A Tuesday Night Trivia Moonshot!
Tuesday night featured 15 games of pub trivia and 107 teams hoping to show off their knowledge. Let’s see who rolled with the punches and took home tonight’s top prizes…
ROUND 1:
Our first round began with a fun question on sports films:
–> On the American Film Institute’s list of the best sports films, four of the top five spots are occupied by films based on either one of which two sports?
Most teams earned their wager by responding correctly with boxing, as these two films occupy the top two spots on the list:
Bonus points were doled out to about one-third of our teams who also guessed baseball. Though there are many great baseball films to choose from, it’s actually these two flicks that occupy the #4 and #5 spots on that list:
We continued with a Triple 50/50 question, asking if each of three beer brands (Red Horse, Steel Reserve, Porch Rocker) was either a variety of Samuel Adams or a variety of malt liquor. Needless to say, that one was a breeze… For you teetotalers out there, the first two are malt liquors, while the third is a lemon-flavored summer brew from Samuel Adams). After a question on the multiple meanings of the word squash, we asked about an upcoming Broadway musical based on the TV series “SpongeBob SquarePants”. According to host Katie from FireFlies: “SpongeBob the Musical? No one here seemed interested to see it…” Meanwhile, the bonus question asked for the EXACT year in which the TV series debuted. Not surprisingly, it was the toughest question of the round, as only 12 teams answered correctly with 1999.
After the first round, fsixteams held a perfect score: Capital Hillbillies (Capitol City Brewing), Fat, Drunk, and Stupid (Champion Billiards), Ivan Get the Table (Cugini’s), Like a Hobo on a Hot Ham Sandwich (Cugini’s), Victorious Secret (TopGolf – Ashburn), and Love in the Time of Cthulhu (Monkey La La).
ROUND 2:
Our three-part audio question quizzed teams on backing bands. Our teams had no trouble identifying Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band (“Night Moves”), Huey Lewis & the News (“Stuck with You”), and Florence & the Machine (“Shake it Out”). According to host Austin at Capitol City Brewing, “my trivia host poker-face was tested when I saw this guy’s t-shirt… needless to say, they did quite well on the audio question”:
We followed that softball with our most difficult wagering question of the first half:
–> In 2006, Alaska Senator Ted Stevens gave an impassioned speech on the Senate floor, in which he declared that this is “not a big truck – it’s a series of tubes!”. What was Senator Stevens referring to?
While the most popular wrong answer referenced an oil pipeline, only 24% of our teams knew that the late Senator Stevens was actually talking about the internet! The second round included our nightly Three Clues question, with tonight’s version asking about a country. Teams earned a two-point bonus if they knew which country borders three former Yugoslav republics, one former Soviet republic, and has its second-most populous city at Debrecen. This was the toughest bonus question of the entire night, as ONE TEAM earned bonus points after hearing the preliminary clues. Congratulations to the geography experts of Capital Hillbillies! Most teams waited until the third clue, earning their wager by identifying Hungary as the origin of the meaty dish goulash:
After asking our teams what the U.S. Naval acronym SAR stands for (it’s Search and Rescue), we concluded the round with the slogan “Just Win, Baby!”. Our football fans recognized this as the slogan of the Oakland Raiders, as coined by longtime owner Al Davis. Apparently, some die-hard Raiders fans must play at Primanti Brothers in Hagerstown, as host Sean noted that a solo player named Ted proceeded to show off his tattoo that included the words “Just Win, Baby!”. Talk about home field advantage… Thanks to the very difficult bonus on the Hungary question, no team swept the second round.
HALFTIME:
PUPPIES! No, not live puppies… The halftime sheet had our teams identifying the breeds of ten different puppies, as well as cluing into some colorful common bonds. Apparently, these were both wheelhouse categories for the field, as the average score on the halftime page was 19.1, with about 62% of our teams scoring a perfect 20 points. To quote our host Bill at Quincy’s South: “ALERT THE CHURCH ELDERS! THIS HALFTIME PAGE WAS ACCESSIBLE!” Here are the top five overall scores after the halftime page:
- Capital Hillbillies (Capitol City Brewing): 90
- Love in the Time of Cthulhu (Monkey La La): 89
- Fat, Drunk, and Stupid (Champion Billiards): 88
- Oneders (Champion Billiards): 88
- Comfortably Dum (Champion Billiards): 88
- French Canadian Bacon (Orioles Nest): 88
- Capitol City Goofballs (Capitol City Brewing): 88
- Sloppy Seconds (Monkey La La): 88
ROUND 3:
The third round began just as the second round ended: with a sports question. This question also fit the realm of Current Events, as we asked for the PGA Tour event which awarded over two million dollars to its most recent winner – a record for an annual event. Having finished about 48 hours prior, most of our teams answered correctly with the U.S. Open. The bonus question asked for the player who won this event, and although he is not very well-known today, Brooks Koepka is on his way to a successful career.
We’re not sure what Brooks’ nickname is, but we did confirm that it was not Golfy McGolfstick, as one team from FireFlies answered. After a question on the Neural Network, we came upon the most difficult wagering question of the night. We asked for the name of the French fashion designer who established the “New Look” clothing line, and even presented a potential multiple choice option to our teams. Once again, very few teams attempted the early answer bonus, as only five teams earned a bonus with the correct response of Christian Dior. Unfortunately, the multiple choice options didn’t help many teams, as many admitted that the given choices were the EXACT names they were considering upon hearing in the question in the first place! Despite a one-in-four chance, only 12% of our teams earned their wager here. We continued with a question on this recent HBO mini-series:
(coincidentally, this is how some teams reacted after hearing that the correct answer was NOT “Pretty Little Lies”)
Our final question of the round dealt with the military quote “Damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead!”. The U.S. history buffs were pleased to hear this quote, as they would earn a two-point bonus by knowing both of the facts we were asking for: it was spoken by David Farragut at the Battle of Mobile Bay. Because of the fashion question, no team posted a perfect score of 36 points in the third round.
