  Once again, more than two-thirds of the field chose this as their third round bonus category, but many were soon regretting that decision:

–> Which three-word phrase would you have if Cardi B’s #1 hit song literally went viral, in the form of a deadly disease spread by tropical mosquitoes?

While not quite as difficult as the casino question, we still saw less than one-quarter of our teams answer correctly with Bodak Yellow Fever.  After closing the round with a question on actor Michael “Don’t Forget the B.” Jordan, we saw just one team earn a perfect third round score: Viennese Oyster from Belles’.

ROUND 4:

Wednesday’s final round opened with a question concerning this French furball:

A member of this breed took home Best in Show at the 2018 Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show: it’s the Bichon Frise.  Later, we asked about Gloria Steinem’s controversial undercover stunt working as a Playboy Bunny, and closed the round with a question on this sketch comedy show which will soon end it run on the air:

After the rough third round, these questions softened a bit, as we saw nine teams sweep the final round with perfect scores.  Here are your top Wednesday scores heading into the final question:

• Dave Martinez School of Management (Bennigan’s – Clarksburg):  167
• Stephen Hawking’s Karaoke Machine (Memories):  165
• Kitten Mittens (Quinn’s):  163
• Sexual Chocolate (Memories):  162
• Quizlamic Extremists (Quinn’s):  161

FINAL QUESTION (71.3% success rate):

–> February 16, 2018 became a record night of alcohol sales on Broadway, resulting in several theaters running out of Triple Sec during the opening of a jukebox musical featuring the songs of what musician?

Our teams were largely successful coming up with the correct answer of Jimmy Buffett.  Patrons took the title to heart when attending the premiere of his musical “Escape to Margaritaville”.  Three teams earned the Perfect 21 on Wednesday by answering every wagering question correctly: Quizlamic Extremists (Quinn’s), Sexual Chocolate (Memories), and Hamster Relish (Memories).  For Sexual Chocolate, they continue an incredibly impressive streak of four straight weeks without having missed a wagering question.  These were your top overall scores from Wednesday:

• Stephen Hawking’s Karaoke Machine (Memories):  175
• Kitten Mittens (Quinn’s):  174
• Quizlamic Extremists (Quinn’s):  172
• Viennese Oyster (Belles’ Sports Bar):  172
• Flight Level Awesome (Belles’ Sports Bar):  171
• Dave Martinez School of Management (Bennigan’s – Clarksburg):  169
• Dost Log (Lost Dog Cafe):  169
• Bookhouse Boys (Lost Dog Cafe):  169
• Wall Eyed Vision (Lost Dog Cafe):  168
• Sexual Chocolate (Memories):  166

TONIGHT’S WINNERS:

Valley Grill in Middletown, MD:  Shakeweight  (Next week’s first category: Barry Manilow)

We closed the book on February with a busy Wednesday night, welcoming 109 teams across 14 venues:

ROUND 1:

Wednesday’s opening round included questions on hospital orderlies, fruity terms, and this European landmark:

We closed the first round with its most difficult bonus question:

–> Name either one of the two easternmost U.S. state capitals with a set of double letters in its name.

A few teams were drawn to Tallahassee, but despite being the only U.S. state capital with three sets of double letters in its name, this was not one of the two answers we were looking for here.  About one-third of our teams picked up bonus points with the two correct answers of Harrisburg and Annapolis.  After a relatively easy opening stanza, 17 teams were off and running with a perfect score.

ROUND 2:

Wednesday’s audio question featured three “love” songs: “Teenager in Love” (Dion and the Belmonts), “Love Stinks” (J. Geils Band), and “As Long As You Love Me” (Backstreet Boys).  Later, our Thee Clues question referenced this former spokesperson:

Things were progressing quite smoothly until our teams ran into this speed bump:

–> After World War I, Germany’s Kaiser Wilhelm II took refuge in which neighboring country, where his cousin Queen Wilhelmina protected him from war crimes prosecution?

Despite more than half of our teams responding with Austria, the correct response was actually the Netherlands, as Wilhelmina reigned over the Dutch for nearly 60 years!  With only 17% of our teams earning points here, we saw just six teams score 36 second round points.

