For the second night in a row, we welcomed a new venue to the Pour House Trivia family, as one of Frederick’s most popular downtown restaurants held its inaugural game.  Cafe Nola hosted an enthusiastic opening night, in addition to more than a dozen of our regular games.  Check out the top teams in our nightly recaps:

WEDNESDAY’S STATS AND FACTS (98 teams across 13 venues):

–> Highest Overall Score: Dusty Baker School of Management (Bennigan’s – Clarksburg) with 166

–> Highest Score after Round 4: Dusty Baker School of Management with 158

–> Highest First Half Score: Dusty Baker School of Management with 86

–> Perfect 21 (correct on all wagers and final): Dusty Baker School of Management

–> Our halftime page featured #1 NFL Draft Picks and Disney Princesses (what a creative juxtaposition!).  The sheet played to an average score of 15.7, with seven teams scoring a perfect 20 points.

–> The 6-4-2 question proved to be slightly easier, as 18% of our teams knew that Jamaica is one of two world flags without and red, white, or blue.

TONIGHT’S FINAL QUESTION (21.9% success rate):

–> After being arrested and fined $100 by the city of Rochester, New York, which American was quoted as saying “I shall never pay a dollar of your unjust penalty!”?  (you’ll find the answer later in this blog)

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Valley Grill in Middletown, MD

A lot of duality going on in tonight’s game at Valley Grill as we had several teams dividing their attention between Pour House Trivia and the Capitals / Penguins game.  We even had some coordinated cheers, which is a rare occurrence.  The first round started off with a little Sting and his reference to an ingredient in beer, which we quickly followed up with the confirmation of Supreme Court justice Neil Gorsuch and the three Democratic “defectors” that helped him finally get his seat.  We also covered the Japanese company that has let their laptop quality slip as of late, and three films that originated from graphic novels.  Finally we examined the first season of American Crime Story, which covered the first trial of this infamous sports figure:

Round two’s audio clue featured references to some common tools found in the household tool box as found in song titles and artist names.  We continued with a couple of references to U.S. states.  The first being how many states border the Pacific, and the other was states which had World Series played by opposing teams within said states.  We also visited Benito Mussolini and the myth that his trains ran on time, and this fast flyer that can dive up to 240 miles per hour:

Round three contained some notable misses, with three U.S. Presidents that took the oath of office in New York state, and Orlando’s own Central Florida University.  We challenged the teams to some quantities of Coors Light while using mnemonic devices to remember planets, colors, etc.  Finally we went to this reality TV star and the latest offering in competitive racing:

The final round featured the geographic location of Lake Tahoe as well as the geographic origins of some popular soups.  We remembered Beyonce’s tribute to a Nigerian goddess, and read a little of Sun Tzu’s “Art of War”, which one team thought was written by Mahatma Gandhi.  Lastly we went to this action star also known as the “The Muscles from Brussels”. Watch out, according to some women from MTV, he can get a little “handsy”:

Only three of our thirteen teams answered correctly with Susan B. Anthony on the final question, and it took an NFL draft tiebreaker to settle first and second place.  Here are the results:

First Place:  Southpaw Fish

Second Place:  Stupider, Sexier Flanders

Third Place:  Fat Kids are Hard to Kidnap

Next week’s first category:  “The Princess Bride”

~ Ronnie

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The Tavern in Olney, MD

We saw another great comeback victory at our Wednesday evening game at The Tavern in Olney!  It feels like the teams here are starting to really up their games to get ready for the Season XV postseason.  The game was close throughout the first half, with only 11 points separating first from last place.  A perfect score on the halftime page helped the C-A-P-S CAPS! CAPS! CAPS! Fan Club sneak into the lead with 80 points.

Our second place team hit a bit of a rough patch in the second half, however, dropping them to fourth place by the time we got to the final question… which also happened to be their saving grace!  After all the answers were turned in, this is how the top three looked.  Having a rough finish and unfortunately dropping to third place was C-A-P-S CAPS! CAPS! CAPS! Fan Club!  Holding onto second place was one of our newer teams that are proving they are a force that will have to be dealt with in our upcoming seasons, Mamma Lou’s!  They were the only team that answered the final correctly and it shot them up from fourth to first place for the victory, for the second week in a row our winners are Olney The Lonely!

Their new pick for next week’s first category is The American Revolution, so study up for the next battle at The Tavern on Wednesday!

