–> Highest Overall Score: Blue Collar (Quincy’s) and Arrondissements of Ouagadougou (Jerry’s) with 173

** Honorable Mention goes to Thundercats, who put up the highest (unofficial) score of the season at 179 points, but since they played “over the limit” on Thursday, we can’t count it as official. **

–> Highest Score after Round 4: Blue Collar (Quincy’s) with 168

–> Highest First Half Score: PC Principals (Fish Market) and Arrondissements of Ouagadougou with 92

–> Perfect 21 (correct on all wagers and final): Thundercats (unofficially)

–> Despite the relative high scores on the ‘gold and silver’ themed halftime page (with an average of 17.4), only 12% of our teams scored a perfect 20 points.  It seems nearly every team was stumped by a picture of the C. Thomas Howell character “Ponyboy” from the 1980s film “The Outsiders”.

–> About 34% of our teams earned six points on the 6-4-2 question by knowing the classic tune “Charlie Brown”.

TONIGHT’S FINAL QUESTION (51.3% success rate):

–> As an allusion to the legendary “Arabian Nights”, the title of what TV show suggests that it is a magic door to knowledge?  (you’ll find the answer later in this blog)

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Quincy’s in Gaithersburg, MD

Thursday night is here again, which means it’s another rousing night of Pour House Trivia at Quincy’s in Gaithersburg!

Tonight we learned that there are actually a few teams out there who remember enough of William Faulkner’s “As I Lay Dying to recognize one of it’s chapters”.  Also, apparently people have read “As I Lay Dying”.  Not many teams knew that “Ponyboy” Curtis needed to “Stay Golden”, but those of you who missed Yukon Cornelius??  For SHAME. Y’all can’t go giving me dirty looks for not knowing the 1950s song “Charlie Brown”, then turn around and miss Yukon Cornelius.  A shoutout goes to Clever Team Name as the only team to score 20 points on the halftime page.

Oh, and whoever got snippy with me over the zodiac question?  Rude…  Anyway, we witnessed an impressive performance by one of our teams tonight, as they led wire-to-wire to take over first place on the Season XV standings with just two weeks to go.  Correct answers were key on the final tonight in determining our other top three spots.

In third place tonight, Turtles All the Way Down!  (their first finish in the money this season)

In second place tonight, Clever Team Name!

In first place tonight, Blue Collar!  (two in a row!)

Great game tonight guys; next week we’ll kick things off with a question on Modern Firearms.  Arm yourselves with some studying, and we’ll see you next time!

Until then,

~ Ian

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Champion Billiards in Frederick, MD

Coming soon…

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Bunker Sports Cafe in Leesburg, VA

I missed you all last Thursday, many thanks to Chad for covering for me while on family business! Another great game of PHT here at Bunker in Leesburg, thanks again for all your support. First round was a good one as we started off with retired Yankee Derek Jeter and finished off the round with a couple of “hardshell” Zodiac signs.  We found out about the first source of caffeine used in soft drinks, and took a visit to Fort Knox and Fort Lauderdale.  We also featured a question about Harvey Comics, known most famously for this friendly guy.

For round two we touched on another Yankees player, Don Larsen, and went to Amazon.com for a documentary series on Hugh Hefner.  We discovered that the constitutional amendment that created the Federal Income Tax (yay?) have lead some to believe that it helped fund Prohibition.  Lastly we said goodbye to Prince Philip as he has retired from the public eye, and had a “deadly” audio clue which started off with this famous band.

Round three took a look at the Periodic Table and the Latin name for potassium, and enlightened a few of us (me included) that William Faulkner wrote a chapter that consisted of one solitary line.  We also took a look at a short lived spinoff of ABC’s “Once Upon a Time”, Richard Nixon and his two V.P.s, and the latest iteration of this popular video game series:

For the final round, we took a scenic trip through the mountains of New Hampshire, and did three clues for the name Benjamin.  We played a word game with Gorgonzola cheese, and remembered the tragic death of Gianni Versace.  Lastly, NBA Hall of Fame player Larry Bird has decided to step down as President of Operations for the Indiana Pacers, here he is in his hey day.

