Can you believe we’re less than two months until the next Pour House Trivia World Series?  If your team is not a regular Tuesday player, now would be a great time to visit some of these venues to earn some extra standings points, enabling your team to earn an automatic invitation to the PHT World Series XV.  Here are Tuesday’s recaps:

TUESDAY’S STATS AND FACTS (82 teams across 12 venues):

–> Highest Overall Score: Capitol City Goofballs (Cap City Brewing) with 172

–> Highest Score after Round 4: Capital Hillbillies (Cap City Brewing) with 164

–> Highest First Half Score: Kelly’s Heroes (Top Golf) with 89

–> Perfect 21 (correct on all wagers and final): Capitol City Goofballs, Menace 2 Sobriety (Cap City Brewing), Suck It Trebek (Orioles Nest), No Clue (Cugini’s)

–> Our “TV Timeline” theme on the halftime page played slightly ore difficult than normal, with an average score of 15.9.  Nine teams scored 20 points.

–> About 22% of our teams scored six points on the 6-4-2 question, by recognizing the members of the music group Duran Duran.

TUESDAY’S FINAL QUESTION (38.9% success rate):

–> As the predominant naturally occurring form of glucose, which chemical compound derives its name from the Latin for “on the right”?  (you’ll find the answer later in this blog)

_________________________________________________________________

Capitol City Brewing in Arlington, VA

It’s a Tuesday night and that means it’s Pour House trivia night at Capitol City Brewing in Arlington.  I was stepping in for Austin, who was unavailable tonight, so it’s nice to be back to such a familiar venue.  It seems like I’m here every two months, but I’m not complaining.  So, a big thanks to all the regulars who welcomed me back.  Tonight, 12 teams were in contention for some gift certificates so let’s see what our teams had to face.

Round 1 had a question identifying famous men and the branch of the U.S. military in which they served.  Everybody knew Elvis was an Army guy, but some teams mixed up Navy with Marines for John Glenn and “American Sniper” Chris Kyle.  Round 2 had questions about spicy food and drink commercials.  Teams managed to pick out jambalaya as the Cajun dish that may have come from the French word for “ham”.  But some teams got confused with our question on a Pepsi commercial about a model who joins a protest.  Everyone knew it was Pepsi, but some people mistook Kendall Jenner with the Kardashian friend, Kylie Jenner.  As a result, some teams managed to extend their lead.

Round 3 had a Three Clues/One Writer question that had teams play conservatively, with nobody attempting the two-point bonus.  However, that all changed in our 6-4-2 question where they played a bit more aggressively in our 6-4-2 question.  Three teams went for our six-pointer, but only two managed to identify Duran Duran based on their most famous composition.  In Round 4, African geography proved to be the bane of some of our teams as they failed to identify countries with a Mediterranean coastline based on their size.  Some of our teams even picked countries further down the continent.

The final question had everyone sighing and rolling their eyes, a question on biochemistry.  But, some teams decided to go all-in on this.  And they were faced with a question asking for a sugar named for its right polarization.  Teams were able to use their knowledge of sugars and Latin to figure out that sugar was dextrose.  With a lead change as a result of only five teams knowing the correct answer, that led to our final standings:

First Place:  Capitol City Goofballs

Second Place:  Menace to Sobriety

Third Place:  Taxes?  I’m Just a President (a/k/a Capitol Hillbillies)

Next week’s first category: Psychology

Austin will be back next week!

Until next time,

~ Chris

_________________________________________________________________

Champion Billiards in Frederick, MD

As nice as the weather is outside, it was nicer to see ten teams stroll on in to Champion Billiards in Frederick tonight to enjoy good food, cold beer and some brain bending.  Thinking caps in hand, the stage was set for a solid game of trivia – let’s see if the usual suspects will rise to the challenge against the traveling teams and new faces!

We pushed through the first round, and while some of our teams were lamenting the fact that they have killed so many brain cells since they watched “The Fifth Element”, things went relatively smoothly.  Everyone was kicking back and enjoying the atmosphere before things get down to the nitty gritty.

