A Hop, Skip, and Jump to Thursday Trivia!
Six different venues boasted more than ten teams on Thursday night, with a total of 116 teams across 14 venues:
FIRST ROUND:
Thursday’s game began with a three-part question in which all of the answers featured the initials ‘K. D.’: Kentucky Derby, Komodo Dragon, and Kirk Douglas. We continued with a look at U.S. cities, the multiple uses of the word drone, and this diminutive U.S. President:
More than half of our teams also knew that Montpelier was the name of James Madison’s Virginia estate. A record 36 TEAMS swept the opening round, including eight teams at Quincy’s in Gaithersburg.
SECOND ROUND:
We paid tribute to the Queen of Soul during Thursday’s audio question, as we listened to the legendary Aretha Franklin cover hits such as “Eleanor Rigby”, “I Will Survive”, and “Rolling in the Deep”. Next up, we asked about the animated film “Rango”, expansion NFL teams of the 1990s, and this duo of TV talk show hosts:
The bonus questions were slightly more difficult in the second stanza, but nine teams still managed to run the table by posting 36 second round points.
HALFTIME:
Thursday night featured the Smurfiest halftime page in PHT history, with exactly one-quarter of our teams posting a perfect score, while the overall average came in at 18.2 points. Here are your highest scoring teams from Thursday’s first half:
- Five Sure (Black Walnut): 93
- Space Farce (Cushwa Brewing): 92
- Lowered Expectations (Quincy’s): 91
- North Country (Quincy’s): 91
- My Harry Potter Has Hogwarts (Smoketown Brewing): 91
THIRD ROUND:
With more than a dozen teams recording at least 90 first half points, the argument could be made that that the opening two rounds were a bit too easy. How do make up for that? With a diabolical third round, of course! The overall success rate for the five wagering questions averaged 46% during Thursday’s third round, with the easiest of the five questions barely breaking 60%. We explored topics such as Daniel Day-Lewis, South African landmarks, and the recent controversy stirred up by Ariana Grande’s song “God Is a Woman”. The most difficult wagering question of the night featured a bit of wordplay:
–> The Greek goddess of the night has a name which is pronounced identically to that of an NBA team. Give either spelling of this word.
Only 23% of the field came up with the correct response of Nyx (or Knicks). After closing with a three-part question in the category of European monarchs, none of our teams posted a perfect third round score. In fact, just five teams answered all five wagering questions correctly.
FOURTH ROUND:
Final round topics included the lead voice actors from “King of the Hill”, the early work of H.G. Wells, and this Olympic event:
While the field recovered nicely from the wicked third round, several difficult bonus questions kept the perfect scores off the board in the final round. Here are Thursday’s top teams heading into the final question:
- PC Principals (Fish Market): 160
- Anarcho-Syndicalist Commune (Smoketown Brewing): 157
- Power Vacuum (Champion Billiards): 156
- Your Mom (Bunker Sports Cafe): 155
- Lowered Expectations (Quincy’s): 154
- Uranus Fly Trap (Smoketown Brewing): 154
THURSDAY’S FINAL QUESTION (53.3% success rate):
–> While it is also defined as an impractical building constructed primarily for decoration, which word meaning ‘foolishness’ is also used to describe an 1867 land purchase?
Just over half of our teams knew that the transaction referenced in the question was the purchase of Alaska as suggested by U.S. Secretary of State William Seward, an acquisition which quickly became known as “Seward’s Folly”. Congratulations to PC Principals (Fish Market) and Uranus Fly Trap (Smoketown Brewing), who avoided the third round speed bumps to record the Perfect 21 tonight with correct answers on all wagering questions. Here is your final leaderboard from Thursday night:
- Anarcho-Syndicalist Commune (Smoketown Brewing): 167
- Uranus Fly Trap (Smoketown Brewing): 166
- PC Principals (Fish Market): 163
- Lowered Expectations (Quincy’s): 163
- Power Vacuum (Champion Billiards): 163
- Brother of Menelaus (Fish Market): 162
- Just Good Enough (Champion Billiards): 162
- Your Mom (Bunker Sports Cafe): 162
- No Scrubs (Cushwa Brewing): 162
- Brain Freeze (Quincy’s): 162
THURSDAY’S WINNERS:
Quincy’s Bar and Grille in Gaithersburg, MD: Lowered Expectations (Next week’s first category: West Virginia University Sports)
Champion Billiards in Frederick, MD: Power Vacuum (Next week’s first category: Oliver Cromwell)
Bunker Sports Cafe in Leesburg, VA: Your Mom (Next week’s first category: “The Naked Gun”)
Smoketown Brewing Station in Brunswick, MD: Anarcho-Syndicalist Commune (Next week’s first category: “Parks and Recreation”)
Beef ‘O’ Brady’s in Frederick, MD: Zambookie (Next week’s first category: Danny Elfman)
Olde Mother Brewing in Frederick, MD: Shakeweight (Next week’s first category: “Conan the Barbarian”)
Belly Love Brewing in Purcellville, VA: Lone Wolves (Next week’s first category: Education)
Cushwa Brewing in Williamsport, MD: No Scrubs (Next week’s first category: “Doctor Who”)
The Grille at Flower Hill in Gaithersburg, MD: Flat Stanleys (Next week’s first category: U.S. Vice Presidents)
Black Walnut Brewery in Leesburg, VA: Five Sure (Next week’s first category: Advertising Slogans)
Dawg House in Waynesboro, PA: 50 Shades of Grey Matter (Next week’s first category: Welding)
Right Around the Corner in St. Petersburg, FL: Better Red Than Dead (Next week’s first category: Linguistics)
Fish Market Restaurant in Alexandria, VA: PC Principals (Next week’s first category: David Lynch)
Art’s Tavern in Falls Church, VA: Charlie’s Angels (Next week’s first category: “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”)
Guido’s in Frederick, MD: Tuna Noodle Casserole (Next week’s first category: Jon Sings Queen)