The final question was a successful one for most of the teams, though a strategic wager could not stave off the competition for first place.  Here are the results:

First Place:  Your Mom

Second Place:  Cranius Maximus

Third Place:  Thoroughly Screwed

Thundercats was playing for “S&G’s” tonight and was the overall top points holder, so they picked “The Guardians of the Galaxy” as your first category for next week

~ Ronnie

Smoketown Brewing in Brunswick, MD

What a icky day out!  It was a good day to stay inside, get an ice cold beer and play some trivia with you favorite lovable goof, Zach.  We welcomed six teams to Smoketown Brewing in Brunswick, and it was quite a fun game, with Beer Makes Smart setting the stage and going neck-and-neck with the Scoundrels.  After the first round, those two teams were tied for first place.  After the second round, they were STILL tied for first place.  Then, they were the only two teams to score 20 points on the halftime puzzle page!  Both teams topped 85 points at the break, which is usually good enough to be alone in first place at most bars, but not at Smoketown tonight!  Which of these powerhouse teams would budge first?

In the third round, the Scoundrels pulled ahead of the pack after hitting on all five wagering questions and two of the three two-point bonus questions, including correct answers on the subjects of American Mountains and 20th Century novels.   Singing Inferno also started to pull ahead, landing itself in second place as we reached the final question.  Tonight’s final question dealt with TV show, and I am sure it would have been a big hint if we mentioned that were looking for a CHILDREN’S program.  Nonetheless, the Scoundrels and Singing Inferno were the only two teams to answer the final question correctly, setting up our final standings as such:

First Place:  Scoundrels (seven in a row!)

Second Place:  Singing Inferno

Third Place:  Beer Makes Smart

Next week’s first category:  1980s Hair Metal Bands

~ Zach

Beef ‘O’ Brady’s in Frederick, MD

Mrs. Chief here filling for Mr. Chief at Beef ‘O’ Brady’s in Frederick.  Our night started very strangely.  Normally, tams do not get very bold on winner’s choice category, but a seemingly straightforward question on Cloris Leachman (and her guest appearances on “Malcolm in the Middle”) crippled two teams who went in for nine points… with an incorrect answer.  The worst part?  One of those teams (Incognido’s and Ya Donkey) knew every other answer in that round!  Needless to say, that’s a big hole to climb out of.

Everyone remembered that the recently retired Duke of Edinburgh is Prince Philip, but there was some debate as to the country of his birth.  Tonight’s halftime puzzle page tested our teams’ knowledge of “rich” characters and liquor brands.  We had three teams score perfect 20’s: Incognito, Ya Donkey and Flight Level Awesome, the latter of which jumped into the lead with 86 points at the break.

I am happy to report that not a single team missed a question on the liquor section.  The 6-4-2 created some movement on the leaderboard, as two teams that were trailing (Pugalicious and Master Haters) picked up six points with their knowledge of the golden oldies.  The final questions was a tough one, as only one team was able to answer correctly.  After a disastrous first question, Incognido’s was able to make a dramatic jump from fifth to second place, but no team could catch our leaders.  Your top three finishers tonight:

First Place:  Flight Level Awesome

Second Place:  Incognido’s

Third Place:  Pugalicious

Next week’s first category: Triple 50/50: Aunt Jemima or Mrs. Buttersworth?

Chief will be back next week with a special guest.  Until then, as Chief would say, Fair Winds.

~ Mrs. Chief

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Rocklands Farm Winery in Poolesville, MD

I had a blast hosting for Devan at Rocklands Farm Winery this week!  We packed the place tonight, with ten teams vying for the top prize (though the wine is a close second…). With playoffs looming nearby, who would come out on top?