HALFTIME:

Wednesday’s halftime featured pictures of celebrity smiles and a matching section on sports venues by city.  We saw nine teams sweep the round with a perfect 20 points, while the overall average came in at 15.9 points.  Here are Wednesday’s top scores after the first half:

• Dave Martinez School of Management (Bennigan’s – Clarksburg):  92
• Stephen Hawking’s Karaoke Machine (Memories):  92
• Always a Bridesmaid (Bennigan’s – Clarksburg):  91
• Sexual Chocolate (Memories):  91
• Who the F is Alice? (Nido’s):  91

ROUND 3:

Wednesday’s third round topics included the Battle of Waterloo and this Olympic film:

The most difficult wagering question of the round dealt with world geography:

–> Among the seven nations which were once part of the former Yugoslavia, which country extends the furthest north, bordering Italy, Austria, and Hungary?

We were hoping to get a boost of correct answers on this question thanks to the First Lady, but only 27% of our teams answered correctly with Slovenia:

(map courtesy of www.geographicguide.com)

The only perfect score of Wednesday’s third round was turned in by Dusty Baker School of Management (Bennigan’s – Clarksburg).

6-4-2 QUESTION:

Only eight teams earned the full six points with this query:

–> This consonant is the only letter that appears in the names of exactly THREE U.S. states.  All three of those states are located in the eastern half of the country.

A quick scan on consonants led those teams to the correct answer of P, which only appears in the names Mississippi, Pennsylvania, and New Hampshire.

ROUND 4:

Wednesday’s final round began with its most difficult bonus question, as we asked our teams to name the two months during with the Boston Marathon and the New York Marathon are respectively held.  Many teams were close, but only 14% of the field earned bonus points with two correct answers.  The Boston Marathon is held on Patriots’ Day in April, while the NYC Marathon is held in November.  After discussing the fluids of the human eye and the practice of henna tattooing, we closed the fourth round with a look at this video game controller:

Three teams earned perfect final round scores on Wednesday: Phil’s Tick (Bennigan’s – Frederick), Hill Valley Ornithologists (Barefoot Bernie’s), and Unfrozen Caveman Lawyers (Clover Theater).  Here are Wednesday’s top scores after four rounds of play:

• Dave Martinez School of Management (Bennigan’s – Clarksburg):  164
• Sexual Chocolate (Memories):  161
• Kitten Mittens (Quinn’s):  158
• Momentary Lapse of Reason (Bennigan’s – Frederick):  158
• Green Machine (Whole Foods Market – Vienna):  156
• Teachers (Bennigan’s – Frederick):  156

FINAL QUESTION (65.7% success rate):

–> In a 2009 report, Trip Advisor ranked what site as the least hygienic tourist attraction in the world?

After two weeks of wicked Wednesday final questions, this one eased up a bit on the field, as nearly two-thirds of our teams answered correctly with the Blarney Stone.  As a result, seven teams notched the Perfect 21 on Wednesday by correctly answering every wagering question.  One of those seven teams was Sexual Chocolate (Memories), who has earned a Perfect 21 in each of the last three weeks.  These were your top overall scores from Wednesday:

• Sexual Chocolate (Memories):  171
• Stephen Hawking’s Karaoke Machine (Memories):  170
• Momentary Lapse of Reason (Bennigan’s – Frederick):  170
• Hamster Relish (Memories):  168
• Dave Martinez School of Management (Bennigan’s – Clarksburg):  167
• Kitten Mittens (Quinn’s):  167
• It’s Mueller Time (Quinn’s):  166
• Always a Bridesmaid (Bennigan’s – Clarksburg):  166
• Teachers (Bennigan’s – Frederick):  166
• FOUR TEAMS TIED WITH 164 POINTS

TONIGHT’S WINNERS:

Whole Foods Market in Vienna, VA:  Green Machine  (NEXT GAME ON MARCH 28 – First category: Things Jared Kushner Doesn’t Have Anymore)

Valley Grill in Middletown, MD:  Shakeweight  (Next week’s first category: Grand Slam Tennis)

We returned to a full schedule for Wednesday’s game this week, welcoming 108 teams across 15 venues:

ROUND 1:

Wednesday’s game opened with a question concerning this upcoming film in the “Star Wars” anthology series:

After avoiding a case of the chickenpox, we asked a surprisingly difficult first round question on the subject of the automotive industry:

–> This Honda model was the first car from a Japanese manufacturer to be produced in the United States.  In 2014, the ten millionth American-made car of this model rolled off a Honda assembly line in Ohio.

