Tuesday night’s game of Pour House Trivia reminded our players that sometimes honorific titles are better known that actual first names.  In the third round, I bet some of our teams missed points because they thought that ‘Mahatma’ was Gandhi’s first name, and others might have answered incorrectly because they had have heard Colonel Sanders referred to as ‘Harland’.  Check out the recaps to see which teams avoided those speed bumps:

TUESDAY’S STATS AND FACTS (87 teams across 12 venues):

–> Highest Overall Score: Capitol City Goofballs (Cap City Brewing) with 173

** Third time this season with the highest overall score **

–> Highest Score after Round 4: Capitol City Goofballs and Sofa King Smart (Quincy’s South) with 161

–> Highest First Half Score: Sofa King Smart with 88

–> Perfect 21 (correct on all wagers and final): Einhorn is Finkle (Cap City Brewing), Valley Girls (Cap City Brewing), Wingardium Triviosa (Quincy’s South)

–> Our halftime page featured logos of misspelled brands and maiden names of U.S. first ladies.  The round played to an average of 17.2, with eight teams scoring a perfect 20 points.

–> About 30% of our teams scored six points on the 6-4-2 question, by knowing that the “Buena Vista Social Club” celebrates music from the country of Cuba.

TUESDAY’S FINAL QUESTION (39.7% success rate):

–> Entitled “Thinking of You”, Hallmark’s top selling card since 1942 features which purple flower that takes its name from the French word meaning ‘thought’?  (you’ll find the answer later in this blog)

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Capitol City Brewing in Arlington, VA

It sure felt great to be back in the friendly confines of Cap City Brewing after taking a week off for vacation with the family.  Thanks and multiple Tips of the Hat to Chris for once again filling in for me!  Baseball is back in season and my beloved Houston Astros are (for the moment) riding high, so I’m in a poetical mood…

 

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Champion Billiards in Frederick, MD

Coming soon…

Next week’s first category: Wired Communications

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Cugini’s Restaurant in Poolesville, MD

Along with each of you wonderful veteran teams, it is always great to see new faces here at our Tuesday night outing at Cugini’s, thanks again to you all for your continued support!  Our winner’s choice question tonight was a tough one with only three of nine teams able to provide the second most used native language in Peru.  The rest of the round went like clockwork, featuring subjects like the U.S. State Quarters program, the San Antonio Spurs, the disaster that was “New Coke”, and the spin off of this Fox series that captivated audiences in the early 21st century:

We rolled on down the highway in round two with our audio clue, with some folks surprised that “Life is a Highway” as performed by Rascal Flatts is actually a cover song from original artist Tom Cochrane.  We also returned to South America with a reference to the area known as Patagonia, figured out who the “bad guys” were in World War I, and never did find out “Who is John Galt?” as it relates to Ayn Rand.  Finally we had a sci-fi edition A+B=C that included these warriors as envisioned by George Lucas:

Round three moved along rather steadily as there wasn’t any epic movement in the scores except for upwards.  We talked about the Bush/Gorbachev nuclear weapons treaty of the early 1990’s, sprinkled in a little Latin, and topped it off with the planned demise of a TV canine with an unfortunate name.  We found out just what Mahatma means in Sanskrit, and finished off the round with this legendary Cubs sportscaster shown here parodied by Will Ferrell:

These folks here at Cugini’s really come to play, and we had ourselves a fairly close game all the way through, and including round four. The “Last King of Scotland” actually took place in Uganda, we found out that Austrian physicist Doppler had a first name of Christian, and we followed with clues for three words that begin and end with the letter “F”.  We found out that Harlan Sanders original cafe was named a National Historic site, even though he went by “Colonel”, which may be considered a case of “stolen valor”, which is a Federal offense here in the U.S. Finally we found out how the Norse viewed the end of the world, and here is a quick snippet from Marvel’s take on how that may go down:

Before a great final question, we had a tight game and strategic wagering was involved to protect the positions for our top two teams.  Here are the results:

First Place:  What Could Go Wrong?

Second Place:  MoMo

Third Place:  No Clue

Next week’s first category: “Mystery Science Theater 3000”

~ Ronnie

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Orioles Nest in Frederick, MD

After a day full of rain and muck, it was nice to get inside here at Orioles Nest in Frederick and play some trivia.  This week’s game featured a few lead changes as well as a last second answer on the final that proved to be the game winner!  This week we started things out with a question about the band Rush, asking about the song “The Spirit of Radio”.  Most teams were able to figure out the Simon and Garfunkel song that they satirize in the last two lines was “The Sound of Silence.”  The audio question was about a word in common, playing three songs that shared a common word, this time the word being highway.  It was a good one as it reminded me that I needed to add “Highway to Hell” by AC/DC to my playlist.  For halftime, we asked teams to identify brands that feature intentionally misspelled names (spelling didn’t count, thankfully), as well as matching up First Ladies with their maiden names.  The First Lady section proved to be pretty tough for some teams, and Cheez Whiz was probably the hardest one of the brand names.

