A Whale of a Night at Thursday Trivia!

March 8, 2019

A wild second half separated the top teams from the rest of the field as Thursday’s game of Pour House Trivia welcomed 121 teams across 16 venues:

FIRST ROUND:

Thursday’s game began with an exploration of U.S. geography, the TV series “Family Ties”, and the El Nino weather phenomenon.  After the field breezed through the first few questions, the first round closed with a rather difficult Triple 50/50 question regarding these two film characters:

It’s quite possible that many of our teams simply forgot which actor played Bill (Alex Winter) and which actor played Ted (Keanu Reeves).  As a result, only 31% of our teams earned wagering points with at least two correct answers, while a third of those were able to tack on a two-point bonus.  That was the only stumbling block for most of the field, as eight teams began their night with a perfect first round score.

SECOND ROUND:

Thursday’s audio question featured some ‘heavenly songs’ such as “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” as covered by Guns ‘N’ Roses, “Heaven is a Place on Earth” by Belinda Carlisle, and “Heaven” by Kane Brown.  With very few teams chalking up country music as one of their wheelhouse categories, only six teams picked up bonus points on the audio question by recognizing all three musical acts.  We continued with a look at NFL mascots and this sweet treat also known as Schwarzwald cake:

Despite finishing the first half with a relatively easy question concerning the works of author Dan Brown, the audio question kept nearly all of the perfect scores off the board, as three teams were able to run the table in the second stanza: Lowered Expectations (Quincy’s), Slapsgiving (Cushwa), and I Love Hippos (Fish Market).

HALFTIME:

Lead singers and book covers were the featured topics of Thursday’s halftime page, which yielded nine perfect scores and an overall average of 15.8 points.  Here is Thursday’s halftime leaderboard:

  • Dave Martinez School of Management (Flower Hill):  90
  • Lowered Expectations (Quincy’s):  89
  • Slapsgiving (Cushwa):  89
  • Uranus Fly Trap (Smoketown):  89
  • SIX TEAMS TIED WITH 88 POINTS

THIRD ROUND:

Whenever the category of ‘African Geography’ is announced, there is an audible groan at most venues, and the first question of Thursday’s second half certainly reinforced that reaction:

–> Which French-speaking West African country has a name that approximately translates as “Land of Incorruptible People” or “Land of Worthy Men”?

With this question opening the third round, every team had the ability to simply wager one point and hope for the best.  Virtually every team chose to use that strategy, as only 11% of the field earned (collective) wagering points with the correct answer of Burkina Faso, while a majority of the other teams learned that Burkina Faso is the name of a country.  Thankfully, nearly every team bounced back nicely on a question about this “Batman” character:

Believe it or not, the Burkina Faso question was NOT the most difficult wagering question of the third round!  This three-part question took that honor, even with the hint that every answer contained the letters ‘BOX’:

  1. This website has the most up-to-date statistics of movie ticket sales on the internet.
  2. This gaming console was released in North America on November 22, 2013.
  3. This Italian house music group scored Billboard hits in the early 1990s with “Everybody Everybody” and “Strike It Up”.

Only nine teams earned wagering points with at least two of these correct answers: Box Office Mojo, XBox One, and Black Box.  As one of three teams to earn wagering points on both of those wicked questions, Brother of Menelaus (Fish Market) posted the only perfect score of the third round.

FOURTH ROUND:

After the 6-4-2 question looked at the geographic layout and sports history of Wisconsin, the final round featured questions about the rickshaw, the film adaptations of “Hamlet”, and the literary work of Madonna.  In what proved to be the most difficult bonus question of the night, only three teams tacked on two points by knowing that “Rebel Heart” is the title of the most recent album from the Material Girl.  Other final round topics included the term ‘Grandmaster’ and this enormous mammal:

Thanks to the Madonna question, none of our teams earned a perfect final round score.  Here is Thursday’s overall leaderboard after four rounds of play:

THURSDAY’S FINAL QUESTION (53.7% success rate):

–> Also heard during the post-season in various team sports, which term is used in professional tennis to refer to a tournament berth which is awarded to a player solely at the discretion of the tournament organizers?

Just over half of our teams responded correctly with the term ‘wild card’.  Congratulations to Uranus Fly Trap (Smoketown) and Blood Legion (Flower Hill), who survived the third round to each record a Perfect 21 tonight.  These were your highest scoring teams at the close of Thursday’s game:

THURSDAY’S WINNERS:

Quincy’s Bar and Grille in Gaithersburg, MD:  Terps   (Next week’s first category: 1950s Films)

Champion Billiards in Frederick, MD:  Just Good Enough   (Next week’s first category: Hall & Oates – AUDIO)

Loudoun Kitchen and Bar in Leesburg, VA:  Washington Foreskins   (Next week’s first category: Golf Lingo)

Smoketown Brewing Station in Brunswick, MD:  Uranus Fly Trap   (Next week’s first category: Socialism)

Beef ‘O’ Brady’s in Frederick, MD:     (Next week’s first category:   )

Olde Mother Brewing in Frederick, MD:  Rum Ham   (Next week’s first category: Wu-Tang Clan Members)

Belly Love Brewing in Purcellville, VA:  Bueller…, Bueller…  (Next week’s first category: 1990s Nickelodeon Cartoons – AUDIO)

Cushwa Brewing in Williamsport, MD:  Slapsgiving  (Next week’s first category: “The Dukes of Hazzard” – TV show)

The Grille at Flower Hill in Gaithersburg, MD:  Dave Martinez School of Management   (Next week’s first category: Michael J. Fox Films)

Dawg House in Waynesboro, PA:  Not Your Team   (Next week’s first category: Pi)

The Derby Restaurant in New Market, MD:  Viciously Googling   (Next week’s first category: Echo and the Bunnymen)

Right Around the Corner in St. Petersburg, FL:  GTS   (Next week’s first category: S Club 7)

Fish Market Restaurant in Alexandria, VA:  Brother of Menelaus   (Next week’s first category: Pi)

Mark’s Pub in Falls Church, VA:  Stillborn   (Next week’s first category: Bossa Nova Music)

Guido’s in Frederick, MD:  Tuna Noodle Casserole   (Next week’s first category: Jon Sings Tupac Shakur)

Earn $100 for Referring PHT

Categories

Recent Posts

Posted in