The Honda Civic was a much more popular answer than we anticipated, as just under half of our teams responded correctly with the Honda Accord.  Furthermore, only 11% of our teams picked up two bonus points by knowing (within one year either way) that the first American-made Honda Accord was produced in 1982.  As a result, only three teams began Wednesday night with a perfect score: Flight Level Awesome (Belles’), Sprinkles Are For Winners (The Tavern), and Stephen Hawking’s Karaoke Machine (Valley Grill).

ROUND 2:

Wednesday’s audio question featured three songs named for historical figures, specifically “Geronimo” (Sheppard), “Paul Revere” (Beastie Boys), and “Casey Jones” (Grateful Dead).  After a question on Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, we asked our teams to name either one of the two NHL teams named for birds:

We closed the first half with a question on the many TV roles of veteran actor Jimmy Smits.  Once again, a difficult bonus question greatly reduced the number of perfect scores, as only 13% of our teams knew that Mr. Smits can currently be seen portraying Dr. Isaac Rosa on the ABC drama “How to Get Away With Murder”.  The second round also yielded three perfect scores: Dave Martinez School of Management (Bennigan’s – Clarksburg), Breakfast For Dinner (Furnace), and Irish Mafia (Applebee’s).

HALFTIME:

For Wednesday’s halftime, our teams looked at photographs from various decades of the 20th century and matched American companies to their respective headquarters.  With 15% of our teams notching perfect scores, we saw an overall average of 16.4 points.  Here are Wednesday’s top scores after the first half:

• Dave Martinez School of Management (Bennigan’s – Clarksburg):  91
• Flight Level Awesome (Belles’):  90
• 63 Earths Fit in Uranus (Barefoot Bernie’s):  90
• Hamster Relish (Memories):  90
• Sprinkles Are For Winners (The Tavern):  89

ROUND 3:

Wednesday’s third round began with a baseball question that inadvertently became one of the more deceptive questions we’ve asked in a while:

–> Later this year, Vladimir Guerrero will become the first Hall of Famer to feature the logo of which franchise on his bronze plaque?

It appears that too much knowledge contributed to the downfall of several teams on this question.  Those teams that not big baseball fans simply guessed an answer and wagered one point.  However, our baseball experts knew that Vlad spent most of his career split between the Montreal Expos and the Los Angeles Angels.  Unfortunately, some of those experts did not realize that Gary Carter, Andre Dawson, and Tim Raines are already wearing Montreal Expos hats on their Hall of Fame plaques, so the correct answer was the Los Angeles Angels.  With only 22% of our teams earning point, this certainly was a difficult question, but some of our strongest teams tossed away their nine-point wagers!  The rest of the round actually proceeded rather smoothly, with our teams performing well on questions concerning NBC sitcoms of the 1980s, the novel “Treasure Island”, and the color auburn.  After avoiding the speed bump to begin the half, Sexual Chocolate (Memories) earned the only perfect score of the third round.

ROUND 4:

Wednesday’s final round included this question on chemical elements,:

–> Which element with atomic number 15 is associated with the scientific phenomena of chemiluminescence?

Just like U.S. Presidents, Best Picture Oscar winners, and world capitals, the Periodic Table is an extremely frequent topic at every trivia night, but nonetheless, only 41% of the field answered correctly with phosphorus, with many teams opting instead for the most common wrong answer of neon (which is atomic number ten).  The final round also included questions on the “Fifty Shades of Grey” film series, the city of Sao Paolo, and this Three Clues question about a certain beer brand:

CLUE 1: Founded in Chico, California, this is currently the seventh largest brewing company in the United States.

CLUE 2: One of its varieties topped Food & Wine Magazine’s listing of The 25 Most Important American Craft Beers Ever Brewed.

CLUE 3: Its year round offerings include Pale Ale, Torpedo Extra IPA, Nooner Pilsner, and Hop Hunter IPA.