In the second half, we began by asking a question about International Agreements, talking about the agreement between the USA and the USSR to reduce the number of missiles each country stored.  This agreement was called the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or START, and proved to be a pretty tough one.  Teams also had a hard time with the Latin question, asking about the Latin term that I.E. means, which is ‘Id Est’.  We also learned that there was a dog on “Downton Abbey” named Isis that the writers killed off due to embarrassment.  There was also a question about Harry Caray which gave me the opportunity to do my impression of him, or at least my impression of Will Ferrell impersonating him, which is one of my favorite things from “SNL”.

The final question tonight was about flowers, and came down to literally the last second, as the Book Club Babes gave me their answer with plenty of frustration which quickly turned to cheers when I read the answer of Pansy.  This week we had Fill Stick in third, Suck it Trebek in second, and the win going to The Book Club Babes, congrats!  Next week we start out with a question about The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (the story).  I’ll see you all then!

Until next time,

~ Chad

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Senor Tequila’s in Germantown, MD

Tonight may have been dreary outside, but inside, we had a wild game of Pour House Trivia here at Senor Tequila’s in Germantown!

Highlights of the Night:

In “Before-My-Time”: I like to think I have an approximate knowledge of many things that lets me comment on questions from time to time as the game goes on.  Try to keep things interesting, you know?  So when I get questions about things I’ve never heard of… it makes my snappy repartee not quite so snappy.  That is unless a team sets me up for an ‘old’ joke. Thanks Axl’s Doghouse! 😉

In “Numbers-Are-Not-Letters-People”: The number of teams who put SALT2 as their answer for the nuclear arms reduction question…come on people.  Numbers are NOT letters!  I gave you “five-letter acronym”!  Whatchya guys thinking?

In “Come-On-High-School-French!”: The final tonight was a doozy, with only one team coming up with a correct answer.  I guess it meant that most teams weren’t all that interested in knowing about my high school french knowledge.  I like to share damnit!

With such tight scores at the top of the standings after the fourth round, it goes without saying that the only team to answer the final question correctly is usually going to be the winner.  Would that be the case tonight?

In third place tonight, Poovey Farms!

In second place tonight, the Fan Club!

In first place tonight, with the ONLY correct answer on the final… Beer Pressure!

~ Ian

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FireFlies in Alexandria, VA

There was NO TRIVIA at FireFlies this week.  Kate will be back on May 2nd with an opening question on World Flags!

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Shuckin’ Shack in Frederick, MD

First off, I’m never again going to ask the staff for post-game music.  Seriously.  One of the servers asked for Shania Twain.  I played it.  I’m gonna have to double-book my shrink this week. Oi.  As for the game, there were an exceptional crew of eight teams, each at one another’s throat.  I say that with advisement, given that one of them may have had a first-half advantage.  Nonetheless, this particular advantage was erased by the end of the game.

If I had to point to one question that posed as the tipping point, it was definitely the first question in the second round, which as is customary for Pour House Trivia, was an audio question.  Not enough of you know the brilliance of System of a Down. (By the way, they’re Armenian: perhaps a future clue for a possible PHT question down the road).

As you know, it pained me very much to ask a question about Ayn Rand and her inane scribblings known as “Atlas Shrugged”.  Three teams managed to answer correctly.  I would have preferred none, natch.  Incidentally, for those Randians out there, she accepted Social Security benefits when she was old and frail.  Which was all the time.

Round four, question one was surprisingly awesome as it pertained to my favorite country on earth: (I told you, but no one asked why?) UGANDA.  I was fortunate enough to whitewater raft the Nile from Lake Victoria.  Seriously, it is an amazing and promising country, despite what you may have heard.  Alas, we’ve come to the final question, which about half our teams answered correctly, leading to the our top finishers for the night:

First Place:  Tequila Mockingbird

Second Place:  Misfits

Third Place:  Mother Shuckers

Next week’s first category:  Elementary School Education (I’m looking at you, Mrs. Chief.)

