A Perfect Night for a Perfect Game!

For the second week in a row, Monday night featured the opening of a new Pour House Trivia venue, as we welcomed ​Adam & Eve Gastropub in downtown Frederick as the newest member of the PHT family.  Meanwhile, our second-newest venue continues to welcome throngs of new teams.  In only its second week of play, the game at Cheesetique in Ballston featured a whopping 20 teams, and host Geraden handled it in stride!  With that big number, Monday night featured 82 teams across eight venues.  But that wasn’t even the top story of the night!  Read on to find out what the BIG NEWS was:

ROUND 1:

Our game began with a question on Beer Brands, with most teams able to recognize the description of this memorable logo:

About one-third of our teams picked up bonus points by knowing that dirndl is the name of the traditional outfit worn by those lovely German waitresses.  After questions on Canadian politics and words ending with ‘Z’, we asked our teams if they remembered this hit of the early 1990s:

While just about everyone knew that “Groove is in the Heart”, only 17% of our teams remembered the name of the group that scored this hit: Deee-Lite (correct spelling not required).  Most of the teams that earned this final two-point bonus managed to sweep the entire round, as nine teams entered the second round with a perfect score of 36 points.

ROUND 2:

Comedic film clips were featured on Monday night’s audio question, as many teams were able to figure out the voices behind this trio of duos:

Our Three Clues question dealt with former NBA star Kobe Bryant, with just over half of our teams earning a two-point bonus by knowing that Kobe was actually drafted by the Charlotte Hornets and traded to the Lakers for Vlade Divac.  The second round concluded with our most difficult wagering question of the first half:

–> Passing away earlier this year at age 97, this graduate of the USC School of Law first gained fame as a 1980s TV personality.  He became even more famous after he was heavily referenced in the film “Rain Man”.  For your wager, what is this man’s last name?

Only 62% of our teams knew that Raymond Babbitt had to get home to see this guy:

Yes, the beloved Judge Wapner from “The People’s Court” passed away just a few months ago.  This question also included a two-point bonus for those teams that also knew his first name.  Only about one-quarter of the teams that earned their wager also earned a bonus with Joseph.  As a result of that final question, only six teams swept the second round, with just two teams registering a perfect 72 points after two rounds: Cavs in Five (Il Forno) and Westward Ho! (Morgan Inn)

HALFTIME:

Normally our halftime pages deal with two diverse topics, so in the odd instance when only a single topic is covered, we see some wide variations in the scores.  Such was the case on Monday night, as we quizzed teams on the outlines of foreign countries.  Despite a relatively low average of 14.6 points, we saw 27% of our teams notch a perfect score.  I guess you could say that some teams really like world geography (and some teams absolutely HATE it).  At the halftime break, these teams recorded the top overall scores:

• Cavs in Five (Il Forno):  92
• Westward Ho! (Morgan Inn) :  92
• PC Principals (Cheesetique):  90
• Kitten Mittens (Cheesetique):  87
• Killer Snails (Hershey’s):  87

ROUND 3:

The second half opened with a question on baseball legend Hank Aaron, who still holds two major offensive career records.  When given the numbers of 2,297 and 6,856, about one-third of our teams knew we were referring respectively to RBIs and Total Bases.

The third question of the round gave us our most difficult wagering question of the night:

–> With a name meaning ‘the red one’ in Arabic, which grand palace located in Grenada, Spain became the Royal Court of Ferdinand and Isabella in 1492?

Only 31% of our teams earned points here, but most of those needed a crossword-style hint in order to come up with the correct response of Alhambra.  Eight teams separated themselves from the pack by earning the early answer bonus, forgoing the crossword hint for an extra two points.  We continued by asking about these Cereal Splashback flavors of ice cream from Ben & Jerry’s:

The final question of the round featured the most difficult bonus question of the night, as we asked teams for the 17th century poet who coined the phrase “for whom the bell tolls” in his work Meditation XVII.  Only five teams snagged a well-earned two-point bonus by naming John Donne.  With the very difficult finish to the third round, only three teams scored a perfect 36 points: Band Meeting (DRP), Cavs in Five (Il Forno) and Kitten Mittens (Cheesetique).

