A Transcendental Night of Monday Night Trivia…

August 22, 2017

We’re down to the final two weeks of the Summer Fling season, and we’ve noticed an increase in the number of veteran Pour House Trivia teams popping up at alternate locations, trying to squeeze in more standing points.  Monday night was no exception, as we saw 81 teams spread across eight venues:

ROUND 1:

After opening our game with a question on the nursery rhyme “Three Blind Mice”, we asked a three-part question about depictions of sports jerseys in pop culture.  With questions spanning TV, film, and music, only 21% of our teams earned bonus points here by knowing all three of these teams:

We concluded the first round with this question on World War II:

–> In addition to Germany and Japan, the U.S. declared war on several other countries during World War II.  Name ANY ONE of these countries.

Our teams were given two guesses here in an attempt to earn a two-point bonus.  Not surprisingly, nearly every team earned their wagering by naming Italy.  What was surprising was that nearly half of our teams thought that the U.S. also declared war on the Soviet Union during World War II.  No, the Americans and Russians fought on the same side during World War II.  Remember this photo?

World War II

In fact, most historians believe that the Allies would have lost the war altogether had the Russians not ultimately defeated the Nazis during the invasion of the U.S.S.R.  Anyway, only 18% of our teams earned a two-point bonus by naming either Hungary, Bulgaria, or Romania.  Thanks to that last question, we saw just two teams sweep through the first round with a perfect score: Arrondissements of Ouagadougou (Greene Turtle) and Incognido’s (Il Forno).

ROUND 2:

Our audio question dealt with these three singers who share the same first name:

Steve Perry Winwood Miller

We continued with this question on U.S. Highways:

–> Which U.S. state’s turnpike intersects Interstate 95, Interstate 75, and Interstate 4?

Florida

The first half ended with a question about this current CBS drama, which very few teams knew was based on the career of Dr. Phil McGraw:

Bull

Four teams sweet the second round with a perfect score of 36 points: Arrondissements of Ouagadougou (Greene Turtle), and Men and Pausers (Morgan Inn), Dick Gregory Fan Club (Hershey’s), and Kitten Mittens (Cheesetique).

HALFTIME:

Monday’s halftime page quizzed our teams on cartoon characters and song lyrics.  The average score reached 17.0 points, with 12 teams earning a perfect score of 20 points.  Here are Monday’s top overall scores at the halftime break:

ROUND 3:

The second half began with a three-part question on the geography of Manhattan island, before following up with the most difficult wagering question of the round:

–> Originally, this numerical nickname referred to the U.S. senators who were accused of corruption during the Savings and Loan Scandal of the late 1980s.  More recently, it refers to a group of law students on the TV series “How to Get Away with Murder”.  What is that shared nickname?

Since Viola Davis’ character is a law professor named Annalise Keating, her students are often referred to as the “Keating Five”.  Only 21% of our teams earned points on this question.  We grabbed a quick bite to eat on the following question, asking about this delectable treat found at sushi restaurants:

Nigiri Sushi

Overall, Monday’s third round played slightly easier than normal, as numerous teams picked up points on all three bonus questions, and seven teams earned a perfect score of 36 points.

6-4-2 QUESTION:

Our six-point clue featured a difficult question even for the biggest “Harry Potter” fans:

–>  What is both the atomic number of copper, and the number of knuts in one sickle, the fictional Harry Potter currency.

Despite a number of valiant guesses, only four teams earned the full six points with the answer of 29.

ROUND 4:

The final round began with the discussion of an interesting statistical anomaly regarding U.S. Presidents:

–> Seven U.S. Presidents have been born in this state.  Oddly, all seven of these men served as Commander-in-Chief between the U.S. Civil War and World War II.  Name this state.

About half of our teams knew that seven out of the eleven U.S. Presidents who served between 1869 and 1923 were born in Ohio (but not before or since).  Those Presidents: Grant, Hayes, Garfield, B. Harrison, McKinley, Taft, and Harding.  We followed up with questions on Kanye West’s recent hospital stay and the classic film “National Velvet”, which is about horse racing (not show jumping or equestrian as many teams thought).  We concluded the final round with what proved to be the most difficult wagering and bonus questions of the night, coming in the form of our nightly Three Clues question.  Tonight’s version featured an animal as the answer:

CLUE 1: This animal is mentioned in the first line of a song which topped the Billboard Hot 100 Chart in April of 1971.

CLUE 2: The creature also known as a mountain chicken is actually this type of animal.

These daunting clues were too much for most of our teams to even venture a guess, but five teams earned a two-point bonus by answering correctly before the third clue was revealed:

CLUE 3: It is one of the two title characters in a 2009 animated Disney film.

This third clue did not help most of our teams, as it (apparently) references one of the least popular animated Disney films from recent memory:

Princess Frog

The final clue pointed to the not-so-memorable Disney film “The Princess and the Frog”.  In case you were wondering, the first clue referenced the classic rock song “Joy to the World” by Three Dog Night.  Even after hearing all three clues, only 19% of our teams earned points here, which cost many teams their five-point category bonus as well.  As a result, only two teams managed to sweep the final round: Morgan Station (Morgan Inn) and Cavs in Five (Il Forno).  Here are your top Monday scores after the final round:

FINAL QUESTION (38.3% success rate):

–> Which American author penned the 1849 work “A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers”?

A rather straightforward question, but one with several subtle hints…  The teams that were able to surmise that the Concord and Merrimack Rivers were located in New England had a leg up on the competition.  From there, they just had to think of a New England author who liked to spend time secluded on bodies of water.  It did not take long for those teams to come up with the correct answer of Henry David Thoreau.  Congratulations to Kitten Mittens (Cheesetique), as the only team to score the Perfect 21 tonight by answering correctly on all wagering questions.  Here are your top overall scores:

TONIGHT’S WINNERS:

DRP in Alexandria, VA:  Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Trivia  (Next week’s first category: Greek Mythology)

Greene Turtle in Hagerstown, MD:  Arrondissements of Ouagadougou  (Next week’s first category: “Platoon”)

Morgan Inn in Woodbine, MD:  Morgan Station  (Next week’s first category: 1960s Music – AUDIO)

Hershey’s Restaurant in Gaithersburg, MD:  Fan Club  (Next week’s first category: African Borders)

Uno Pizzeria in Frederick, MD:  Tequila Mockingbird  (Next week’s first category: Los Angeles Hodge Podge)

Cheesetique in Arlington, VA:  Kitten Mittens  (Next week’s first category: Virginia Beers)

Adam & Eve Gastropub in Frederick, MD:  Power Vacuum  (Next week’s first category: “The Devil in the White City”)

Il Forno in Frederick, MD:  Hydro Gels  (Next week’s first category: “Twin Peaks”)

 

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