As always, Fair Winds and Following Seas…

~Chief

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Top Golf in Ashburn, VA

One of my favorite games to host is here at Top Golf in Ashburn – we always seem to have lots of twists and turns, with the occasional come from behind victory!  Tonight, the first two rounds kept our top teams neck and neck, with some teams struggling only on our Winner’s Choice question.  Overall, a solid two rounds by every team.  The halftime puzzle began to set teams apart, with most experiencing a bit of trouble over the maiden names of U.S. First Ladies.  But Mind Benders took the lead with a perfect sheet!

As expected, the third and forth rounds were tougher.  Mind Benders was able to increase its lead in Round 3 by being the ONLY team to answer correctly on all five wagering questions.  Meanwhile, questions on Latin question and film settings tripped up a few teams.  Mind Benders also rolled through the final round, but Margaritas To Go and Kelly’s Heroes kept pace, and before the final all three teams were within earshot of the lead.  After a nearly flawless, Mind Benders was unable to come up with the correct response on the final question, so with some shuffling in he standings, our top teams looked like this:

First Place:  Kelly’s Heroes (The Streak is still alive!)

Second Place:  Margaritas To Go

Third Place:  Mind Benders

Next week’s first category;  U.S. National Parks

See you then!

~ Zach

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Primanti Brothers in Hagerstown, MD

Tuesday night’s game of trivia at Primanti Brothers in Hagerstown featured the most teams we’ve ever seen here, and a great time to boot.  Eight teams made for a great night of trivia, including two new teams: Clueless and Dingle Berry Crunch. Welcome guys. We hope to see you all back next week.

In the first half, Bosom Buddies was the only team to earn a two-point bonus on audio question, after successfully naming all three bands in our “Highway” themed music question!  The halftime puzzle page featured misspelled brand names: Krackel is a tough candy bar to guess without the logo!  Our new team Clueless pulled off the high score of the halftime round with 19 points.  Clueless again pulled off a feat by being the only team to correctly guess the 6-4-2 question about Cuba after just one clue, earning six points in the process.  Despite gaining ground on the field on each of those questions, they still trailed behind Give Me Your Beer Money going into the final question.

For the final question, we had a doozy.  How many purple flowers can you name?  It seemed like we went through them all, but not a single team came up with pansy for the correct answer.  We had a wide range of scores going into the last question, but without any correct answers (or conservative wagers), we had no change in the standings.

Clueless brought in third place on their first time playing. The Deal Makers, coming back for their second game, took second place. But the juggernaut that is Give Me Your Beer Money took everyone’s beer money (metaphorically) and grabbed another decisive first place win! Congrats teams!  We’ll see you next week!

Next week’s first category:  “Real Genius”

~ Sean

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Blue Parrott in St. Petersburg, FL

Tuesday night was one of the closest bouts of Pour House Trivia that the Blue Parrott has seen in recent memory. Five teams, including one group of newcomers, were all within seven points of each other going into the final question. But first, how did we get there?  Round one started relatively smoothly for most of our teams, until a question about about the early 2000s show “24” tripped up a few of them. Most of our teams were within 10 points of each other at half time.

But round three proved to be a doozy.  There wasn’t a single question for which every team knew the answer.  Some didn’t realize START was the name of the nuclear arms treaty between the U.S. and Russia. Many could not remember the correct Latin phrase for i.e. — id est. Most of our teams correctly identified Isis as the unfortunate name of the dog in Downtown Abbey, but questions about Mahatma Gandhi and Harry Caray tripped up our other teams.

It seemed like each question tapped into a different team’s skill set, which kept the race competitive all night long. Ultimately, it was the final question that settled our rankings. Several teams were thrown off by the purple color of the the flower in the final question and incorrectly guessed “violet.” Our teams that either didn’t wager anything or correctly guessed “pansy” rose to the top.

Congrats on newcomers “Betcha A Buck” for winning the whole thing on their first visit! And congrats to everyone else who came out. We look forward to seeing you next week.

First Place:  Betcha A Buck

Second Place:  Freebirds

Third Place:  Clavins

Next week’s first category:  British Invasion

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Monkey La La in Frederick, MD

Tonight was a night of tough questions and new champions at Monkey La La in Frederick.  The first question of the evening set the tone for the rest of the night with only one team out of six getting the Rugby question.  At the end of Round 1, most of the teams at Monkey La La had successfully navigated the first round with only a minor one-point hiccup.  Sad and Demented But Social was leading with 34, with Alternate Facts, Sloppy Seconds and Friends Without Benefits all tied at 31.