~ Jon J

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Belles’ Sports Bar in Frederick, MD

Good game tonight guys! Thank you for being patient for my first night hosting on my own (with Sam’s help, of course).  It was smooth sailing in the first half for our seven teams, but tonight’s halftime puzzle page was a bit of a challenge, with only one perfect score.  Way to go Pookie and the Bwain!  Meanwhile, Kobe Buffalo Meat and Cher’s Zombie Army were tied for first place with 83 points each at the break.

Our two leaders rolled through the second half with very few mistakes.  Despite my butchering of international soup names, you all did surprisingly well on that question.  At the conclusion of the fourth round, it was Cher’s Zombie Army that snuck into the lead by just two points.  But in an odd twist, neither of our top two teams answered correctly on the final question, leaving the door open for someone else to take the top prize.  Sure enough, too teams from the middle of the pack jumped several spots by coming up with the correct answer of Susan B. Anthony!

The highlight of the evening had to be a glimmer of fleeting hope, because the first category for next week could have been “Sam Sings Willie Nelson Songs”, but alas our winners choose a different fate.  Your top finishers tonight:

First Place:  It’s Always Sunny on Uranus
Second Place:  Just Good enough
Third Place:  Cher’s Zombie Army

Next Week’s first category:  “Hamilton”

~ Megan

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Bennigan’s in Frederick, MD

Ahhhh… Playoff Hockey, you cruel mistress, taunting me as we completed our game of Pour House Trivia here at Bennigan’s in Frederick.

Highlights of the Night:

In “Wrong-Kind-of-Dive-Guys”: The bird question was not on my list of “confusing” questions tonight, but maybe it should’ve been, as we had several teams turning in more aquatic answers like King Fisher, or Arctic Tern. Guys. Birds dive out of the sky.  Come on now.

In “Polarized-Puzzle-Page”: The puzzle page tonight required two very different knowledge bases to come together. Sadly, most teams struggled with one or the other.  A few struggled with both and one team got a perfect score, so we were all over the place with this one.  Toughie!

In “Are-They-Really-Nicknames-If-No-One-Has-Heard-Them?”: While teams did get both answers correct on the Jean Claude Van Damm Question, it was pretty unanimously agreed that no one had heard anyone refer to him as JCVD (which is just his initials and the same number of syllables) or the Muscles from Brussels.  Who is doling out these nicknames?  Are they really nicknames or just what one person refers to him as?

The final was a doozy tonight, and with only one correct answer of Susan B. Anthony, it made all the difference.

In third place tonight, Literally Anything!

In second place tonight, Momentary Lapse of Reason!

In first place tonight, Many Bothans!

Great game tonight guys!  Next week we’ll kick things off with Greek and Roman Mythology!  Study up, and we’ll see you next time!

Until then,

~ Ian

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Woodside Deli in Gaithersburg, MD

Tonight was our FINAL GAME at Woodside Deli in Gaithersburg, and one of our most loyal teams went out with a bang, showing how strong they could really be.  High Water Mark absolutely dominated from pillar to post, missing only two of their wagering questions (which were both one-point wagers) before the final question tonight.

With an untouchable lead (greater than 12 points) going into the final question, High Water Mark, as well as all the other teams at Woodside Deli faltered in the final question of: “After being arrested and fined $100 by the city of Rochester, New York, which American was quoted as saying “I shall never pay a dollar of your unjust penalty!”?  I think what made this question particularly tough was there was no date associated with the quote.   Some teams thought along the lines of historic figures, some considered a comedic aspect to the quote, and some teams were simply drawing a blank!  Nonetheless, the correct response of Susan B. Anthony elicited a few “Oh yeah”s from the crowd.

It’s been a great experience hosting here and I hope that all of our regular teams will be able to find another Pour House Trivia location to show off their skills.  Be sure to check the website for details on our seven other Montgomery County locations!

~ Scott

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Nido’s Ristorante in Frederick, MD

This week at Nido’s Ristorante in Frederick, we hosted our first edition of outdoor trivia!  The patio was finally open for trivia and it’s a very cool spot, I’m very excited about hosting there for the summer!   This week things started out with a question of ‘Triple 50/50: Muppet or Vice President?’.  It played out almost exactly like you’d expect, with there being some ridiculous names to choose from on both lists.  The audio question for today was about items you’d find in a toolbox, asking teams about three songs where either the artist or song title were named for tool related items (like MC Hammer or Nine Inch Nails).

