A Laborious Trivia Night!

With several Monday venues taking a night off for the Labor Day holiday, we saw several regular teams temporarily shifting their Monday game to a new location, leading to some close matches and come-from-behind victories!  All told, we welcomed 77 teams across eight venues:

FIRST ROUND:

Monday’s game began with a look at these two celebrities who share a nickname:

After questions regarding sand dunes and the diary of Anne Frank, we got into the holiday spirit with a three-part question on the U.S. Department of Labor.  Only 17% of the field picked up bonus points by knowing that former Labor Secretary Frances Perkins was the first female Cabinet member in U.S. history.  As a result, seven teams began their night with a perfect first round score.

SECOND ROUND:

Monday’s audio question featured three songs bearing the same one-word title.  Despite the fact that teams could earn wagering points by recognizing any one of the three songs, this proved to be the most difficult audio question we’ve asked in recent memory.  The three songs all featured the title “Shotgun”, as respectively recorded by Junior Walker and the All-Stars, Sheryl Crow, George Ezra.  Only six teams earned their wager, with none of those teams earning bonus points by naming all three musical acts.  The rest of the second round progressed smoothly, as teams bounced back with questions concerning “Star Wars”, the Prime Meridian, and this former cable series:

The second round did not yield any perfect scores.

HALFTIME:

In honor of Labor Day, celebrities with ‘occupational’ names highlighted Monday’s halftime page (Bradley Cooper, Carrie Fisher, etc.).  Falling on the more difficult side, the average score came in at 15.2 points, with five teams earning a perfect score.  Here is Monday’s halftime leaderboard:

• Kitten Mittens (Cheesetique):  89
• Arlington Underground (Cheesetique):  89
• Unsavories (DRP):  88
• Who is F is Alice?  (Bushwaller’s):  87
• State Seantor McCheese (Greene Turtle – Urbana):  85

THIRD ROUND:

Monday’s second half began with a question regarding the Michael Moore documentary “Roger & Me”.  Only eight teams earned bonus points by knowing that the “Roger” in the film title referred to former General Motors CEO Roger Smith.  Later, we asked about the original Woodstock Festival, the iMac, and this artistic Chicago landmark:

While this sculpture is commonly known as “The Bean”, only 18% of our teams earned bonus points by knowing its actual name: “Cloud Gate”.  Two teams were able to maneuver around these two difficult questions to post 36 points in the third round: Kitten Mittens (Cheesetique) and State Seantor McCheese (Greene Turtle – Urbana).

FOURTH ROUND:

After opening the final round by discussing Ireland’s “Troubles” and “The Good Friday Agreement”, a question concerning sports logos tripped up many of our die-hard sports fans, as we asked them to name the only MLB team whose official logo contains a punctuation mark.  Though the Baltimore Orioles sometimes wear a cap that simply says “O’s”, the team’s official logo contains its full name.  You had to travel to the west coast to get this correct answer:

Next up, we asked a Three Clues question about rapper Nelly, before closing with the topics of the Pomeranian dog and Monopoly money.  A trio of moderately difficult bonus questions kept the perfect scores off the board in the final round.  Here is your Monday leaderboard heading into the final question:

• Kitten Mittens (Cheesetique):  161
• Who is F is Alice?  (Bushwaller’s):  159
• Arlington Underground (Cheesetique):  155
• Unsavories (DRP):  152
• Cher’s Zombie Army (Rockwell Brewery):  151

MONDAY’S FINAL QUESTION (66.7% success rate):

–> Created as a reference to Cinderella, the 18th century literary character of Margery Meanwell was described as a poor orphan.  After receiving a gift from a rich gentleman, Margery takes on which nickname that today refers to an excessively virtuous person?

Exactly two-thirds of our teams arrived at the correct answer of Goody Two-Shoes.  Thanks largely to the second round audio question, none of our teams managed to earn the Perfect 21 on Monday night.  These teams topped the final overall leaderboard:

• Kitten Mittens (Cheesetique):  168
• Unsavories (DRP):  163
• Cher’s Zombie Army (Rockwell Brewery):  163
• Eat Ham (DRP):  162
• Power Vacuum (Bushwaller’s):  161
• Fookin’ Koontz (Rockwell Brewery):  160
• Irish Beer Mafia (Greene Turtle – Hagerstown):  157
• Worst Case Ontario (DRP):  156
• Who is F is Alice? (Bushwaller’s):  156
• Arlington Underground (Cheesetique):  155

MONDAY’S WINNERS:

DRP in Alexandria, VA:  Unsavories  (Next week’s first category: Feudal Japan)

Greene Turtle in Hagerstown, MD:  Irish Beer Mafia  (Next week’s first category: “Cinderfella”)

Morgan Inn in Woodbine, MD:  NO GAME THIS WEEK  (Next week’s first category: Jan and Dean)

Hershey’s Restaurant in Gaithersburg, MD:  NO GAME THIS WEEK  (Next week’s first category: “WKRP In Cincinnati”)

Uno Pizzeria in Frederick, MD:  NO GAME THIS WEEK  (Next week’s first category: “Good Morning Vietnam”)

Cheesetique in Arlington, VA:  Kitten Mittens  (Next week’s first category: Trivia Apps)

Bushwaller’s in Frederick, MD:  Power Vacuum  (Next week’s first category: “Supernatural” – TV series)

Greene Turtle in Urbana, MD:  State Senator McCheese  (Next week’s first category: College Football)

Rockwell Brewery in Frederick, MD:  Cher’s Zombie Army  (Next week’s first category: Time Magazine’s Person of the Year)

Front Royal Brewing Company in Front Royal, VA:  Donner Party  (Next week’s first category: Serial Killers)

Flanagan’s Harp and Fiddle in Bethesda, MD:  NO GAME THIS WEEK  (Next week’s first category: Famous Alans)

Il Forno in Frederick, MD:  Wiseacres  (Next week’s first category: Automotive Pioneers)