Grab a Slice of Monday Trivia!

We kicked off the month of July with 108 trivia teams taking in a game at one of 11 Monday venues.

FIRST ROUND:

We wasted no time challenging our Monday teams, as the first bonus question of the night was also one of its most difficult.  We asked our teams to name either one of the two Presidential surnames which are also found among the 15 most common surnames in the United States.  A majority of our teams earned wagering points with one correct answer of Johnson, but only five teams tacked on the first two bonus points of the night by also giving us the second correct answer of Wilson.  The opening round continued with questions concerning NBA stars of the 1990s and the food additive MSG.  Thanks to the first question, Wingin’ It (Dawg House) posted the only perfect score of the first round.

SECOND ROUND:

Monday’s audio question featured three musicians who went on to become TV stars.  Things got off to a rough start for some teams, as they mistook LL Cool J for Ice-T.  We also listened to Reba McEntire (who starred on a namesake sitcom) and Mandy Moore (who can currently be seen on “This Is Us”).  Later, we looked at the painting “The Last Supper”, the film “Goodfellas”, and the city of Portland, Oregon.  The final bonus question of the first half was also quite difficult, as only 12% of our teams knew that New Jersey Senator Cory Booker is currently dating actress Rosario Dawson.  Most of the teams that picked up those two points completed a perfect round, as nine teams notched 36 points in the second stanza.

HALFTIME:

Foreign passports and numerically titled albums were the featured topics on Monday’s halftime page.  Five teams earned a perfect score as the overall average landed at 15.7 points.  Here is Monday’s halftime leaderboard:

• Ask Jeeves (Bushwaller’s):  88
• Chef Goldblum’s Raptor Bites (Hershey’s):  86
• Great Heathen Army (Morgan Inn):  86
• NINE TEAMS TIED WITH 85 POINTS

THIRD ROUND:

Monday’s second half began with a three-part question regarding Broadway showtunes with the word “Dream” in the title: “The Impossible Dream” from “The Man of La Mancha”, “I Dreamed a Dream” from “Les Miserables”, and “The American Dream” from Miss Saigon.  Only 27% of our teams earned wagering points with at least two correct answers, but we followed with an equally difficult question, asking our teams to name the novel penned by Salman Rushdie which resulted in the issuance of a fatwa by the Ayatollah Khomeini.  Once again, less than one-third of our teams responded correctly with “The Satanic Verses”.  The string of speed bums continued, as the next question featured the most difficult two-point bonus of the night:

–> Native to the rain forests of Latin America, which animal of the Potos genus is also known as the “honey bear”?

Since this question was asked with the promise of a forthcoming crossword-style clue, we offered bonus points to any team who turned in the correct answer before that clue was given.  Virtually none of our teams attempted an early guess, and those who did all responded incorrectly.  Eventually, about half of the field earned wagering points with the correct answer of kinkajou.  After closing the round with a look at the film “Frozen”, it was already a forgone conclusion that the third round would not yield any perfect scores.

FOURTH ROUND:

The difficult bonus questions continued into the final stanza, as only four teams picked up bonus points on the first question of the round by knowing that singer Aretha Franklin was born in Tennessee.  Other final round topics included the nation of El Salvador, YouTube star PewDeePie, and a Three Clues question about astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson.  Thanks to the first bonus question, none of our teams earned a perfect final round score.  After four rounds of play, this was your Monday leaderboard:

• Ask Jeeves (Bushwaller’s):  160
• Power Vacuum (Bushwaller’s):  155
• Killer Snails (Hershey’s):  154
• Worst Case Ontario (DRP):  154
• Brain Freeze (Hershey’s):  153
• Outdoor Alcoholics (Flanagan’s):  153

MONDAY’S FINAL QUESTION (11.1% success rate):

–> Which controversial food item was not invented in its namesake location, but rather by Greek-Canadian restaurateur Sam Panopoulos, who was inspired by his experiences with Chinese cuisine to combine sweet and savory ingredients in the same dish?

For the third Monday in a row, the final question was correctly answered by less than one-fifth of the field.  In this case, one in nine teams gave us the correct response of Hawaiian pizza.  As a result, the only team to record the Perfect 21 on Monday was Ask Jeeves (Bushwaller’s).  Here is Monday’s final overall leaderboard:

• Ask Jeeves (Bushwaller’s):  172
• Killer Snails (Hershey’s):  166
• Great Heathen Army (Morgan Inn):  151
• MSC (DRP):  151
• Always Blue (DRP):  151
• Worst Case Ontario (DRP):  150
• George Washington’s Camel (DRP):  150
• Alternative Best (DRP):  149
• Hugh Laurie and the News (Flanagan’s):  149
• Trivia Newton John (Flanagan’s):  149

MONDAY’S WINNERS:

DRP in Alexandria, VA:  MSC   (Next week’s first category: Ciphers and Codes)

Greene Turtle in Hagerstown, MD:  That’s So Clavin   (Next week’s first category: “The West Wing”)

Morgan Inn in Woodbine, MD:  Great Heathen Army   (Next week’s first category: Latin)

Hershey’s in Gaithersburg, MD:  Killer Snails   (Next week’s first category: MLB All-Star Game)

Uno Pizzeria in Frederick, MD:  Weasigators   (Next week’s first category: “Evan Almighty”)

Bushwaller’s in Frederick, MD:  Ask Jeeves   (Next week’s first category: Classic Cocktails)

Rockwell Brewery in Frederick, MD:  Fat Thor   (Next week’s first category: Styx – band)

Mark’s Pub in Falls Church, VA:  Thankful Dead   (Next week’s first category: Ultimate Frisbee)

Dawg House in Waynesboro, PA:  The Bends   (Next week’s first category: “Three’s Company”)

Flanagan’s Harp and Fiddle in Bethesda, MD:  Trivia Newton John   (Next week’s first category: U.S. National Parks)

Il Forno in Frederick, MD:  Chumps  (Next week’s first category: Third Generation Pokemon)