A Nordic Night of Monday Trivia!

Monday’s game featured the Pour House Trivia debut at Aslin Beer Co in Herndon.  Thanks to a healthy crowd of 11 teams at this new venue, we welcomed 85 teams across nine venues.

FIRST ROUND:

Opening round topics from Monday’s game included phrases bearing the initials ‘R. T.’, LaGuardia Airport in New York, and the alternative rock band Everclear.  For the second Monday in a row, the most difficult question of the first round concerned a former NBC series:

• On which former NBC series did a computer expert with the last name of Bartowski unexpectedly become a secret agent?
• 2-POINT BONUS: Who portrayed the title character on this series?

Just over half of our Monday teams earned wagering points with the correct answer of Chuck, with about one-third of those teams tacking on two bonus points by also knowing that Zachary Levi (who has since starred in the film Shazam) portrayed the title character.  Seven Monday teams began their night with a perfect first round score.

SECOND ROUND:

Monday’s audio question included a clip from the recent Super Bowl commercial featuring Matthew McConaughey promoting the software company Salesforce.  The second round also looked at birthday girl Drew Barrymore, the battles referenced in the opening line of The Marines’ Hymn, and human eyelids.  The final question of the first half also provided its most difficult bonus question.  After most of our teams earned wagering points by knowing that the Vezina Trophy is awarded to NHL goaltenders, only 13% of the field also knew that Dominik Hasek won six of these awards in an eight-year stretch.  Four teams notched a perfect second round score of 36 points: Bomboclats (Cushwa), Hipster Fashion Consultants (DRP), Legalized Gambling (DRP), and You’re Killing Me Smalls (Mark’s).

HALFTIME:

The top half of Monday’s halftime page featured pictures of ten films, but instead of asking for the film titles, we instead asked our teams to identify the country in which each film was primarily set.  The bottom half of the page featured ten questions in which each answer was one of the four U. S. Presidents depicted on Mount Rushmore.  Falling on the more difficult side, the average score reached just 13.3 points, though four teams managed to post a perfect halftime score of 20 points.  Here is Monday’s overall leaderboard at the halftime break:

• Hipster Fashion Consultants (DRP): 92
• Legalized Gambling (DRP): 90
• You’re Killing Me Smalls (Mark’s): 89
• Cobra Kai (DRP): 88
• I Don’t Know (DRP): 88

THIRD ROUND:

We began Monday’s second half with a Three Clues question regarding The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.  After the second question covered The Orient Express, we delivered a one-two punch that knocked most of our teams to the canvas.  First up, this question regarding awards and honors:

• Sharing its name with a cartoon dog, which award was introduced in the 1940s to honor distinguished public service by American media outlets?
• 2-POINT BONUS: Which university bestows this honor?

Only 19% of our teams earned wagering points with the correct answer of the Peabody Awards.  Furthermore, a mere five teams tacked on two bonus points by also knowing that these awards are doled out by the University of Georgia.  With most of the field reeling, we hit them again with another difficult question:

• It might sound like something you eat, but which six-letter term is an alternate name for the copyu, a large rodent once prized by fur traders?

As the most difficult wagering question of the night, only twelve teams responded correctly with the nutria.  Even after closing the third stanza with a relatively easier question regarding the volcanoes of Indonesia, a perfect score eluded the entire field in Monday’s third round.

FOURTH ROUND:

After learning about the etymology of the name George in the 6-4-2 question, we discussed final round topics such as the actors who have portrayed Albus Dumbledore, the assassination of Malcolm X (which occurred exactly 57 years ago), Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp, and the musical achievements of country singer LeAnn Rimes.  Though none of the final round bonus questions was particularly daunting, all three yielded a success rate of less than 25%, which meant that none of our Monday teams posted a perfect fourth round score.  After four rounds of play, these were your highest scoring Monday teams:

• Hipster Fashion Consultants (DRP): 163
• Cobra Kai (DRP): 161
• Legalized Gambling (DRP): 158
• George Washington’s Camel (DRP): 151
• Just Guessing (DRP): 148
• Team Holt (Bushwaller’s): 148

FINAL QUESTION (48.7% success rate):

• Throughout its history, which country has won more than 300 Winter Olympics medals, despite a current population of less than six million residents?

Nearly half of our teams responded correctly with Norway.  Thanks to the third round gauntlet, none of our Monday teams earned a Perfect 21 by answering every wagering question correctly.  Monday’s final leaderboard included these stellar teams:

• Hipster Fashion Consultants (DRP): 174
• Cobra Kai (DRP): 173
• Legalized Gambling (DRP): 170
• George Washington’s Camel (DRP): 163
• Just Guessing (DRP): 160
• Santos L. Halper (Ragtime): 159
• Team Holt (Bushwaller’s): 159
• Pursue This (Bushwaller’s): 158
• Fresh Off the U-Haul (Mark’s): 157
• You’re Killing Me Smalls (Mark’s): 157
• Worst Cast Ontario (DRP): 157

MONDAY’S WINNERS:

Cushwa Brewing in Williamsport, MD: It Takes a Village  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: The West Wing – Season 1)

DRP in Alexandria, VA: Hipster Fashion Consultants  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Infamous People Named Scott)

Bushwaller’s in Frederick, MD: Team Holt  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: U2 Songs)

Rockwell Brewery in Frederick, MD: Satchel of Richards  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Peacemaker – Season 1)

Mark’s Pub in Falls Church, VA: Fresh Off the U-Haul  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: The Iron Bowl)

William Jeffrey’s Tavern in Arlington, VA: Beers For Fears  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Sports Scandals)

Ragtime in Arlington, VA: Santos L. Halper  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: UCLA Basketball)

Aslin Beer Co in Herndon, VA: Turnt Opal  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Outlander)

Il Forno Pizzeria in Frederick, MD: That’s a Bingo  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Super Bowl MVPs)