The second round felt like the first with all of the teams successfully making through the round with only a one-question stutter.  This round it was the 20th century “Atlas Shrugged” that brought most of the teams to pause.  After two rounds and the halftime page, our teams separated a bit with Alternate Facts in the lead at 84, Sad and Demented But Social at 83 and Friends Without Benefits at 79.

Round 3 terrorized most of the teams.  The majority of teams correctly answered less than half of the questions for the round.  The International Agreements question was the downfall of most of the teams with only one team (Alternative Facts) getting the answer to the question.  At the end of three rounds, it looked like that Alternative Facts was poised to run away with the game, leading at 123.  Second place was Friends Without Benefits at 113 and third place was Stink Floyd at 111.

Round 4 saw a comeback for most of the teams and Alternative Facts got their lead over the magic 12 to ensure a win for the evening going into the final question.  When the final was said and done, three of the top four teams managed correct answers, but unfortunately Friends Without Benefits missed it and fell to fourth place.  Here are your final rankings:

First Place:  Alternative Facts

Second Place:  Stink Floyd

Third Place: Demented and Sad But Social

Next week’s first category:  The Russian Language!

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Quincy’s South in Rockville, MD

Back at Quincy’s South in Rockville, after a weird week last week when we had a WEDNESDAY game, off from our normal Tuesday night.  Though I couldn’t make it, it sounds like a bunch of you all came out and made Wednesday just as fun as Tuesdays normally are and for that I thank you.  Scott had the pleasure of hosting you guys, hope that went okay.  I know Hilary from Sofa King mentioned that Scott had GREAT music, maybe I’ll take some stuff from his playlist.

The first round started off very strongly for our teams tonight, only two total wagering questions were missed by all of our teams combined!  We saw mostly veteran teams but even our newcomers were pretty great tonight. It was gonna be a rough one as teams duked it out for this win.  After the first half, it was Sofa King Smart who led by a slim margin, with four other teams within five points of the lead.

Round 3 cranked the difficulty up just a bit as some of our good teams fell back a bit.  The START question was particularly difficult, seeing half the teams picking up the wager their and only a handful of others knowing it stood for Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty.  Some deep history there from the last 30 years, impressive gets from some of the younger teams.

In Round 4, we asked a science question about Christian Doppler.  If you knew the Doppler Effect, you got your wager, his first name would net you an extra two points! Hilariously (maybe just to me), two teams submitted Albert Einstein as their answer, which would be an odd scenario if we awarded teams a two-point bonus for knowing Einstein’s first name is Albert.  I think that the bonus was put there as a sort-of hint, letting you know that if the first name is not hard, your answer is probably wrong.  Sometimes, the bonus questions act as hints too!!  Use them!!

The final question was a tough one tonight, with about half the teams missing it, including our leaders going into the last question, Sofa King Smart.  They led all game but slipped up on the last one and left the game for ANYONE to take!  We had lots of teams all within a few points, so close even that The Adventuresses and Wingardium Triviosa were TIED in 1st place after the final tonight.  A tiebreaker would be used to settle it between our two leaders. Closest to Gandhi’s birth year would win it.  Close guesses, not only to each other but to the actual answer as WT put 1875 and Adventuresses put 1872.  The actual year was 1869, therefore The Adventuresses win this one, their first win ever!!! What a finish! Thanks all, back in a week!!

~ Bill

Next week’s first category:  Elizabethan England

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Black Eyed Suzie’s in Bel Air, MD

Rainy Tuesday?  Epic Trivia night…  We were back at Black Eyed Suzie’s in Bel Air, where our juggernaut Team Dammit was looking to make in five win in a row!  A field of formidable opponents (and some difficult trivia questions) stood in their way.  The first round started smoothly for our perennial powerhouse, missing just two questions en route to the a first half lead of eight points.  Team W’s took the high score on the halftime round, and those 17 points kept them within shouting distance.

The third round got a bit rough for our field, as we had two questions which stumped most of the field.  Who knew that ‘Mahatma’ wasn’t Gandhi’s actual first name?  In spite of several misses, Dammit bumped its lead to ten points during the second half, but was unable to come up with the correct response on the final question.  Would any of our competitors take advantage of the miss and seal the deal for themselves?

Unfortunately, it was not to be, as for the 5th week in a row, Team Dammit cleaned house with a win.  The Backstreet Boyz are making their way back to the top with a solid second place slot.  Birthday wishes DO come true, as Birthday Bandits took third place for tonight’s game. The ladies of Team W’s took their night off to play trivia with me, and hopefully they’ll do the same next week.  See you then!

~ Natalie

Next week’s first category:  Greek Mythology