Tonight’s halftime page asked teams to identify number one draft picks in the NFL, which was definitely tough for a few teams.  We also asked teams to match Disney Princesses to their romantic partner, which got tricky when differentiating between Prince Charming (Snow White) and The Prince (Cinderella).  In the second half things opened up for The Donner Party, and they rode that momentum all the way through to the final, getting the correct answer of Susan B. Anthony. This week’s top three were as follows:

First Place: Donner Party

Second Place:  Witiots

Third Place:  Deep Down Everybody Loves Tom Brady

Thanks for playing everyone, and congrats once again to the Donner Party!  Next week, we’ll start with a question about Punctuation, so I’ll see you all then!

Until next time,

~Chad

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Top Golf in Alexandria, VA

After the first half of tonight’s game at Top Golf, management asked me to turn off the music so the rest of the bar could enjoy the last Caps-Penguins playoff game.  At first, I thought it would make our trivia night a bit boring, but in my opinion, it definitely added some suspense.  None of the teams knew when the time limit was approaching and instead of thinking music, teams got to hear cheers and boos from the rest of the bar (the hockey game, not necessarily our trivia night).  And with the way the teams performed, it certainly was a nail-biting contest (our trivia night, not necessarily the hockey game).

Round 1 was a rough start answering questions on the South Atlantic League and television of this decade.  But, teams picked up some bonus points on our question of comic book films not from DC or Marvel.  Round 2’s audio round had questions where the song title or musical artist had something that could be found in a toolbox.  Only one team could identify the Beatles’ “I Saw Her Standing There”.  Teams then picked up points by knowing the legend of which World War II leader wanted his country’s trains to run on time.

Round 3 had a question on the most populous U.S. university campus and then a question on scientific mnemonics.  While some teams did not know what a mnemonic was, once they heard the question, they excelled anyways as every team except one at least picked up points there.  Our 6-4-2 question had a tricky start of identifying which country, besides Mauritania, does not have any red, white, or blue at all on their national flag.  Only one team picked up six points.  By the end of Round 4, teams were identifying soups and their countries of origin as well as some identifying quotations from ancient Chinese literature.  At this point, only four points separated our first and last place teams.

Our Final Question involved someone who was arrested and shouted, “I shall never pay a dollar of your unjust penalty!”  Unfortunately for our teams, everyone went the slavery route rather than thinking of how the U.S. Mint honored this woman on our one-dollar coin.  So, everyone missed and that meant we had to go to a tie-breaker for second place.  We asked for the year the NFL Draft first took place and it was not even close.  So, here is our medal table for tonight:

First Place:  Easter Bunnies

Second Place:  Jackie’s Team

Third Place:  Quiz in My Pants (a/k/a Don’t Re-accommodate Me, Bro!)

Next week’s first category:  The French language

I’ll be out of town next week, so please welcome our sub for next week, Katie!  I’ll see y’all in two weeks!

Until next time,

~ Chris

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Bennigan’s in Clarksburg, MD

Today was deemed by many fans of Washington sports as the most important day in Washington sports history. Nats, Wiz, and Caps all playing tonight, two in playoff games, one in Game 7…  It was a pretty epic spread.  Fans from all over were excited to see at least one team win, lots thinking that all three would take it and make the city of Washington, D.C. proud.  Welp, that was fun while it lasted.  0-3 for Washington sports (at least I think so, I stopped following after the Caps blew it)…  Luckily, at least one team would walk away with a win — tonight’s trivia game wasn’t gonna keep every home town team from getting a W.

It was a close game at the half.  Dusty Baker was in first, per the usual, but we had a close second place team in Alternative Facts, who had a solid first half and kept up as best they can.  In Round 3, the difficulty moved up a notch and the teams seemed to feel the effect of it.  Dusty Baker’s four-point lead turned into a 16-point lead in only five questions.  The 6-4-2 question was tough tonight, with no teams earning six points, while a few teams attempted and failed.  Even Dusty Baker waited for the four-point clue, even though most teams seemed irked when they heard it, as if they had it after just one clue but couldn’t pull the trigger!

We finished Round 4 with a Jean-Claude van Damme question, which most teams were able to convert into SOME points but only a few teams getting the correct city of birth for JCVD.  He’s “the Muscles from Brussels” for a reason; that’s where he is from!  Less teams getting Brussels than I’d have wagered but in the end it was all moot as Dusty Baker led by 20+ points going into the final and would lock a victory with a safe wager.