Even after hearing all three clues, just over half of our teams answered correctly with this brand:

The final round yielded the highest number of perfect scores on Wednesday, as eight teams notched 36 points on their way to the final question.  Here are Wednesday’s top scores after four rounds of play:

• 63 Earths Fit in Uranus (Barefoot Bernie’s):  163
• Flight Level Awesome (Belles’):  161
• Sexual Chocolate (Memories):  160
• Pyeongchang Style (Quinn’s):  160
• Unfrozen Caveman Lawyers (Clover Theater):  159

FINAL QUESTION (17.9% success rate):

–> Which animated series once depicted a fictionalized version of David Letterman’s late night talk show, with Letterman voicing himself during the segment “Top Ten Ways to Break Stuff”?

In the early 1990s, Letterman was a big fan of animator Mike Judge, so he agreed to voice himself on an episode of “Beavis & Butthead”.  Just under one-fifth of our teams answered correctly.  For the second week in a row, Sexual Chocolate from Memories scored the only Perfect 21 on Wednesday by answering every wagering question correctly.  These were your top overall scores from Wednesday:

• Sexual Chocolate (Memories):  168
• Kitten Mittens (Quinn’s):  167
• 63 Earths Fit in Uranus (Barefoot Bernie’s):  163
• Flight Level Awesome (Belles’):  161
• Olney the Lonely (The Tavern):  153
•  Sarcastic Jerks in the Back (Clover Theater):  151
• Pyeongchang Style (Quinn’s):  150
• I’d Eat That Off Of a Flip Flop (Furnace):  150
• Fat Kids Are Hard to Kidnap (Valley Grill):  150
• Unfrozen Caveman Lawyers (Clover Theater):  147
• FOUR TEAMS TIED WITH 146 POINTS

TONIGHT’S WINNERS:

Valley Grill in Middletown, MD:  Fat Kids Are Hard to Kidnap  (Next week’s first category: French Painters)

With a few of our venues taking a night off to celebrate Valentine’s Day, we welcomed 71 teams across ten PHT venues.  Wednesday’s game finished with a final answer that stumped many of our powerhouse teams:

ROUND 1:

Wednesday’s game opened with a question on a pair of Florida cities (Tampa and Tallahassee), before moving into a challenging bonus question in the category of Three Clues / One Number:

CLUE 1: This is the highest denomination of paper currency for the Euro.

CLUE 2: Before being withdrawn from circulation, this denomination of U.S. currency depicted William McKinley.

These were two rather difficult clues, with just a handful of teams even venturing a guess at this point.  The bold move paid off for most of those early guesses, as nine teams earned bonus points with a correct response.  The vast majority of our teams waited (and earned wagering points) on this clue:

CLUE 3: Colored orange, this is the highest denomination in the standard American version of the board game Monopoly.

We were looking for these three bills:

We closed the first round with the most difficult bonus question of the night (and technically, the most difficult bonus question in PHT history).  After most of our teams were able to recognize the exploits of the Pied Piper of Hamelin, none of our 71 teams earned bonus points by also knowing that one of the most notable versions of the story was written by British poet Robert Browning.  Needless to say, we did not see any perfect scores in the first round.

ROUND 2:

Wednesday’s audio question featured three songs re-recorded as eight-bit video game music.  We looked at the current Oscar-nominated animated film “Loving Vincent”, which delves into the tumultuous life of Vincent Van Gogh.  Later, we asked about “The Wizard of Westwood”, legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden:

Next up was a lesson on world history, with this seemingly innocuous question:

–> Name any one of the 117 calendar years during which the Hundred Years War was fought.

I don’t think we’ve ever asked a question with 117 possible answers, but maybe we need a few more in this case, as only 17% of our teams landed their answer in the range of 1337 to 1453.  After closing with a question on the classic sketch comedy of Carol Burnett, we saw just one team earn a perfect second round score: Sexual Chocolate from Memories.

HALFTIME:

Valentine’s Day was the theme of Wednesday’s halftime page, as we featured pictures of TV couples and a matching section involving songs with “Love” in the title.  Our overall average score reached 17.0 points, with a dozen teams notching a perfect 20 points.  Here are Wednesday’s top scores after the first half:

• Sexual Chocolate (Memories):  90
• Unfrozen Caveman Lawyers (Clover Theater):  88
• Flight Level Awesome (Belles’):  88
• Viennese Oyster (Belles’):  87
• FIVE TEAMS TIED WITH 85 POINTS

ROUND 3:

Wednesday’s third round topics included the astronomical antonyms of apogee and perigee, the continuing novels in the James Bond series, and the 1979 disaster at this Pennsylvania facility:

Many of our teams were rolling through the third round, until a few were stumped by this final question on the topic of NBA Award Winners:

–> Representing the Dallas Mavericks and Detroit Pistons, these two players were selected as co-winners of the 1995 NBA Rookie of the Year Award.  Coincidentally, each player has a five-letter first name and a four-letter last name.

