A Towering Film Inferno at Weekend Trivia!

November 21, 2022

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Some pre-Thanksgiving week games were played over the weekend, brought to you by the good folks at Pour House Trivia. A half-dozen venues hosted a total of 38 teams.

FIRST ROUND:

We talked about many things among our opening round offerings: Disney’s Goofy and his 90s TV series Goof Troop, bone marrow, the many adaptations of Hairspray, and the world’s tallest totem pole in Alert Bay, British Columbia. The hardest wagering question in this group came at the end of Friday’s first round:

  • In this past weekend’s AP Top 25 college football poll, which Southeastern Conference team once again received all but one of the first-place votes to remain #1 in the nation? This team dethroned former #1 Tennessee earlier this month.

Roughly three quarters of the field were right to name top-ranked Georgia for wagering credit. The toughest bonus chance came on Saturday’s Three Clues question about India, in which only one team was able to correctly answer early for two extra points. The only perfect first-round team played on Sunday: Crosby’s Fan Club (Mason Social).

SECOND ROUND:

Friday’s audio question was about commercial jingles, while Sunday’s focused on covers of TV theme songs. However, Saturday’s audio portion was the most difficult wagering opportunity in any weekend game’s first half. We played a trio of clips from films with Robert Redford; 64% of teams named at least two, while 29% got all three (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Natural, and Captain America: The Winter Soldier). Another relatively tough question came at the end of Friday’s second round:

  • When her debut single reached #1 in the fall of 2013, which singer from New Zealand became the youngest solo artist since 1990 to top the Billboard Hot 100 Chart?

Two-thirds of our teams knew that singer is Lorde, with almost all of them adding bonus points for naming that debut single, Royals. Other topics in this round included the European beginnings of the Little Red Riding Hood fairy tale, the multiple meanings of the word zest, the former Brooklyn Dodgers, and Three Clues about the Al Pacino film Scent of a Woman. Eight teams over the weekend were perfect in this round.

HALFTIME:

A lot went on at halftime this weekend: films with Thanksgiving scenes, famous people with avian names, sci-fi aliens, and a bunch more was covered. The average score was 15.3 points and just one team recorded a perfect 20-pointer. These teams flew into the halftime intermission on top of the trivia world:

  • Shark Fin Pizza (Flying Ace): 89
  • Heavy Metal Parking Lot (Mason Social): 86
  • Murph’s Masters (Dragon): 85
  • Demented and Sad but Social (Belles’): 84
  • FIVE TEAMS TIED WITH 83 POINTS

THIRD ROUND:

Midway through Friday’s third round, we hit on a toughie:

  • Sounding like she maybe spent the night on the east side of Lake Huron, Audrey Hepburn performed which Oscar-winning song on guitar in the film Breakfast at Tiffany’s?

About 42% of teams had Moon River as the correct answer, but just two teams knew its composer, Henry Mancini, for extra credit. Another question was up in the air:

  • In a small town near Paris, France in 1783, two sons of paper bag manufacturer Pierre Montgolfier developed the first of what transportation device, demonstrating it publicly on September 19 of that year?

The Montgolfiers were the creator of the hot air balloon, named by 64% of Saturday’s squads. We also touched on topics like scurvy, Biblical figure and ersatz hairdresser Delilah, and Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights. Perfect scores here were earned by six teams.

FOURTH ROUND:

Over the weekend, we had 6-4-2 questions about the first name Annie, Q-Tips, and Winnie-the-Pooh. The two most difficult wagering tries of the weekend’s set each came in fourth-round action. The end of Friday’s fourth brought the hardest query of the weekend, a three-part over/under where the line was set at 66:

  • 1)  Including those who only sang in the chorus, the number of artists credited as singers on the #1 hit We Are the World.
  • 2)  The number of total missions launched by all NASA Space Shuttles.
  • 3)  The NBA record for most points scored by one player in one half.

There were 44 credited singers on We Are the World, 135 total Space Shuttle missions, and Wilt Chamberlain’s NBA record 59 points in a half; only 28% of teams earned wagering points on that one while 19% had the correct order of under, over, under. The beginning of Saturday’s round featured its hardest wagering question:

  • The flag of which African island nation contains ten stars, as well as shades of red, white, blue, and yellow but oddly, no green?

Cape Verde was named by 47% of the field, with only one scoring bonus points for getting its capital of Praia. Otherwise, we had subjects such as the former reality series Beauty and the Geek, Theodore Roosevelt‘s Nobel Peace Prize honor, Cate Blanchett‘s Oscar nomination history, and the Canadian Football League’s Grey Cup. Comfortably Dumb (Dragon) recorded the only fourth-round perfecto this past weekend. However, these teams swung into the final question atop the standings:

FRIDAY’S FINAL QUESTION (28.6% success rate):

  • Of the nine films to receive a record five acting nominations at a single Academy Awards ceremony, which is the only sequel?

SATURDAY’S FINAL QUESTION (0% success rate):

  • Released in October of 2013, which film won seven Academy Awards, the most among 21st Century films that did NOT win Best Picture?

SUNDAY’S FINAL QUESTION:

  • In the late 1880s, which engineer earned the nickname Magician of Iron?

The Godfather Part II pulled in five acting nominations (but only one win, by Robert De Niro), the record for a sequel film. Gravity was nominated for ten Oscars and won seven, but lost Best Picture to 12 Years a Slave. And in the late 19th century, Gustave Eiffel towered above the rest with that moniker. Unfortunately, no team earned Perfect 21 honors in any weekend game. We put a bow on the weekend festivities with these teams on top:

WEEKEND WINNERS:

Springfield Manor Winery in Thurmont, MD: NO GAME  (NO GAME NEXT WEEK — FIRST CATEGORY ON DEC. 2: Enola Holmes (film series))

Dragon Distillery in Frederick, MD: Dessert First  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Bruce Springsteen)

Flying Ace Farm in Lovettsville, VA: Shark Fin Pizza  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Canadian History)

South Mountain Creamery in Frederick, MD: 

Belles’ Sports Bar in Frederick, MD: PB and J  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: 2022 FIFA World Cup)

Pretzel and Pizza Creations in Hagerstown, MD: Quality Guesswork  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Sebastian Vettel)

Mason Social in Alexandria, VA: Lone Strangers  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Taylor Swift Ex-Boyfriends)

Coast Tacobar in Hagerstown, MD: Mexican Coke  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Bowling)

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