That audio clue!  Man, oh man… Teams took some hits on the celebrity name fill ins.  Maybe it was the songs.  Maybe it was the sound effect distraction..  Whatever it was, I haven’t seen people struggle so much on the audio in quite some time!  That “being bit by the first question in each round” may become trend tonight…

The halftime puzzle page knocked some teams out of the running, many of our teams were just happy to not be in single digits! I love how people figured out the S.M. and stuck with what they knew! Ha! Two 20’s, going to Crystal Methodists and Newton’s Minion. That puzzle page was a blessing for Keith as he used it to catapult himself in to 1st, as a solo! I didn’t know it was going to be one of those kind of nights 😉

After an up and down Round 3, where it was pretty fair in dealing out the head scratching moments, our teams were ready for the confidence breaking 4th round.  Ready to get hammered with a knowledge smackdown.  Well, that didn’t really happen as we answered things like Brawny, Jane Goodall and film Cliff’s Notes.

~ Sam

Next week’s first category:  Disney’s “Planes”

_________________________________________________________________

Cugini’s Restaurant in Poolesville, MD

A fine and somewhat breezy Tuesday night down here at Cugini’s in Poolesville, in fact the wind was just chilly enough that I had to close the door next to my setup while I ran the game.  It was the Wizarding World of Harry Potter for our opening question tonight, and sadly I forgot my wand once again.  We checked out the military service records for Elvis Presley, Chris Kyle, and John Glenn, only to follow that up with Thomas Edison’s light bulb and Claire Danes multiple Emmy Awards for the hit show “Homeland”.  We also went back to the 90’s for this highly successful film and its Cetacean star:

Scores were very close after round one, and the second round proved to be high scoring for the teams as well. We removed the names of some pop culture personalities featured in the lyrics of some popular songs, one being Tupac’s reference to a Prohibition agent mentioned in the hit song “California Love”.  We tasted some Cajun cooking and figured out how many power pellets Pacman had available to make a good meal of Inky, Blinky, Pinky, and Clyde. Finally in our recent events question for round two, we mentioned this Pepsi ad that caused some complaints:

The third round featured the biggest miss of the night as our teams struggled with Kanye West’s “Gold Digger”, but after that question things were pretty much smooth sailing.  Most folks got Robert Frost after mentioning his participation in JFK’s inauguration, and they also knew that Richard Nixon was our most recent Quaker President. We also did a little geometry lingo, with the name of the adjacent sides of a right triangle that are not the hypotenuse. I don’t thing this was the inspiration for ZZ Top’s song “Legs” however:

Four teams nailed Duran Duran on the six point clue so congrats to them, great job!  The final round stayed very close with subjects such as the 2017 Masters, African nations that border the Mediterranean, and conservationist Jane Goodall.  We did some plot blurbs for “The Revenant”, “The Thing”, and “The Graduate”, and finally went to this paper towel brand that changed their mascot in honor of Women’s History Month:

Teams were on point for our final Common Chemistry question with six of the nine teams answering correctly. Sadly one of the front runners in the game fell to sixth with their miss, even with a strategic wager.  Here are the results:

First Place:  No Clue

Second Place:  Drunk N Disorderly

Third Place:  Lightfoot

Next week’s first category:  Peru

~ Ronnie

_________________________________________________________________

Orioles Nest in Frederick, MD

Coming soon…

Next week’s first category:  Rush

_________________________________________________________________

Senor Tequila’s in Germantown, MD

Tonight was a wild night from start to finish here at Senor Tequilas, a fair amount of which had nothing to do with our game of Pour House Trivia!

Highlights of the Night:

In “The-Total-Whiff”: Every now and then we get that one question that no one seems to be able to pull the correct answer for. Tonight it was our Celebrities in the Military question; Everyone thought John Glenn was either Navy or Air Force, and we only got answers of Marine for the American Sniper. That one wouldn’t have been the question I’d think was the total whiff, but it certainly stumped the teams tonight!