The final tonight was TOUGH, with most teams struggling to come up with a possible correct answer.  Only one team was able to answer correctly with Susan B. Anthony tonight… and that was Dusty Baker, a solid performance and a HUGE win, taking it down by nearly 40 points.  They’ll look for another win next week as we begin with the Washington Senators (pre-1960).  That’s a wrap peeps, we’ll see ya soon!

~ Bill

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Memories in Mount Airy, MD

We might have gotten a taste of the finer things this week, with the dining room all to ourselves, but it was business as usual when it came to trivia here at Memories Charcoal House in Mount Airy!  With the sounds of D.C. simultaneously losing at every sport in the background, we dove headfirst in a tough set.  Teams left a lot of points on the board, either from going in early on a question or simply being stumped.  Also there was lots of Metallica. Not that I was jealous of anything going on Wednesday night…

Apparently, the old adage that Benito Mussolini “made the trains run on time” was not familiar to our teams, as this proved to be the toughest question of the first half.  Sexual Chocolate took the lead after cementing the only perfect score on the halftime page.

Two questions in the third round set the tone for the game, as only one team scored points by knowing two of the three U.S. Presidents to be inaugurated in New York.  Later, the Three Clues question dealt with the university which currently lays claim to the largest campus in the country.  Despite being given the (potential) hint of its location of Orlando, most teams did not wait that long, and no team scored points here.  As the game wound down, we looked poised for a combo breaker, with Sexual Chocolate missing the 6-4-2 and losing the lead. All seemed lost…

Then the final happened. Catching on to that vital “dollar” clue was pretty essential in coming away with the right answer, and only a few teams did.  So how did it all shake out?

First Place: Sexual Chocolate

Second Place: FOWL

Third Place: Satan’s School for Girls

They do it again, escaping from the jaws of defeat to secure a win. Sexual Chocolate selected the Normans (as in the medieval ethnic group) for next week’s first category.  See you next week!

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Furnace Bar and Grill in Thurmont, MD

Tonight at the Furnace Bar and Grill in Thurmont, We Need an Adult was attempting to run its winning streak to six games, while our overall season leaders Breakfast for Dinner was looking to clinch the Season XV House Championship with a win of its own.

Not surprisingly, the first half featured those two teams jumping to an early lead on the rest of the field, as they were the only teams to run through the first round without a blemish.  The second round continued in much the same fashion, but We Need an Adult separated themselves on the halftime puzzle page, as their high score of 19 points solidified a six-point lead over Breakfast for Dinner at the break.

At the end of the third round, our top three teams were only separated by 11 points, as the rest of the field was looking to catch up and make a comeback to claim the top spot.  However, We Need an Adult was able to run away with tonight’s game in the final round, posting an insurmounatble lead hading into the final question (which they actually missed!).  Finishing strongly for second place was Breakfast for Dinner, and in third place was The Goobers.

Next week’s first category: “The Fifth Element”.

Until next time

~ Devan

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Barefoot Bernie’s in Hagerstown, MD

The energy of a warm spring night brought out a lot of people to Barefoot Bernie’s on the Dual Highway in Hagerstown on Wednesday night.  We played some trivia and made some new friends.  The story of the last month has been Alternative Answers, who was holding on to a five-game winning streak against some very tough competition.  Would they be able to continue their impressive run?

We cautiously started with question about the movie “Dogma”; most teams hedging their bets with a one-point water, though everyone knew that we were taking about Chris Rock in the role of  St. Rufus.  The first round was too close to call, ending with a three-way tie for first.  Teams started to separate themselves in the second half.  Congrats to the Sad Fat Dragons for being the only team to know all three states on the MLB question and, along with Pen Island, walking away with perfect halftime puzzle pages.

The scores remained quite close in the third round, as our top teams committed very few mistakes.  Only four points separated first place from third place.  Alternative Answers snuck into the lead by earning six points on the 6-4-2 question, and they were able to maintain that lead through a tight final round.  Then, we flipped things all around on the final question.  With Alternative Answers in the lead, our teams needed to find their context clue and piece together that Susan B. Anthony said “I shall never pay a dollar of your unjust penalty!”.  Alternative Answers couldn’t find the right answer and fell to third.  Sad Fat Dragons changed their wager to zero, and then answered correctly to stay in second.  But it was Pen Island who came up with Ms. Anthony and wagered aggressively to snatch first place!