About half of our teams earned their wager with at least one correct answer, but only 21% of the field snagged the two bonus points by knowing both Jason Kidd and Grant Hill.  In a bit of an oddity, the third round yielded the most perfect scores on Wednesday, as six teams notched 36 points in the third stanza.

ROUND 4:

Wednesday’s final round opened with a three-part question on “P.C.” celebrities, specifically Paul Cezanne, Peter Cetera, and Priyanka Chopra.  These folks covered a wide array of pop culture, which led to just 18% of our teams earning bonus points with three correct answers.  Later, we quizzed our teams on topics such as surfing films, the Federal Reserve, and the islands of Greece.  Finally, we closed the final round with a look at this technological “advancement” in the field of popular music:

 

The final round yielded two perfect scores: It’s Mueller Time (Quinn’s) and Hamster Relish (Memories).  Here are Wednesday’s top scores after four rounds of play:

• Sexual Chocolate (Memories):  162
• Flight Level Awesome (Belles’):  158
• Shaun White Fan Club (The Tavern):  158
• Fat Kids Are Hard to Kidnap (Valley Grill):  158
• Southpaw Fish (Valley Grill):  156
• Shakewight (Valley Grill):  156

FINAL QUESTION (7.0% success rate):

–> After the completion of its first season, which 21st century TV show earned three Emmy nominations for Outstanding Lead Actress in Comedy Series?

Obviously, this final question proved to be MUCH more difficult than we anticipated.  Many teams answered incorrectly with “Sex and the City”, but not only did that show’s first season take place in the late 1990s, Sarah Jessica Parker was the only actress to earn an Emmy nomination as a lead performer.  Our teams had to think of a show without a clear leading role, and only FIVE teams were able to come with this correct answer:

Congratulations to Sexual Chocolate from Memories, who scored the only Perfect 21 on Wednesday by answering every wagering question correctly.  These were your top overall scores from Wednesday:

• Sexual Chocolate (Memories):  166
• Cake or Death (Delirium Cafe):  156
• Five Sure (Delirium Cafe):  156
• Shaun White Fan Club (The Tavern):  155
• Fat Kids Are Hard to Kidnap (Valley Grill):  153
• 63 Earths Fit in Uranus (Barefoot Bernie’s):  151
• Witiots (Nido’s):  150
• Flight Level Awesome (Belles’):  149
• Moving Forward (The Tavern):  147
• It’s Mueller Time (Quinn’s):  145
• Fast Forward Not Available (Valley Grill):  145

TONIGHT’S WINNERS:

Valley Grill in Middletown, MD:  Fat Kids Are Hard to Kidnap  (Next week’s first category: Guinness Beer)

With a bit of inclement weather hitting the area, we saw a slightly lighter schedule than normal.  Overall, Wednesday night’s games featured 87 teams across 11 venues.  Don’t forget to check the end of the blog for next week’s schedule, as some venues will be skipping trivia due to Valentine’s Day!

ROUND 1:

Wednesday’s game opened with a question on the many uses of the abbreviation ‘CO’: it’s the U.S. postal abbreviation of Colorado, the top-level internet domain for Colombia, and the chemical symbol for Cobalt (sorry folks, Copper is Cu).  After a quick trip back to high school trigonometry class, we closed by asking our teams to name either the first or most recent city to host the Super Bowl.  While most of our teams knew that last Sunday’s game was played in Minneapolis, only 19% of the field earned bonus points by knowing that the first Super Bowl was played at the Coliseum in Los Angeles:

The first round began with nine teams notching a perfect score of 36 points.

ROUND 2:

Wednesday’s audio question featured film scores of the 1980s.  Recognizing the themes from “E.T.” and “Beverly Hills Cop” was a cinch for most of our teams, but the music from “Peewee’s Big Adventure” was not as well known, leading to just 22% of the field earning bonus points with three correct answers.  The second round also included the most difficult wagering and bonus question of the first half, coming in the form of a Last Word / First Word question:

–> What three-word title would you have if the DC Comics superhero series which premiered last month on the CW Network featured an animated racecar voiced by Owen Wilson?

