A Rocky (Mountain) Night of Wednesday Trivia!

ROUND 1:

Wednesday’s game opened with a three-part question on people named Ocean (Danny, Billy, and Frank), as well as this current ABC show:

We closed the round by enjoying a trio of gin cocktails and discussing the former capitals of China.  With just 13% of the field able to name Nanking as the “Summer Capital” of China, we saw seven teams open their night with a sweep of the first round.

ROUND 2:

Wednesday’s audio question dealt with song titles whose titles contained the names of musical instruments, specifically “Bang on the Drum All Day” by Todd Rundgren, “Mr. Tambourine Man” by The Byrds, and “Trumpets” by Jason Derulo.  We examined our DNA and asked our teams to name this classic cartoon character:

By a wide margin, the most difficult wagering question of the first half was this query on the subject of Military Matters:

–> Which U.S. military decoration has the figure of Minerva on the Army and Navy versions and the Statue of Liberty on its Air Force design?

Only 22% of the field earned their wager with the correct response of the Medal of Honor.  As a result, the only perfect score of the second round was turned in by I’d Eat That Off of a Flip Flop (Furnace Bar).

HALFTIME:

Wednesday’s halftime page featured pictures of TV shows that aired for just one season.  Obviously, remembering all of these short-lived series proved to be more more difficult than normal, as the overall average score reached only 14.2 points.  Though we saw several scores of 19 points, none of our teams were able to run the table during halftime.  Here are Wednesday’s top scores after the first half:

• I’d Eat That Off of a Flip Flop (Furnace Bar):  89
• Flight Level Awesome (Belles’):  85
• Arrondissements of Ouagadougou (Barefoot Bernie’s):  85
• Witiots (Nido’s):  85
• Russia Rigged the Back Nine (Memories):  85
• It’s Mueller Time (Quinn’s):  85

ROUND 3:

Wednesday’s second half began with a testy question in the Three Clues format, with this version dealing with a particular mountain range:

CLUE 1: This mountain range lends its name to a family of languages that includes Estonian, Finnish, and Hungarian.

CLUE 2: Its highest peak is Mount Narodnaya, which is located in the Tyumen Oblast.

Very few teams even ventured a guess at this point, but seven of the teams who did answer early picked up bonus points with the correct answer of the Ural Mountains.  Later, we asked our teams to identify the only two egg-laying mammals:

After closing with questions on the new name of Swaziland and the novel version of “The Princess Bride”, we once again saw just one team earn a perfect score: Witiots (Nido’s).

ROUND 4:

Wednesday’s final round also began with another difficult bonus question.  Wile most teams knew that the teen comedy film “10 Things I Hate About You” was based on Shakespeare’s “The Taming of the Shrew”, only eight teams knew that the film was (fittingly) set at Padua High School.  Later, we looked at the video game series Halo, U.S. government shutdowns, and this celebrity couple:

For the third time in a row, only one team earned a perfect score, with this honor going to It’s Mueller Time (Quinn’s).  Here are your top Wednesday scores after four rounds of play:

• It’s Mueller Time (Quinn’s):  158
• Flight Level Awesome (Belles’):  155
• Sexual Chocolate (Memories):  153
• Unfrozen Caveman Lawyers (Clover Theater):  153
• Arrondissements of Ouagadougou (Barefoot Bernie’s):  152
• Maddie (Lost Dog Cafe):  152

FINAL QUESTION (21.4% success rate):

–> Ranking 21^st and 22^nd overall, these two states are the LEAST populous U.S. states with home teams in each of the four major professional sports leagues (MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL).  For your wager, name BOTH of these states.

Nearly 80% of our teams came up with one of the two correct answers, but landing both states proved to be a daunting task.  The more common correct answer was Minnesota (Twins, Vikings, Timberwolves, Wild), but only about one-fifth of our teams also came up with Colorado (Rockies, Broncos, Nuggets, Avalanche).  Only two teams recorded the Perfect 21 on Wednesday by answering every wagering question correctly, and they both came from the same venue, as Southern Comfort and Sarcastic Jerks in the Back each achieved this feat at Clover Theater.  These were your top overall scores from Wednesday:

• Arrondissements of Ouagadougou (Barefoot Bernie’s):  164
• Hamster Relish (Memories):  162
• Spirit Grwoth Hormone (Barefoot Bernie’s):  160
• Stephen Hawking’s Karaoke Machine (Memories):  160
• Unfrozen Caveman Lawyers (Clover Theater):  160
• I’d Eat That Off of a Flip Flop (Furnace Bar):  160
• It’s Mueller Time (Quinn’s):  159
• Southern Comfort (Clover Theater):  159
• Maddie (Lost Dog Cafe):  158
• Five Sure (Delirium Cafe):  157

TONIGHT’S WINNERS:

Valley Grill in Middletown, MD:  Shakeweight  (Next week’s first category: Marvel Cinematic Universe Directors)