Great game everyone!  Next week we are going to kickoff the night with a question about Rugby!  See you then!

~ Sean

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Applebee’s in Waynesboro, PA

We had a great game tonight at Applebee’s in Waynesboro, with six teams battling it out to the very end and showing us that sometimes you have to play it safe going into the final, and sometimes the best strategy is to bet it all.  Here are some highlights for tonight’s game:

Round one started off a little rough, with our first two questions of the night each stumping half of our teams.  One was an interesting “Murder, She Wrote” question, while the other asked about the new FX anthology series “American Crime Story”.  Teams settled in quickly after that, and the rest of the round went very smoothly.  JuJu and Friends and Alternative Facts finished the round tied for first, but the rest of the teams were not far behind.

In round two teams “gave me the bird” by correctly guessing that the peregrine falcon has the fastest diving speed of any animal (a whopping 242 miles per hour), and then finished off the half strongly with some solid halftime puzzle pages that involved identifying #1 overall NFL draft picks, and matching Disney princesses to their beaus.  At the end of the half Alternative Facts had taken sole possession of the lead, but Bees? jumped into second and was hot on their heels.

Alternative Facts turned in a very strong round three, getting every question correct, but Not Your Team matched them point for point and was able to leapfrog from fourth place up into second, tied with JuJu and Friends.  In our 6-4-2 question, teams correctly guessed that Jamaica’s flag is one of two national flags without red, white, or blue on it (and also judged my Jamaican accent, mon).  We wrapped up round four with a question about the Muscles from Brussels, Jean Claude Van Damme himself, which saw most teams correctly guess that one of his nicknames is just an abbreviation of his initials.  At the end of the round, Alternative Facts could not be caught going into the final, but the battle for 2nd and 3rd was still very much up for grabs.

Going into the final question, Not Your Team was in second place with JuJu and Friends not very far behind them in third. Not Your Team chose to bet conservatively, while JuJu and Friends went a different route and bet the maximum. This gamble paid off, because JuJu and Friends happened to be the only team to answer correctly, which allowed them to jump into second place at the end of the game for what turned out to be a thrilling finish.  Here are your top three for the night:

First Place:  Alternative Facts

Second Place:  JuJu and Friends

Third Place:  Not Your Team

Next week’s first category:  “Naruto” (an anime TV show).  See you then!

~ Kyle

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Cafe Nola in Frederick, MD

We had a great first night of trivia at Cafe Nola, thanks to all the fun teams who came out to play.  There was a good mix of experienced trivia players and newbies, making for an exciting game!

Many teams chose the first category: “A Beer Question” as their bonus, and our teams proved they knew their alcoholic beverages throughout the game.  We had a little trouble with the TV show “American Crime Story”, with only two teams identifying O.J. Simpson as the subject of the first season (“The Juice” made a repeat appearance, showing up later on our half-time sheet).  In the second round, we asked for the fastest diving bird, which was the Peregrine Falcon.  Although two teams got this question right, everyone way underestimated just how fast these last these little guys can get (a whopping 242 miles per hour!).

The half-time sheet, which featured football players on top and Disney princesses on the bottom (that sounds kinda dirty, huh?) was tricky for some of our less sports-inclined teams.  Going into the second half, PHT veterans Tuna Noodle Casserole had taken the lead.  While all teams had a strong third round, two teams pulled out bonus points by knowing the mnemonic devices for the colors of the spectrum, planets of the solar system, and taxonomic classification.

In the last round, teams had a hard time identifying the celebrity who wore a dress inspired by the Nigerian goddess Oshun (it was Beyonce).  But everyone was familiar with “The Art of War”, the treatise by General Sun Tzu.  Going into the final question, Tuna Noodle Casserole was in the lead, followed by team Malort in second and a three-way tie for third with teams Sparkle, Dicks Out for Hammurabi, and Smokey Mountains.  The final question was a tough one though, as only Malort and Dicks Out could identify Susan B. Anthony by her famous quote “I shall never pay a dollar of your unjust penalty!”  This was enough to make team Malort our first first-place finisher, followed up by Dicks Out and Tuna Noodle Casserole.  Overall it was a great night of competition and fun and we’re looking forward to more Trivia nights at Cafe Nola every Wednesday!

Fittingly, our first category next week will be Malort (you might have to look it up, it’s a Swedish liqueur…)

~ Allison

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