A Real NBA Jam at Weekend Trivia!

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A lovely weekend of questions and answers was experienced by 82 teams across eight area Pour House Trivia locations.

FIRST ROUND:

Teams over the weekend fared pretty well in opening-round action, but each night featured a three-part question to end the round that proved to be the toughest. On Friday, teams were asked to identify the oldest child of three famous TV families, while Saturday’s task was to name the species of three separate onscreen animals. Other topics discussed in the first round included the definition of the word misdemeanor, the disease hemophilia, the origin of the funnel cake, and Francis Scott Key‘s capture during the Battle of Baltimore. Five weekend teams played their way to perfect scores in the first round.

SECOND ROUND:

For the weekend audio questions, teams had to name a trio of songs with the word first in the title on Friday, and identify three Samuel L. Jackson clips through film, anime, and TV advertisement. Friday’s hardest question in the round was one of (possibly urban) legend:

  • While it has been confirmed that a noblewoman bearing this name did live in the British city of Coventry during the 11th Century, it is highly doubtful that which historical figure actually performed the unique nude protest for which she is best remembered?

About 56% of the field named Lady Godiva for wagering points. Otherwise, Friday’s players had questions on the Civil War battle of Manassas near Bull Run as well as the Ace Hardware jingle. For Saturday’s game, a query about the current 18-year streak of kickers leading the NFL in single-season points sailed wide right on the bonus; no teams identified former Patriots kicker Stephen Gostkowski for his historic four-year run as leading scorer in the league. They also handled topics like the origin of rapper Frank Ocean‘s stage name and the branch of medicine known as oncology. Nine teams were able to put up perfect scores here.

HALFTIME:

The Friday puzzle page dealt with board games inspired by TV shows and songs that start with the word super, while Saturday’s sheet was all about burger chain logos and terms that feature the word may. The average team scored 16.7 on their page, while seven teams aced the page and earned all 20 points. At the intermission, this were the top-scoring teams:

THIRD ROUND:

Friday’s second half started with its hardest wagering question, a trip to the sci-fi section:

  • Respectively known for works such as Stranger in a Strange Land, the Foundation series, and Rendezvous with Rama, which three men were known affectionately as the “Big Three” science fiction writers of the mid to late 20th century?

One-third of teams earned their wager by naming two of those authors (Robert HeinleinIsaac Asimov, and Arthur C. Clarke), while five teams knew all three names for bonus points. We trekked further on Friday with questions on the various forms of lightning, the pole position and race winners from last week’s Indianapolis 500, and a query on the term eminent domain. On Saturday, players started with pro wrestling manager and onscreen Cyndi Lauper father Captain Lou Albano before continuing on with famous women who committed piracy on the high seas and three ladies with the last name of Duke. Our only perfect team in the third round was Fermenting Discussion (Mason Social).

FOURTH ROUND:

6-4-2s over the weekend had varying degrees of success: Friday’s on painter Vincent Van Gogh had 17 teams answer right after one clue for the maximum six points, but only one team on Saturday named Death Valley for the same honor. The hardest wagering question in the fourth round came on Saturday:

  • Established in 1802 by Thomas Jefferson, which institution was the first American college to have class rings and also has a long line of alumni, including two U.S. Presidents, referred to as The Long Gray Line?

Roughly 35 percent of teams were able to name West Point (or the U.S. Military Academy), with all of them also earning bonus points for naming former Presidents Grant or Eisenhower as the aforementioned alumni. Other weekend topics in the fourth included psychokinesis, the French cuff fashion style, the rock band Incubus, and the lawn sport croquet. A game-high seventeen perfect team scores were recorded in the fourth round! Before the final question, these were the high scores:

FRIDAY’S FINAL QUESTION (12.3% success rate):

  • Founded in 1977, which restaurant chain of about 600 locations was created in part by Nolan Bushnell, one of the co-founders of Atari?

SATURDAY’S FINAL QUESTION (70.6% success rate):

  • What is the only NBA team whose full team name (city and nickname) does not include the letters N, B, or A?

Nolan Bushnell was important in the beginnings of both Atari and Chuck E. Cheese, while that N-B-A-less NBA team is the Memphis Grizzlies. No Perfect 21 was earned by any eligible team over the weekend, but we’ll get to an honorable mention after these final standings:

Double honorable mention to Slightly Agitated (Springfield Manor) — yes, the same team that charted above on Saturday’s game — for playing over the limit with too many players, putting up a 169-point effort, and earning a Perfect 21 by answering all 21 wagering questions correctly!

WEEKEND WINNERS:

Springfield Manor Winery in Thurmont, MD: Risky Quizness  (NO GAME NEXT WEEK – FIRST CATEGORY ON JUNE 17: NFL Teams)

P. B. Dye Golf Course in Ijamsville, MD: ON HIATUS (FIRST CATEGORY AFTER HIATUS: Cryptozoology)

Dragon Distillery in Frederick, MD: Sexual Chocolate  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY ON JUNE 3: 14th-Century Africans)

Doc Waters Cidery in Germantown. MD: Dan  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Watergate)

Flying Ace Farm in Lovettsville, VA: That’s No Moon  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: The Clone Wars — TV series)

South Mountain Creamery in Frederick, MD: Killer Snails  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Obi-Wan Kenobi — TV series)

Belles’ Sports Bar in Frederick, MD: Slightly Agitated  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORYHarry Potter — audio)

Pretzel and Pizza Creations in Hagerstown, MD: Elderly Leather  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORYAttack on Titan)

Mason Social in Alexandria, VA: Fermenting Discussion  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY ON JUNE 5: Beer)