6-4-2 QUESTION:

Monday’s six-point clue was slightly easier than normal, as 42% of our teams earned six points by knowing that the Chihuahua is (on average) the world’s smallest dog breed.  For one team, earning six points here was crucial, as Cavs in Five continued their quest for a PERFECT GAME!  134 points and counting!

ROUND 4:

The start of the final round did not provide much in the way of trivia speed bumps, as the majority of the field rolled through questions concerning gods of the underworld (specifically, Hephaestus and Vulcan), the Oscar-winning film “On Golden Pond”, and this DJ who recently topped the Billboard charts:

The bonus on this DJ Khaled question asked for his #1 song which also featured Justine Bieber.  Only 15% of our teams answered correctly with “I’m the One”.  Thanks to The Biebs, only two teams managed a perfect score in the final round: Lulu’s Groupies (DRP) and Cavs in Five (Il Forno).  Here are your top Monday scores after four rounds of play:

• Cavs in Five (Il Forno):  170
• Kitten Mittens (Cheesetique):  162
• Westward Ho! (Morgan Inn) :  159
• PC Principals (Cheesetique):  157
• Band Meeting (DRP):  157

FINAL QUESTION (71.4% success rate):

–> After its stock price rose more than 25% between May 23 and June 14 of this year, which company briefly surpassed BMW to become the third most valuable automaker in the world?

Although the stock price has taken a bit of a nosedive in the last month, Tesla Motors managed to claim the #3 spot for a few days last month.  Our teams performed very well on this question, but the real suspense was whether or not we would see a PERFECT GAME tonight.  Despite having a sizable lead, Cavs in Five went for PHT immortality with a 12-point wager…  and had no trouble sealing the deal with 182 points.

CONGRATULATIONS TO CAVS IN FIVE ON A PERFECT GAME!

This marks the first perfect game since last October, and only the third since the start of 2014.  In addition to this perfect game, Kitten Mittens (Cheesetique), B-58s (DRP), and Wingardium Mimosa (DRP) also managed to score the Perfect 21 tonight by answering correctly on all wagering questions.  Here are your top overall scores:

• Cavs in Five (Il Forno):  182 (PERFECT GAME)
• Kitten Mittens (Cheesetique):  170
• PC Principals (Cheesetique):  169
• Band Meeting (DRP):  168
• Fan Club (Hershey’s):  167
• H.R. Puff ‘N’ Stuff (DRP):  167
• Shakeweight (Il Forno):  166
• Wingardium Mimosa (DRP):  166
• B-58s (DRP):  164
• Greater Pour (Cheesetique):  162

TONIGHT’S WINNERS:

DRP in Alexandria, VA:  Band Meeting  (Next week’s first category: Hanna-Barbera Cartoons)

Greene Turtle in Hagerstown, MD:  That’s a Niner  (Next week’s first category: Grand Slam Tennis)

Morgan Inn in Woodbine, MD:  Morgan Station  (Next week’s first category: Motown)

Hershey’s Restaurant in Gaithersburg, MD:  The Fan Club  (Next week’s first category: Sports Broadcasters – Three-Part AUDIO question)

Uno Pizzeria in Frederick, MD:  Tequila Mockingbird  (Next week’s first category: Insulin)

Cheesetique in Arlington, VA:  Kitten Mittens  (Next week’s first category: Audrey Hepburn films)

Adam & Eve Gastropub in Frederick, MD:  Be Sharps  Next week’s first category: “The Simpsons” – Season 7)

Il Forno Pizzeria in Frederick, MD:  Cavs in Five  (Next week’s first category: the band Poison)