In “OMG-Like-ASL?”: You know…I like to get to know my teams, and if i become friends with them, I have no problem adding them on Facebook. What I forget, is that I host for a bunch of wise guys. So when I get a question about ASL and comment on the datedness, I really should’ve seen the avalanche of “ASL?” texts coming in from them. *sigh*

In “A-Trivia-Proposal??”: Right before our game ended tonight, we had a very sudden marriage proposal right in the middle of everything!  So romantic!  Or embarrassing. Depends on your point of view.  For example, if the person being proposed to has no idea whats happening other than his waiter is proposing to him, mega embarassing!  But if the person being proposed to is at his last night of trivia before leaving for his new job in New York, and happens to be the one who gives out the Trivia Host’s phone number for ASL messages, MEGA hilarious.  The whole bar was in on it.  He said no though.  So sad.  xD

The final tonight caused a last second shake up, so the podium stood thus…

Honorable mention tonight goes to Beer Pressure; they had the highest score at the end of the game, but since it took them 12 people to get there, they couldn’t exactly get credit for the win. But since it was Joe’s last night, I think we can forgive them, more concerned with a good send off than winning the top prize tonight.

In second place tonight, the Fan Club!

In first place tonight, Four Non-Blondes!

Great game tonight guys, and congratulations Joe on the new job!  If tonight’s shenanigans are any indication, you will be missed 🙂  Take care everyone!  Study up, and we’ll see you next time!

Until then,

~ Ian

Next week’s first category:  O. J. Simpson

_________________________________________________________________

FireFlies in Alexandria, VA

My goodness, the cockles of my heart were so warmed to see all of you here tonight at FireFlies in Alexandria!  We’ve been missing a few teams as of late due to Spring Break and other various factors, but it sure felt like a full house tonight!  But my joy quickly turned into player’s pain when every team missed the first question of the night.  The Winner’s Choice category was the New York Islanders and when even the winners missed it – and they were not happy.  Question 4 in the first round was another tough one – when naming famous people and the military branch they served – none of the teams could remember that Chris Kyle (American Sniper) was a NAVY seal.  They did, however all remember Elvis was in the army and a few remembered John Glenn as a marine.

Round 2 had a better start, but only Shiner Bockers could name all three famous names deleted from song clips in our audio clue.  The old school arcade category had many of our teams excited for the question – little did they think all those years ago to count up all the dots on a Pac Man board!  A few got the number of POWER pellets correct (four), but nobody came close to guessing 240 for the number of regular dots.  And ohmygosh, it was the groan heard ’round the world when the Pepsi/Jenner question came up.  Almost everybody knew it, but it’s as if they felt dirty for it :p

A couple of perfect scores on the halftime puzzle put No Tears For Beers in first and Zweihart is Finkler in second place at the half. Round 3’s literary question stumped over half the teams when they couldn’t name Robert Frost from the 3 clues given. However, ask them what ASL means in text talk and 99% know it stands for age, sex, location – you creepers!  :p  Only Finkel is Einhorn was brave enough to guess on the 6 pt clue in the 6-4-2 question, but ALL teams correctly named Duran Duran by the 2 point clue.

Round 4 didn’t really catch any team off guard, so many felt strong going into the final question. 1st and 2nd place was pretty set, but it was a competition for 3rd- when No Tears for Beers and Finkel is Einhorn (oh how the mighty have fallen) missed the final clue it pushed We Thought This was Speed Dating up to the top – good job new team which included a new Pour House host, Lee!  Tonight’s winners were:

First Place:  Zweihart is Finkler (a.k.a. Bad Hombres)

Second Place:  Fun Squad

Third Place:  We Thought This Was Speeddating

Next week’s first category:  World Flags

UPDATE (April 22): There is NO TRIVIA next week (April 25).  We’ll be back on May 2nd!

~ Kate

_________________________________________________________________

Shuckin’ Shack in Frederick, MD

It was another brilliant, lovely evening here at Shuckin’ Shack in Downtown Frederick.  The weather, I suppose, drove traffic.  That, and the opportunity to have 25% off peel-and-eat shrimp while wearing shorts and a tank.  I SAW YOU, YES I DID.

