Grandma Got Run Over by Thursday Trivia!

On Thursday evening, 176 teams turned out to play Pour House Trivia at any of our 19 venues.

FIRST ROUND:

Topics in Thursday’s opening round included a three-parter where each answer contained the name of a Bible book, the V8 beverage (and auto engine), holiday film Love Actually, and this sports question:

• This season’s slate of college football bowl games includes games played in the respective home stadiums of which two American League MLB teams?

We’ve already had the Fenway Bowl at the home park of the Boston Red Sox, in which Louisville beat Cincinnati, but we will soon have the Pinstripe Bowl, named for the uniforms of the New York Yankees. In that game, Minnesota will face Syracuse at Yankee Stadium. First-round perfectos were pitched by 23 teams on Thursday.

SECOND ROUND:

Round two began as usual with the night’s audio question, in which teams were asked to identify Christmas carols as performed by New Age group Mannheim Steamroller: Deck the Halls, God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen, and Joy to the World. After questions on the Japanese national dog breed akita and Wild West slang term vamoose, we reached the game’s toughest wagering chance:

• Hanukkah is an eight-day celebration commemorating the rededication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. This celebration also honors what Hebrew warrior whose surname means hammer?

That man, Judah Maccabee (or Judas Maccabeus), was named by exactly 25% of our teams. The last question of the first half provided the most difficult bonus opportunity; we asked about the U.S. territory of Guam, but only four teams were able to provide its capital city of Hagåtña for two extra points. One of those teams, What About Dave? (Mark’s), earned the lone perfect score in the second round.

HALFTIME:

Famous people born on Christmas Day such as famous nurse and Red Cross founder Clara Barton and famous MLB player and base stealer Rickey Henderson comprised the top half of Thursday’s halftime page, while the bottom section matched holiday song lyrics to the corresponding title. Nine teams recorded a perfect 20-pointer on this page, which had an average effort of 14.1 points. We took a little intermission pause with these teams ahead of the rest:

• Mad Facts: Query Road (Solace Outpost): 90
• Alley Cats (Solace Outpost): 90
• What About Dave? (Mark’s): 89
• Gong Gong and the Butt Demons (Interchange): 89
• No Dust Ball (Mile 20): 88
• Cat in the Chat (Loudoun Kitchen): 88

THIRD ROUND:

Topics in this game’s third round included a three-parter on birthday boy Ralph Fiennes, a Last Word First Word that gave the linked title Santa Baby One More Time, the fictional locale of Narnia, and Founding Father Thomas Paine. This round’s hardest wagering question came at the end, where we turned on the prime time TV set:

• In the late 1980s, the creators of which documentary-style TV show found a song on the reggae album One Way to use for the show’s theme?

About 47% of teams caught on to this being the song Bad Boys, which was the theme to the show COPS. However, only 9.6% of our teams added bonus points for knowing the reggae group Inner Circle was the musical act behind that track. Seven perfect scores were recorded in this round.

FOURTH ROUND:

A 6-4-2 about the state of Oklahoma preceded Thursday’s final regulation round, in which we kicked off with this question:

• Before becoming its own independent branch of the armed forces, the U.S. Air Force was originally a component of which other branch?

Teams needed to answer with the Army for wagering points, but the bonus question was tougher; 9% of the field knew that Billy Mitchell is considered the father of the U.S. Air Force. We discussed Croatia‘s third-place finish in this year’s FIFA World Cup, then took a tipple of the most difficult bonus question in the second half; a question about the fortified wine vermouth brought bonus points to 4.5% of teams able to translate that as the German for wormwood. At the end of the round, we had the toughest wagering chance on this three-parter about Jewish rock stars:

• 1) Adam Sandler once sang that this Van Halen singer lights the Menorah.
• 2) Born with the real name of Chaim Witz, the bass player nicknamed the Demon is known by this stage name.
• 3) He was born in Brooklyn in 1942 and later fronted the Velvet Underground.