The game got off to an unexpectedly difficult start, as four teams were unable to secure their five-point category bonus in the first round.  After most of our teams selected the category of Children’s Characters for their potential bonus, only half of the field was able to come up with either one of the correct responses of Casper the Friendly Ghost or Wendy the Good Little Witch.  Two teams that escaped unscathed were Snikrah and Sugarloafers, who both rode that momentum to a tie atop the leaderboard.  Each of these teams notched an impressive 79 points by the end of the first half.  The overall scores were very tight after halftime, with four teams within two points of the lead!

The third round spread the field a bit further, as no team was able to sweep the round with five correct answers.  We followed that up with a decisive 6-4-2 question about the number ’24’, on which most teams either earned six points or earned zero.  After trailing most of the night, Maybe Babies was able to sneak into the lead during the last round, securing a one-point advantage over second-place Snikrah.  But with several other teams within striking distance, it was still anyone’s game heading into the final.

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Jerry’s Sports Bar in Hagerstown, MD

It’s a great night to start a new trivia game at the new Jerry’s Sports Bar in downtown Hagerstown!  We had seven trivia teams fill up the bar tonight.  It was great to see a a whole bunch of veteran teams show up to play.  It was even more fun to see three new teams learn to play a new game!  Welcome to teams Ramrod, Cool, and Nightman Cometh.  I hope to see you all for many weeks to come.

We started off with a question about some famous Jerry’s.  In the second round, we had a hard time identifying the electronic music artist 0eadMau5, but everyone knew that Hugh Hefner was the “American Playboy” in the documentary film of the same name.  We had three teams score perfect 20s on the halftime puzzle page, and four teams came a way with six points from the 6-4-2 question about Charlie Brown!

The standings at the end of the first round stayed the exact same throughout our game tonight, even with 33% of teams guessing correctly on the final.

What would you say to open a magic door?  How about ‘open sesame’?  Two teams were able to tease that into the true answer for the final question: Sesame Street!  Alternative Answers didn’t quite get to that answer, and had to settle for third place.  Give Us Your Beer Money did come up with the correct response on the final, taking second place on the night.  But it was the Arrondissements of Ouagadougou who dominated every round and the final, winning by a single point.

Next week we’re going to start it off with a question about the first season of “Sesame Street”!  See you then!

~ Sean

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Right Around the Corner in St. Petersburg, FL

The taps are tapped, let the games begin!  We had six teams come out to play at Right Around the Corner in Saint Pete tonight.  Over 140, Better Red than Dead, and Solamente (changing his name from That Guy), have the consistent edge by playing every week, but little did they know that Simple Minds flew all the way down from Maryland to be one of their contenders for the night!

The first round was quite interesting.  A fight for the first place spot between veteran teams Better Red than Dead and Over 140, but it was Better Red Than Dead who snuck into the lead by hitting all three bonus questions.  A new team, Blank on the Name, wasn’t far behind in third place.  Meanwhile, our visitors from Maryland, Simple Minds, looked like they had no chance.  In the second round, Better Red than Dead started to pull away with an almost perfect score, while the other teams were stuck with higher wagers for Question 5, but blanking on Queen Elizabeth II’s husband’s name. :(.

In Round 3, Simple Minds made a tremendous comeback by almost having a perfect score.  On the final quetion of the round, they were the ONLY team to know the most recent U.S. President to have to Vice Presidents.  Yes, it was Richard Nixon, and Simple Minds even scored a two-point bonus by knowing both of those Vice Presidents!  What a coincidence that one of the two men (Spiro Agnew) was a former Maryland Governor.  By the end of the round, Simple Minds jumped from dead last to second place within one round!  Very exciting!

In the end, all of the teams were close for at least one of the prizes, and this bar is a “Go Big or Go Home” bar in regards to the final question.  With most of the teams choosing risky wagers, it came down to the facts: “Open Sesame”, as Simple Minds was the only team to correctly guess that “Sesame Street” was named after the magic word to open the door in Arabian Nights.  With an exciting turn of events, and trailing from dead last to first place, Simple Minds won the night!  Better Red than Dead and Solamente ended the night in second and third place respectively.