First up: Chief was exhausted from rebuilding above-ground raised garden beds. Holy balls. And it wasn’t exactly cold today.

Second: It’s always to the advantage of the previous-week winning team to timely provide a first category.  Case in point: I turned a last-minute category of “Sweet Home Alabama” into a question about Audrey Hepburn. Fortunately, most of you caught on. 🙂

Third: Don’t make fun of the Coast Guard.  They’re like the Silent Service of veterans, which is weird, because they don’t have submarines.  But my jokes about them elicited ALL KINDS of sighs and expressions of discontent.  In which I of course reveled, my Puddle Pirate friends. 🙂

Fourth: The difference between Kylie and Kendall is significant enough to cost you points. Start reading People.

Fifth:  The final question kicked some serious butt.  Alas, your finishers for tonight:

First Place:  Buttered Balls (two weeks in a row!)

Second Place:  Functions

Third Place:  (in a tiebreaker, it is…) Tequila Mockingbird

Next week’s first category, courtesy of a timely Buttered Balls this time: United States Coast Guard

Spare me. Save me. Brown water; I just don’t know it! 🙂  Fair Winds, and Following Seas, to those who venture that far,

~Chief

_________________________________________________________________

Top Golf in Ashburn, VA

Tuesday night featured a tough-fought game at Top Golf in Ashburn, as all of our teams were trying to keep pace with Kelly’s Heroes.  But our defending champs played a near perfect game, looking for their seventh win in the eight-week history of Top Golf.

The game started with two unexpectedly tough questions in the first round, the first being our Winner’s Choice category of motorcycle racing, and the second involving our teams identifying the military branch in which three different celebrities served.  Our halftime puzzle page also played difficultly, as we averaged about 14.5 overall.  But Kelly’s Heroes were on fire, as they scored a perfect 20 and took a commanding lead at the break.  The Mind Benders held on to second with their “secret weapons” they brought this week, and Taco Tuesday was in third in the half.

Our teams fared better over the final two rounds, with many teams gaining ground on Kelly’s Heroes.  The Mind Benders trailed by only a few points, but the final question changed things up a bit!  Not surprisingly, Kelly’s Heroes maintained their lead and their streak with a correct response, while Taco Tuesday was bumped up to second.  The fine people of Artisan Sausage who rose from the middle of the pack to finish third.  Kelly’s Heroes is on cruise control, and we will be back next week with a opening question in the category of The Battle of Gettysburg.

See you then!

~ Zach

_________________________________________________________________

Primanti Brothers in Hagerstown, MD

It’s always beautiful at Primanti Brothers in Hagerstown.  Out on the patio, we had a spring breeze, and new teams playing Tuesday night Pour House Trivia.  I might have had to twist Great Eight’s collective arms to get them to play, but they were not disappointed.  Who knew questions about the British Royal Navy would be so difficult?  Only Great Eight was able to pull a right answer on our Winner’s Choice question tonight.  Our halftime puzzle sheet proved to be more difficult than normal, with the top score coming in a 17 points.  Great Eight maintained a healthy lead, with two teams tied for second.

Great Eight stumbled out of the gate in the second half, relinquishing the lead to Lone Stranger, albeit by just two points.  On the 6-4-2 question, the only team to score points was Bosom Buddies, one of our new teams!  In the final round, Lone Stranger managed four correct answers and extended the lead to four points.  Could they hold on for their FIRST-EVER Pour House trivia victory?

Our final question dealt with the topic of chemistry, and we only had one correct answer.  See You Next Tuesday took third place with a tactical wager of zero.  Lone Stranger was unable to come up with dextrose as the correct response, dropping them out of the lead.  With the ONLY correct answer on the final question, it was Great Eight who snatched the win!

I hope we see all our new teams back next week, when we will start with a question in the category of gravity.  See you then!

~ Sean

_________________________________________________________________

Blue Parrott in St. Petersburg, FL

Seven teams battled it out at the Blue Parrott in St. Petersburg on Tuesday night for Pour House Trivia glory!  It was a relaxed feel at the Parrott, just a few days after Easter.  Many of our teams were missing members, but still relaxing and socializing.  A British team visiting Florida joined the mix for the first time, and were good sports about being the brunt of a few of my jokes.  One of the night’s highlights was when a team member turned in a wrong answer to a Robert Frost question with the commentary — “And I’m an English teacher! Rubbish!”