In order, those men are David Lee Roth, Gene Simmons, and Lou Reed; 41% of teams gave at least two of those correct answers for wagering credit. This round’s ace teams were Painful Burning Sensation (Smoketown), Samurai Trivia Players (Bear Brick Oven), and What About Dave? (Mark’s). Going into one final question, these were the high scores:

• What About Dave? (Mark’s): 163
• Samurai Trivia Players (Bear Brick Oven): 161
• Gong Gong and the Butt Demons (Interchange): 158
• Cat in the Chat (Loudoun Kitchen): 158
• One Wheel Short of a Unicycle (Smoketown): 156

FINAL QUESTION (26.7% success rate):

• Which animal can be found in varieties such as Finnish Forest, Kamchatka, and Siberian Tundra?

Timely, this one was, as those are all varieties of the reindeer (or caribou)! We featured three Perfect 21 teams on Thursday, as Cat in the Chat (Loudoun Kitchen), Vapors (Mile 20), and What About Dave? (Mark’s) each provided correct answers to all 21 wagering questions. You’ll find them among the top four scores on the final Thursday leaderboard:

• Vapors (Mile 20): 167
• What About Dave? (Mark’s): 164
• Great Heathen Army (Brewery Fire): 164
• Cat in the Chat (Loudoun Kitchen): 163
• Wonder Boys (Aslin): 163
• Painful Burning Sensation (Smoketown): 163
• Museum of Salt and Pepper Shakers (Solace Outpost): 162
• Comfortably Dumb (Loudoun Kitchen): 162
• Gong Gong and the Butt Demons (Interchange): 160
• Heavy Metal Parking Lot (Aslin): 160

Alley Cats (Solace Outpost) pulled off a 166-point effort but will have to settle for an honorable mention, as they did so with more than the maximum seven-player eligibility limit.

THURSDAY’S WINNERS:

Smoketown Brewing Station in Brunswick, MD: Painful Burning Sensation  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Triple 50/50: Neil Young or Neil Diamond?)

Michaux Brew in Waynesboro, PA: Suspect Tuna  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: The Jerk)

Champion Billiards in Frederick, MD: Scared Money Don’t Make Money  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Famous Women of the Dark Ages)

Loudoun Kitchen and Bar in Leesburg, VA: Cat in the Chat  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: ADAs on the Original Law & Order)

Olde Mother Brewing in Frederick, MD: Low Expectations  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Pokemon)

Belly Love Brewing in Purcellville, VA: Hot Mess Express  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Wednesday (TV series))

Solace Brewing in Sterling, VA: No MSG  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Triple 50/50: North or South?)

Brewery Fire in Taneytown, MD: Great Heathen Army  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Formula One Racing)

Fourscore Beer Co. in Gettysburg, PA:

Crooked Run in Sterling, VA: That One Table  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Marching Bands)

Solace Outpost in Falls Church, VA: Museum of Salt and Pepper Shakers  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Robin Hood (Disney film))

Interchange Tiki Bar in Williamsport, MD: Gong Gong and the Butt Demons  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Pro Wrestling Finishing Moves)

Bear Brick Oven Pizza in Silver Spring, MD: Samurai Trivia Players  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Back to the Future)

Preston’s Pub in Manassas Park, VA: Bear  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Spellementary (words spelled with element symbols)

Aslin Beer Co in Alexandria, VA: Wonder Boys  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Martin Van Buren)

Kalypso’s Sports Tavern in Reston, VA: Bad Rhino  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: The Night Manager)

Steinhardt Brewing in Frederick, MD: Just Good Enough  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Wednesday (TV series))

Mile 20 at the Breeze in Herndon, VA: Vapors  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Periodic Table)

Comus Inn in Dickerson, MD: Nog Staches  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Birdwatching)

Mark’s Pub in Falls Church, VA: What About Dave?  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: The Wizard of Oz Quotes)