6-4-2 QUESTION:
On our 6-4-2 question, the six-point clue asked for the cartoon character introduced in 1934 who is the subject of the recent discovery that his face turned upside down perfectly resembles President Trump (“perfectly” might be a bit of stretch…). Nonetheless, about 40% of our teams earned six points with the correct answer of Donald Duck. You can judge for yourself:
ROUND 4:
The fourth round began with teams figuring out which two films featured both Steve Carell and Ryan Gosling. Each of our two answers was equally familiar, so about one-third of our teams earned a two-point bonus by naming both “The Big Short”, and this romantic comedy (YUM!):
The round continued with a little French translation and a listing of the Antarctic Seas. On a side note, Antarctic has to be one of the most commonly misspelled words in the English language. C’mon people, there are TWO C’s in that word!! We then asked a question about the Shel Silverstein book “The Giving Tree”, and WOULD YOU BELIEVE IT… Over at Primanti Brothers in Hagerstown, host Sean noted that Margaret from We Don’t Even Know had a tattoo featuring an illustration from the book! Furthermore, this came just one week after one of her other tattoos included the answer to a “Harry Potter” question. Amazing! I guess there’s no rule against it, so you might as well go out and have the Periodic Table tattooed to your lower back. Yes, even the lanthanides! We closed the round with a three-part question on ‘SUPER‘ words and phrases, which included a quick shout out to this wrestling champion:
After a difficult third round, our teams were happy that the fourth round seemed to ease up a bit, and it certainly showed in the scores, as ten teams scored a perfect 36 points in the final round. Here are the top five overall scores after the fourth round:
- Love in the Time of Cthulhu (Monkey La La): 159
- Comfortably Dum (Champion Billiards): 159
- Wiseacres (Champion Billiards): 158
- Screaming Death Monkey (Quincy’s South): 157
- Uncles with Benefits (The Block): 154
- It’s Gonna Be (Quincy’s South): 154
- Wonton Destruction (Monkey La La): 154
FINAL QUESTION (67.4% success rate):
–> Released earlier this month, a LEGO model of a certain vehicle includes exactly 1,969 pieces and three miniature figures dressed to resemble what occupation?
Those teams that were listening closely to the wording recognize the number 1,969 as having a certain significance to it. Here’s the set in question:
The majority of our teams were able to figure out that 1,969 was a reference to the the year of the Apollo 11 Moon landing, answering correctly with astronaut. While many teams were able to successfully answer the final question correctly, a few tough spots in the third round meant that no team scored the Perfect 21 tonight by answering correctly on all 21 wagering questions. Here are the top ten scores overall:
- Comfortably Dum (Champion Billiards): 171
- Wiseacres (Champion Billiards): 170
- Screaming Death Monkey (Quincy’s South): 169
- Love in the Time of Cthulhu (Monkey La La): 167
- Wonton Destruction (Monkey La La): 166
- It’s Gonna Be (Quincy’s South): 166
- Sloppy Seconds (Monkey La La): 165
- Capital Hillbillies (Capitol City Brewing): 163
- Illuminati (Monkey La La): 163
- Memphis Blue (Blue Parrott): 162
TONIGHT’S WINNERS:
Capitol City Brewing in Arlington, VA: Capital Hillbillies (Next week’s first category: Athletes Turned Actors who are not The Rock)
Champion Billiards in Frederick, MD: Comfortably Dum (Next week’s first category: Apollo Space Program)
Cugini’s in Poolesville, MD: Misfits (Next week’s first category: Beach Boys Songs)
Orioles Nest #331 in Frederick, MD: French Canadian Bacon (Next week’s first category: Scientific Last Word / First Word)
Senor Tequila’s in Germantown, MD: Fan Club (Next week’s first category: Triple 50/50 (Virginia or West Virginia?))
Fireflies in Alexandria, VA: Bad Hombres (Next week’s first category: “Buck Rodgers”)
Shuckin’ Shack in Frederick, MD: BTF (Next week’s first category: The novel “Anna Karenina”)
Top Golf in Ashburn, VA: Margaritas To Go (Next week’s first category: Triple 50/50 AUDIO (Pro Wrestling Theme or Country Music Hit Single)
Primanti Brothers in Hagerstown, MD: Bill’s Bombers (Next week’s first category: Grateful Dead)
The Block in Annandale, VA: Uncles with Benefits (Next week’s first category: Triple Crown Winners (horses))
Blue Parrott in St. Petersburg, FL: Memphis Blue (Next week’s first category: Cooking)
Monkey La La in Frederick, MD: Love in the Time of Cthulhu (Next week’s first category: “The Fifth Element”)
Quincy’s South in Rockville, MD: Screaming Death Monkey (Next week’s first category: “League of Legends”)
Casa Tequila in Lovettsville, VA: Just Us (Next week’s first category: U.S. Presidents)
Outta the Way Cafe in Derwood, MD: Whoop Whoop (Next week’s first category: Caribbean Countries)