The audio clue bleeping out celebrity names in songs was a fun one but stumped many of our teams.  Team recovered nicely by knowing that Nicola Sturgeon is the First Minister of Scotland.  After the second round, our halftime sheet really separated the pack, with two teams notching near perfect scores (The Clavins and Quiz Knows), while other teams struggled to reach double digits.

The Clavins were able to extend their lead by not missing a wagering question in the second half!  In the end, a surprising amount of teams correctly knew the final answer of dextrose.  All in all, it was a fun, laid-back night of trivia at the Parrott.  We look forward to seeing you all next week.  Here are tonight’s top teams!

First Place:  Clavins

Second Place:  Quiz Knows

Third Place:  McHale’s Navy

Next week’s first category:  The Monkees

~ C. J.

_________________________________________________________________

Monkey La La in Frederick, MD

Tonight, we had a full house at Monkey La La in Frederick, as eight teams battled for trivia glory.  Two early questions tonight took the field by storm in the opening round.  The first question, dealing with the winner’s choice category of “Airplane!” left three-quarters of the field scratching their head.  Even worse, Famous People and the Military served a goose egg to the entire field.  Everyone was on point with Elvis being in the Army, but John Glenn threw everyone for a loop when all of the teams guessed Navy or Air Force!  It turns out John Glenn was actually in the Marines!  Semper Fi!  At the end of the first round, Alternative Facts lead the way, followed by Sad and Demented but Social, and a tie for third place between Sloppy Seconds and Know Concepts.

The audio clue for the second round provided lots of uneasiness.  While only a few teams missed the question, the teams who nailed two out of the three songs only wagered one point, while teams who got all three parts wagered high.  This was definitely a case of you know when you know it!  After two rounds, Alternate Facts, Sad and Demented but Social, and Sloppy Seconds kept their respective positions while Stink Floyd made a push to tie for third place.  Unfortunately for Sloppy Seconds, Round 3 saw the dreaded bonus work against them.  Sad and Demented but Social moved into first place with an aggressive answer on the 6-4-2 for six points, while Alternate Facts felt just shy off the lead and Stink Floyd rounded out the Top 3.

The final round provided no ground gaining for any teams as the knowledge was flying and very few teams only missed their one-point wager.  The standings stayed the same going into the final.  Only three teams out of the entire field nailed the Common Chemistry final, however, it was the top three teams that answered correctly so our standings from the end of Round 3 & 4 stayed constant.  Sad and Demented but Social earned their win, with Alternative Facts taking second place, and Stink Floyd earning the bronze.

Next week’s category is Rugby Terms!

~ Scott

_________________________________________________________________

Black Eyed Suzie’s in Bel Air, MD

It was another epic night of Pour House Trivia at Black Eyed Suzie’s in Bel Air.  We hosted a full house, and everyone came ready to play.  Backstreet Boyz said “It’s gonna be me, next week maybe?”, while Eleven Years played as a solo act.  The first half proved to be extremely close, as our top six teams were within eight points of the lead at the break, while Nerd Herd edged out the lead.

Unlike most weeks, the second half did not separate teams – in fact the game got even closer!  By the end of the final round, we had a tie for first place between Nerd Herd and Dammit.  Just as it was all night, the top six teams were within striking distance of the lead.  Sometimes, when you hear the final category, it is a good idea to consider a conservative wager if it’s not one of your strong suits.  That would have been a great idea tonight, as none of our teams could correctly answer the final question.  Unfortunately, none of our teams bet conservatively, meaning that we still had a tie for first place!

After the tiebreaker, Dammit secured the first place slot for the 4th week in a row.  Nerd Herd was a gracious loser, but will be happy to play again after a second place finish!  Social Security rounded out our top three.  We’ll be back next week, and we’ll be laughing with our first category of Chevy Chase!

~ Natalie