CJ will be back to host next week!  Thanks all!

~ Brittany

Next week’s first category: History of Audi

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Fish Market in Alexandria, VA

We had six of our regular teams tonight but still eclipsed the 15 team mark, which is not a surprising trend here at Fish Market.  This venue is the unofficial home of the newcomers; seems every week we get 10+ teams made up of people who’ve never played before.  We saw a field with our veteran teams You’re Killing Me Smalls, PC Principals, and Ant Farm Keyboard and it looks like we might have a few new regular teams as Slytherin and A Team Has No Name both returned for the 3rd or 4th straight week!  I’m glad everyone is getting excited for Thursday nights, it’s certainly getting to be a very competitive crowd!

We started off with King Solomon, the winner’s choice from Poe Pouree last week.  Poe Pouree wasn’t able to attend tonight, but most of the teams didn’t have much issue or problem turning this question into points, meaning everyone was off to a good start.  As the first round drew to a close, nothing really terrifyingly difficult came up, and the scores showed it.  We had a closely competitive game throughout the second round as well, though some teams struggled to find any points on our audio clue for tonight.  Looking for the bands with commonalities in their name; I threw The Grateful Dead and the Dead Kennedy’s together with deadmau5, pretty much the only way we felt okay asking about deadmau5 hehe..  Glad we got to include some modern EDM, it’s an oft forgotten category in the trivia world.  Hopefully the ones who knew that one appreciated it!

After the first half, PC Principals were in the lead and it looked like they were gonna cruise for the rest of the game. Round 3 didn’t give them much trouble.  They earned six points on the 6-4-2 question.  No one was making up any ground.  A truly good story tonight, however, was a new team called “Schooner? I Don’t Even Know Her!” They looked very good for their first time out, even if they failed to steal the lead from our veteran team PC Principals.  A hard fought game put Schooner in 2nd place going into the final question!

Tonight’s final question played roughly to a 50% success rate.  We thought that we’d see a tie after the final because Ant Farm Keyboard and You’re Killing Me Smalls were locked up before the question, but a miss from Smalls helped AFK propel into the third place spot all alone and take home the prize!  A good finish for them, climbing back from sixth place at the half!  Second place went to Schooner, a great game for their first time out but they couldn’t catch our winners PC Principals!  A strong crew!  We’ve got the post-season starting very very soon here, I’ll keep you all posted.  In the mean time, be safe, I’ll see ya in a week!

Next week’s first category:  “This is Spinal Tap”

~ Bill

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Guido’s Speakeasy in Frederick, MD

We hosted another nail biter of a game at Guido’s Speakeasy on Thursday!  All of our teams started quite strongly, as the halftime scores were so close, the entire field was separated by just five points!  The 19  points scored by Tuna Noodle Casserole on the halftime page gave them the slightest of leads.  In the second half, our leaders gained several points on the field as the only team to turn in the correct response on the last question of the third round.  They knew that Richard Nixon was the most recent President to have two Vice Presidents, and it bumped their lead to five points as we entered the final round.

The final round was all about Unathletico Madrid.  By being the only team to earn points on all five questions, they turned a five-point deficit into a five-point lead.  A new team, Open Mouth Sores, also played a great final round to take over second place, while T.N.C. dropped to third.

When all the answers were turned in for the final question, only two teams answered correctly…  Unfortunately, one of those was NOT Open Mouth Sores who finished in third.  They played a great game but had to take second (at least for this week), good game T.N.C.!!  Finally, this is there second win as many weeks, great game to Unathletico Madrid!!

It looks like I’ll be a human jukebox for yet ANOTHER week, as next week’s first category will be Jon Sings Britney Spears (yikes)!  So study some song lyrics and come join us for a laugh and then a game on Thursday at Guido’s Speakeasy!!

~ Jon J