Cabin Fever Strikes Pour House Trivia!
With this week’s snowstorm canceling virtually all of our east coast games on Tuesday and Wednesday, we saw numerous teams make surprise appearances at some of our Thursday venues in order to get their trivia fix. This influx of competition coincided with a noticeable uptick in overall difficulty, leading to some rather interesting finishes on Thursday. Overall, we welcomed 122 teams across 14 venues on Thursday night:
ROUND 1:
In a departure from the norm, Thursday’s opening round included a surprisingly difficult question that required a bit of knowledge from several different fields:
–> The names of several African animals end with this set of three letters which means ‘antelope’ in the language of Afrikaans. One of those animals is also the namesake for a brand of athletic apparel. Name this set of three letters.
While most of our first round questions usually hover at an 80% success rate, this one was not even close, as only 37% of our teams earned points with ‘BOK’, which is found in the names of animals such as springbok, gemsbok, blesbok, steenbok, and (as referenced in the question) rhebok, which was Anglicized to coin the brand name Reebok. That was the sticking point for the opening round, as nine teams avoided that speed bump en route to a perfect score of 36 points.
ROUND 2:
Thursday’s audio question featured three songs which include the word “Monday” in the title: “Monday, Monday” by The Mamas and the Papas, “Manic Monday” by The Bangles, and “Blue Monday” by New Order. Later, we looked at the Periodic Table, the vast number of artworks in Florence, and this current film from the mind of Wes Anderson:
Just as in the first round, the second round also yielded nine perfect scores.
HALFTIME:
NFL helmets and numerical puzzles were featured on Thursday’s halftime page. This page was a cinch for the field, as we saw an extremely high average of 19.1 points, with just over half of the field notching perfect scores. Don’t worry, we’ll even things out next week… Here are Thursday’s top scores after the first half:
- PC Principals (Fish Market): 92
- Your Mom (Bunker Sports): 92
- Veggie Burrito (Belly Love): 91
- Fan Club (Quincy’s): 91
- 8 TEAMS TIED WITH 90 POINTS
ROUND 3:
Thursday’s second half opened with this question on medical terms:
–> Both derived from the Greek word meaning ‘eye’, identify either one of the two scientific names of the medical conditions commonly referred to as nearsightedness or farsightedness.
Teams only needed one correct answer to earn points, but nearly every team that earned points on this question did so with the correct answer of myopia (nearsightedness). Only eight teams earned bonus points by also coming up with hyperopia (farsightedness). Later, we discussed the Barbra Streisand film “Yentl” and this invention which actually goes back more than 50 years:
We closed the third round with a three-part question on answers which contain the initials P.K. Despite being a primetime network host for over a decade, Phil Keoghan of “The Amazing Race” is simply not a household name. After a slew of perfect scores in the first half, none of our teams ran the table with a perfect third round.
ROUND 4:
We began Thursday’s final round with a question on everyone’s favorite topic of African Geography:
–> Name any two of the three countries along mainland Africa’s southeastern coast which have shoreline between Somalia and South Africa:
The most difficult bonus question of the night was asked as part of our nightly Three Clues question:
CLUE 1: In Greek mythology, he was the father of Pegasus.
CLUE 2: The moons Proteus and Larissa revolve around the planet named for this god’s Roman counterpart.
Very few teams even attempted a guess at this point, leading to just five teams earning bonus points with the correct early answer of Poseidon. We closed the final round with a question on this devious character:
Just as in the third round, none of our teams were able to run the table in the final stanza. These were your top Thursday scores after the fourth round:
- PC Principals (Fish Market): 165
- Your Mom (Bunker Sports): 163
- Fan Club (Quincy’s): 162
- Clever Team Name (Quincy’s): 161
- Brother of Menelaus (Fish Market): 159
FINAL QUESTION (53.4% success rate):
–> What mathematical device takes its name from a Greek word meaning ‘sand tray’?
Just over half of the field earned points on the final question with the correct response of abacus. Congratulation to High School Prom (Fish Market) and Dire Wolves (Belly Love Brewing), who were the only teams to record the Perfect 21 on Thursday with correct answers on all wagering questions. Here are your top overall scores from Thursday:
- Fan Club (Quincy’s): 174
- Breadsticks (Quincy’s): 168
- Dire Wolves (Belly Love Brewing): 164
- Syn Storm (Champion Billiards): 164
- Teachers (Beef O’ Brady’s): 163
- Quiz In My Pants (Cushwa Brewing): 163
- Uranus Fly Trap (Smoketown Brewing): 163
- High School Prom (Fish Market): 162
- Tuna Noodle Casserole (Guido’s): 162
- Shakeweight (Beef O’ Brady’s): 162
TONIGHT’S WINNERS:
Quincy’s Bar and Grille in Gaithersburg, MD: Fan Club (Next week’s first category: Tator Tots)
Champion Billiards in Frederick, MD: Just Good Enough (Next week’s first category: “The Handmaid’s Tale”)
Bunker Sports Cafe in Leesburg, VA: Washington Foreskins (Next week’s first category: 2018 Oscars)
Smoketown Brewing Station in Brunswick, MD: Uranus Fly Trap (Next week’s first category: Leonardo da Vinci)
Beef O’ Brady’s in Frederick, MD: Teachers (Next week’s first category: Pink Floyd)
Belly Love Brewing in Purcellville, VA: Dire Wolves (Next week’s first category: People Fired by Donald Trump)
Cushwa Brewing in Williamsport, MD: Quiz in My Pants (Next week’s first category: “SpongeBob SquarePants”)
Olde Mother Brewing in Frederick, MD: Enemy Anemones (Next week’s first category: Adam Sandler Films)
The Grille at Flower Hill in Gaithersburg, MD: Replacements (Next week’s first category: “Once Upon a Time” (TV) Characters)
Black Walnut Brewery in Leesburg, VA: My Name is Judge (Next week’s first category: Famous Daves)
Right Around the Corner in St. Petersburg, FL: JTT (Next week’s first category: HOST CHOICE)
Dawg House in Waynesboro, PA: Who Can Say Really? (Next week’s first category: Jimmy Buffett)
Fish Market Restaurant in Alexandria, VA: High School Prom (Next week’s first category: High School Proms)
Guido’s in Frederick, MD: Tuna Noodle Casserole (Next week’s first category: Songs About Saras)