All I Want For Thursday Trivia is a Win!

Pour House Trivia opened yet another new venue on Thursday night, as host Margaret kicked off our tenure at Kalypso’s Sports Tavern in Reston.  Overall, we welcomed 189 teams across 22 Thursday venues.

FIRST ROUND:

Our stellar Thursday field breezed through the opening round, answering questions regarding the Ivy League school Brown, the best-selling Toyota models in history, the tiny bones in the human ear, and the upcoming film The Batman starring Robert Pattison and Zoe Kravitz.  With few surprises, exactly one-third of our our teams began their night with a perfect score of 36 points.

SECOND ROUND:

The difficulty level picked up sharply in Thursday’s second round, starting with the nightly audio question.  Our teams were asked to identify the numerical names of three music groups.  We listened to If You’re Gone by Matchbox Twenty, Right Now by SR-71, and Stressed Out by 21 Pilots.  Only 14% of the field earned the first two bonus points of the second stanza by submitting all three correct answers.  From there, we covered topics such as Worcestershire sauce, Albert Einstein’s near foray into world politics, and the work of comedienne (and upcoming Oscars co-host) Amy Schumer.  A second round golf question provided the most difficult wagering and bonus questions of the first half:

• Which men’s professional major golf tournament is played at the same course each year?
• 2-POINT BONUS: Which four-time U. S. Open champion is the co-founder of this event?

Less than half of the field earned wagering points with the correct answer of The Masters (contested at Augusta National), while only 9% of our teams tacked on two bonus points by knowing that Bobby Jones is a co-founder of the event.  As a result, only five Thursday teams posted a perfect second round score.

HALFTIME:

Bathroom brands and television character nicknames were the featured topics on Thursday’s halftime page, which yielded 18 perfect scores and an overall average of 17.1 points.  At the intermission break, these were your highest scoring Thursday teams:

• Purr and the Kitty Kats (Solace Outpost): 92
• Tyler and Friends (Olde Mother): 91
• Rusty Trombones (Orioles Nest): 91
• Washington Trivia Team (Solace Outpost): 91
• SIX TEAMS TIED WITH 90 POINTS

THIRD ROUND:

Topics from Thursday’s third round included the most successful teams in the history of NCAA women’s college basketball, the foreign currency of the dinar, the Space Shuttle Discovery, and the film collaborations of Johnny Depp and Tim Burton.  This three-part query regarding fictitious towns was easily the most difficult question of the night:

• 1)  In the poem Casey at the Bat, there was no joy in which town after Mighty Casey struck out?
• 2)  Stephen King set numerous novels in which town that lent its name to a real life film studio?
• 3)  Author Garrison Keillor created which Minnesota town as the main setting for his show A Prairie Home Companion?

The respective answers to these questions were Mudville, Castle Rock, and Lake Wobegon.  Only 32% of our teams submitted at least two correct answers, with about one-third of those teams earning two bonus points for knowing all three correct responses.  Eight teams ran the table in the third round by posting 36 points.

FOURTH ROUND:

Before continuing into the final round, we posed this question as the opening clue in the nightly 6-4-2 question:

• Which athlete was selected by the Montreal Expos in the 18th round of the 1995 MLB Draft?

At first glance, this seems like an incredibly obscure question, but recent sports headlines revealed this correct answer.  Exactly one dozen teams earned the fill six points by knowing that Tom Brady was the last remaining active professional athlete (in any sport) to have been drafted by the Montreal Expos.  From there, Thursday’s final round was unexpectedly easier than usual, as the field was largely successful with topics such as the website (or playground game) Foursquare, the French dish Chicken Cordon Bleu, and The Jerry Springer Show.  In what could be a PHT record for a final round, a whopping 31 teams closed their night by sweeping the fourth round.  Heading into the final question, Thursday’s leaderboard included these teams:

• Donner Party Platter (Quinn’s): 167
• Rocketship to Awesomeland (Quinn’s): 166
• Rusty Trombones (Orioles Nest): 165
• YOLO Swaggins (Crooked Run): 165
• Educated Friends (Fourscore): 165

FINAL QUESTION (41.5% success rate):

• Which solo artist topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart during every year of the 1990s?

About two-fifths of the field submitted the correct response of Mariah Carey.  Eight Thursday teams earned a Perfect 21 by answering every wagering question correctly.  Here is Thursday’s final overall leaderboard:

• Donner Party Platter (Quinn’s): 179
• Washington Foreskins (Loudoun Kitchen): 175
• F. U. Putin (Solace Outpost): 175
• Aquarius (Solace Outpost): 174
• Washington Trivia Team (Solace Outpost): 174
• YOLO Swaggins (Crooked Run): 174
• Scotty Doesn’t Know (Solace Brewing): 174
• Pringles (Bear Brick Oven): 173
• Triviasaurus Rex (Olde Mother): 172

THURSDAY’S WINNERS:

Smoketown Brewing Station in Brunswick, MD: Horseshoes and Hand Grenades  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: John Travolta Films)

Pour Dog House in Millersville, MD: Sweet Pickles  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Athletic Footwear)

Champion Billiards in Frederick, MD: Crabcakes  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Rush Album Cover Art)

Loudoun Kitchen and Bar in Leesburg, VA: Washington Foreskins  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Minnesota Hockey Teams)

Olde Mother Brewing in Frederick, MD: Triviasaurus Rex  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Futurama)

Belly Love Brewing in Purcellville, VA: Third or Nothing  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart)

Solace Brewing in Sterling, VA: Scotty Doesn’t Know  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Art History)

Bad Habits Bar & Grill in Martinsburg, WV: Jones Springs Hooligans  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: The Beverly Hillbillies – TV)

Brewery Fire in Taneytown, MD: Not Georges Enough  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Classical Music Theory)

Fourscore Beer Co. in Gettysburg, PA: Golden Oldies  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: The Battle of Gettysburg)

Crooked Run in Sterling, VA: YOLO Swaggins  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Clint Eastwood Films)

Solace Outpost in Falls Church, VA: F. U. Putin  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Beach Volleyball)

Homaide Brewing in Williamsport, MD: Black Dogs  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: 2000s R&B – AUDIO)

Orioles Nest #331 in Frederick, MD: Rusty Trombones  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: St. Patrick’s Day)

Bear Brick Oven Pizza in Silver Spring, MD: Pringles  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Dog Breeds)

Preston’s Pub in Manassas Park, VA: Redneck Yacht Club  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Famous Voice)

Casita Romos in Mount Airy, MD: Underdogs  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: James Bond)

Quinn’s in Arlington, VA: Donner Party Platter  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Florida Man)

Aslin Beer Co in Alexandria, VA: Flow Yata  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: 2000s Rap)

Old Firestation #3 in Fairfax, VA: NO GAME THIS WEEK  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: 1990s Country Music)

Kalypso’s Sports Tavern in Reston, VA: You’re Killing Me Smalls  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: The West Wing)

Mark’s Pub in Falls Church, VA: Lunatic Fringe  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Songs About Women)