Just under half of our teams earned their wager with the correct answer of “Black Lightning McQueen”, while only six teams earned two bonus points by also knowing that the aforementioned superhero is being portrayed by Cress Williams:

We closed with a brief history lesson, discussing the Barbary Wars of the early 19th Century.  The U.S. allied with Sweden to fight Ottoman pirates off the north shore of Africa.  These conflicts led to the coining of the lyric “to the shores of Tripoli” in the opening of the “Marine Corps Hymn”.  This final query of the half also included a rather difficult bonus question, as only nine teams could peg the start of the Barbary Wars within five years either way (1801).  With a trio of tough bonus questions, we did not see any perfect scores in the second round.

HALFTIME:

Wednesday’s halftime page included pictures of films featuring former cast members of the “The Daily Show”, as well as a section on famous people named George.  The average score came in at a relatively low 14.7 points, with just two teams notching a perfect score: Phil’s Tick (Bennigan’s – Frederick) and Dave Martinez School of Management (Bennigan’s – Clarksburg).  Here are Wednesday’s top scores after the first half:

• Dave Martinez School of Management (Bennigan’s – Clarksburg):  90
• Shakeweight (Valley Grill):  87
• Sexual Chocolate (Memories):  87
• Thanksgiving Day Parade (Quinn’s):  87
• Shadynasty (Bennigan’s – Clarksburg):  86

ROUND 3:

Wednesday’s second half began with a question on Portuguese soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo.  We continued with what proved to be the most difficult wagering question of the night:

–> Unrelated to the Russell Crowe film of the same name, this program was developed as a spinoff of “Entertainment Tonight”.  Its anchors have included Pat O’ Brien, Debbie Matenopoulos, and Donny Osmond.  Name this show whose title once included the letters “omg!”.

Believe it or not, this show ran for 13 years, and only aired its final episode within the last six months:

With only ten teams answering correctly, I guess that explains why the show was cancelled…  After that speed bump, the rest of the round was a breeze for our teams, as they answered correctly on topics such as Buckingham Palace and the Andrews sisters.  But for the THIRD WEEK IN A ROW, the only perfect score of the third round was turned in by Dave Martinez School of Management (Bennigan’s – Clarksburg).

ROUND 4:

Wednesday’s final round opened with a difficult question on these two authors who share the same name:

Later, we looked at “Star Wars” actors and the Aztec Empire.  We closed with a three-part question on the most recent batch of Super Bowl commercials, which included a reference to this ad:

 

Once again, we saw just one perfect score in the final round: Trix Are For Kids (The Tavern).  Here are Wednesday’s top scores after four rounds of play:

• Dave Martinez School of Management (Bennigan’s – Clarksburg):  166
• Sexual Chocolate (Memories):  159
• Stephen Hawing’s Karaoke Machine (Memories):  158
• It’s Muller Time (Quinn’s):  155
• Unfrozen Caveman Lawyers (Clover Theater):  154

FINAL QUESTION (53.7% success rate):

–> Abbreviated NPT, the time zone named for which independent country is set five and three-quarters hours ahead of London time?

Just over half of our teams answered correctly with Nepal.  Congratulations to Dave Martinez School of Management (Bennigan’s – Clarksburg), who recorded the only Perfect 21 on Wednesday by answering every wagering question correctly.  These were your top overall scores from Wednesday:

• Stephen Hawing’s Karaoke Machine (Memories):  170
• Dave Martinez School of Management (Bennigan’s – Clarksburg):  168
• Worst of All Time (Quinn’s):  165
• Thanksgiving Day Parade (Quinn’s):  164
• Trix Are For Kids (The Tavern):  163
• Fan Club (The Tavern):  163
• HoJo MoJo (Bennigan’s – Frederick):  162
• Momma Lu’s (The Tavern):  161
• Caps (Delirium Cafe):  161
• Teachers (Bennigan’s – Frederick):  160

TONIGHT’S WINNERS:

Valley Grill in Middletown, MD:  Shakeweight  (Next week’s first category: New Edition)