A Grand (Canyon) Night of Wednesday Trivia!

Wednesday’s game included an opening night tussle at the newest PHT venue, as we kicked off our tenure at Elysium Axe Bar in Purcellville, VA.  Overall, 140 teams across 16 venues took in a game of Wednesday trivia.

FIRST ROUND:

Wednesday’s game began with a look at the early crossover hits of country singer Faith Hill, the cochlear implant, and the film work of Stephen King and Bill Murray, both of whom celebrated birthdays on Wednesdays.  The most difficult wagering and bonus questions of the opening stanza were asked on the topic Olympic host cities:

• The 2032 Olympics will mark the third Summer Olympiad to be hosted by which nation of the Southern Hemisphere?
  • 2-POINT BONUS: Which city will host the Olympics for the first time in 2032?

With Brazil fresh on some people’s minds after the 2012 Games, only 62% of field picked up wagering points with the correct answer of Australia.  The bonus was far more difficult, as about one-quarter of those teams tacked on two bonus points by knowing that Brisbane was tagged as the host city, following in the footsteps of Melbourne and Sydney.  That bonus question thwarted the prospect of a perfect first round for dozens of teams, as only six squads kicked off their night with 36 points in the opening stanza.

SECOND ROUND:

Wednesday’s audio question included songs whose titles include the names of NFL teams.  The field faced few difficulties in recognizing Bennie and the Jets by Elton John, Where Have All the Cowboys Gone? By Paula Cole, and Bills, Bills, Bills by Destiny’s Child.  With nearly half of the field snagging two bonus points, the next question on the subject of science fiction television proved to be the most difficult wagering question of the night:

• Prior to her current role as She-Hulk, Canadian actress Tatiana Maslany won an Emmy Award for portraying a series of clones on which sci-fi series?

Exactly two-fifths of the field responded correctly with Orphan Black.  We continued the second round with a look at single-letter stock symbols, the unit of horsepower, and the work of Mother (now Saint) Teresa in Kolkata.  Fourteen teams ran the table in the second round by posting a perfect score.

HALFTIME:

The difficulty level increased sharply in Wednesday’s halftime round, as we asked our teams to identify foreign countries based on their bank notes.  The bottom half of the page featured a listing of correct answers, as the field tried to rattle off the eight MLB teams that have won the most World Series titles.  Thanks to more obscure answers like the Pittsburgh Pirates and Cincinnati Reds, the overall average score reached just 14.1 points, with five teams notching a perfect score.  Here is Wednesday’s halftime leaderboard:

• Just For Fun (T.J. Stone’s): 90
• Tokyo Sex Whale  (Idiom): 89
• Fresh Off the U-Haul (Mark’s): 88
• Trending Towards Fourth (T.J. Stone’s): 88
• FIVE TEAMS TIED WITH 87 POINTS

THIRD ROUND:

Topics from Wednesday’s third round included the 2020 U. S. Presidential elections, author Kurt Vonnegut, and the geometric term point.  Our nightly Three Clues question yielded very few bonus points:

• CLUE 1: It’s the last name of the former U. S. Marine who created the nonprofit organization Arts in the Armed Forces.
• CLUE 2: It’s the last name of the Green Bay Packer who was the Season 14 champion of Dancing with the Stars.

About 11% of the field were bold enough to forgo the third clue and turn in the correct response of Driver.  Star Wars actor Adam Driver and NFL star Donald Driver were the two people referenced in this clues.  An even more difficult bonus question followed, as we asked our teams to identify either one of the two independent nations that extend the farthest south on the African mainland (excluding South Africa).  A mere eight teams submitted both correct answers of Namibia and Lesotho.  As a result, only two teams swept the third round: Just For Fun (T.J. Stone’s) and Fresh Off the U-Haul (Mark’s).

FOURTH ROUND:

During the opening clue of Wednesday’s 6-4-2 question, we revealed that Rocky Balboa was born on July 6, 1945 with the real name of Robert.  From there, we moved on to fourth round topics such as Papa John’s pizza, the Sputnick satellite, the comedy film The Princess Bride, and The Ren & Stimpy Show.  While none of the three bonus questions was excessively daunting, all three yielded success rates of less than 20%, leading to just a single perfect score in Wednesday’s final round, and Fresh Off the U-Haul (Mark’s) closed out the game by scoring every possible second half point.  Heading into the final questions, these were your overall leaders:

• Just For Fun (T.J. Stone’s): 166
• Fresh Off the U-Haul (Mark’s): 164
• Sexual Chocolate (Memories): 159
• Scott Looks Different (Memories): 158
• Tokyo Sex Whale  (Idiom): 157
• Power Vacuum (Belles’): 157

FINAL QUESTION (50.0% success rate):

• Among the U. S. states that were admitted to the Union during the 20th century, which state has the highest current population at about seven million people?

Exactly half of the field answered correctly with Arizona.  Six teams recorded the Perfect 21 by answering every wagering question correctly.  Wednesday’s final standings included these steallr squads:

• Just For Fun (T.J. Stone’s): 176
• Sexual Chocolate (Memories): 171
• Power Vacuum (Belles’): 169
• Shatner’s Lesson (Belles’): 168
• Fresh Off the U-Haul (Mark’s): 168
• Stink Floyd (Belles’): 167
• Tokyo Sex Whale (Idiom): 166
• DBVB (Valley Grill): 166
• Stinkfist (Idiom): 165
• Scott Looks Different (Memories): 164

WEDNESDAY’S WINNERS:

Moe’s Peyton Place in Springfield, VA: NO GAME THIS WEEK  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Community)

Valley Sports Grill in Middletown, MD: DBVB  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Bruce Springsteen)

Belles’ Sports Bar in Frederick, MD: Power Vacuum  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Motorhead)

Memories Charcoal House in Mount Airy, MD: Sexual Chocolate  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Current Capitals of Countries That Have Changed Names)

GearHouse Brewing in Chambersburg, PA: Archived!  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV))

TGI Fridays in Hagerstown, MD: Irish Beer Mafia  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Arizona)

Idiom Brewing in Frederick, MD: Tokyo Sex Whale  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: The Great Frederick Fair)

Axes and O’s in Sterling, VA: The Legend of Taylor Heinicke  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Prince Songs)

Hops N Shine in Alexandria, VA: NO GAME THIS WEEK  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Tolkien Works)

Sully’s Pour House in Herndon, VA: Vapors  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: 20th Century Eddie Murphy Films)

Falling Branch Brewery in Street, MD: Lemonheads  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: 1970s Music)

T. J. Stone’s in Alexandria, VA: Just For Fun  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: She-Hulk: Attorney at Law)

Craftworx Taproom in Gainesville, VA: Printer Repair Men  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: James Bond Theme Songs)

Barstool Sportsbook in Charles Town, WV: Five Men of the Apocalypse  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Culinary Herbs)

Grape Escape in Gaithersburg, MD: Toasty  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Literary Opening Lines)

Shipgarten in McLean, VA: Rat Funk  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Weezer)

Elysium Axe Bar in Purcellville, VA: Axe Princesses  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Michigan Golf Courses)

Mark’s Pub in Falls Church, VA: Fresh Off the U-Haul  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: TV Game Shows)