We always enjoy our teams injecting a little humor into their nightly trivia games, but as Wednesday night proved, some teams (at different venues) are on the same wavelength!  Who would have thought that a question on Modern Art would have provided such an ample opportunity for lewd humor?  On more serious matters, Wednesday’s game featured a rather difficult third round, with only a handful of teams managing five correct answers.  Needless to say, it was those teams that found their way to the top of our leaderboard:

WEDNESDAY’S STATS AND FACTS (95 teams across 13 venues):

–> Highest Overall Score: FOWL (Memories) with 169

–> Highest Score after Round 4: Dusty Baker School of Management (Bennigan’s – Clarksburg) with 161

–> Highest First Half Score: Pen Island (Barefoot Bernie’s) with 92

–> Perfect 21 (correct on all wagers and final): Sexual Chocolate (Memories)

–> Our halftime page played a bit on the easier side tonight, with an average score 17.6, which included 22% of our teams scoring a perfect 20 points.

–> The most difficult question of the night asked for the 2014 film for which Oprah Winfrey earned an Oscar nomination for Best Picture.  How quickly we forgot the historic drama “Selma”…  Only 15% of our teams earned points with this question.

TONIGHT’S FINAL QUESTION (68.7% success rate):

–> Which six-time champion in a team sport was named the greatest North American athlete of the 20^th Century by ESPN, in its 1999 SportsCentury retrospective? (you’ll find the answer later in this blog)

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Valley Grill in Middletown, MD

Another fine game of Pour House Trivia is in the books at Valley Grill Sports Bar here in Middletown!  Twelve teams came to play tonight, which is a few teams shy of the norm but what can you expect with such a beautiful evening and Easter on the way.  The good news is we should be starting “the patio experience” next Wednesday, provided I remember to add an extra mic cord to my gig bag.  The Brits came out in style tonight with the BBC sitcom “Father Ted” as our first category.  Our parent country would show up again starting round two.  We had some very good scores for round one with only a couple of misses.  The subjects were the inspiration for Uber, Burlington Coat Factory and Northwestern University to name a few.  We also had a Hardy Boys question so I thought I would throw you a shot from their short lived TV series of the 70’s.  You can’t get more 70’s than those suits, and check out that collar sported by then teen heartthrob Shaun Cassidy (right):

Anyway, back to the Brits for the beginning of round two as we had sound bites from the king of argumentum ad populum John Oliver, restaurant rescuer Gordon Ramsay, and carpool karaoke extraordinaire James Corden.  Folks caught the scoring “fever” with our pandemic question, but then suffered a bad headache from the chart topping song Black Beatles.  Most teams received “sanctuary” by answering correctly on the densely populated city of San Francisco, and then topped of the round with a nice points grab on this little guy from a popular 80’s film:

For round three, most teams got at least one of the two MLB sluggers we were looking for, and absolutely gobbled up points on our fossil fuels question.  They also did fairly well with identifying AT&T’s commercial featuring The Dan Band, but many missed the mark on Belgrade as the capital of Serbia.  We had a Three Clues for the same word category in the round, to which about 60% of the teams scored.  One of the clues was this Wolfgang Petersen epic film and period piece, which (if you believe a widespread internet hoax) clearly shows some Greek reinforcements about to parachute in to back up Achilles:

Our final round started off with a little over/under action by revealing nine films featuring Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, only two periodic elemental symbols that are consonant free, and a staggering 25 consecutive seasons that the Detroit Red Wings made it into the playoffs (until this year).  We had a 20th century opera based on “Rumpelstiltskin” that teams scored well on, but Oprah’s involvement in the Oscar winning film Selma proved to be the largest stump question in the round.  Folks did well with the modest re-branding of Mr. Pibb, and most teams could tell us either the name of this “artsy” British theme park or its creator, but only one team could provide both.

Tonight’s final was somewhat easier than the norm as most teams answered correctly, however it did not bode that well for the few teams that took the route of the strategic wager, knocking them out of the final three.  Here are the final results:

First Place:  Southpaw Fish

Second Place:  The Gang Ruins Trivia

Third Place:  Shakeweight

I am not sure, but I think it is safe to assume that the inclusion of “Dismaland” influenced the choice for next week’s category, so get ready for sunny Orlando and Walt Disney World!

~ Ronnie

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The Tavern in Olney, MD

There must have been something in the air on Wednesday evening, because at our Pour Hose Trivia game at The Tavern in Olney, teams were all over the place throughout the night!  Teams that were in the top three places after halftime were in the bottom three spots by the final question.  The team that was in last place after the puzzle page was in second place by the time we got to the final question, among two other teams that moved up from the back of the pack as well.

After I asked the final question, everything switched again with our first and second place teams dropping back down to third and fourth place!  After the last flip of the top three spots and the dust settled, this is what happened…

With an unfortunate drop from first to third after missing the final question we had Olney The Lonely!  Making the move from fifth place to second place with the risky zero wager was Moving Forward!!  And coming in to play for the first time ever, nailing the final question and moving from fourth place to first place for the WIN was Momma Lu’s!

Next week, we’ll begin our game with the winner’s choice category of Super Bowl Champions, so study up and I’ll look forward to another CRAZY game with everyone again on Wednesday at The Tavern!

~ Jon J

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Belles’ Sports Bar in Frederick, MD

We hosted eight teams at Belles’ Sports Bar in Frederick on this beautiful Wednesday evening.  The first round saw a lot of teams racking up all of the available points.  Everyone must’ve paid attention in elementary school and knew the name of the novel series featuring two sleuthing teenagers, Frank and Joe, was the “Hardy Boys”.  Teams also did a great job identifying Northwestern University’s home state and team name (Illinois and the Wildcats).

For our audio question, teams identified these British TV personalities by their voices: John Oliver, Gordon Ramsay, and James Corden.  Every team correctly guessed the 1984 movie featuring Gizmo (“Gremlins”), and about half knew that Gizmo was a Mogwai.  A trickier question in Round 2 asked which west coast city was the second most densely populated; only three teams chose San Francisco as the right answer.

The halftime sheet didn’t stump our teams tonight, with four teams earning all 20 points.  It was a rough start going into Round 3, however, with a baseball question that tripped up all but three teams.  During the 6-4-2, How ‘Bout a NASCAR Question earned six points for knowing that Subaru was the automaker founded in 1953 known for it’s “boxer engine” layout.  Unfortunately the other early submissions all chose Porshe, missing an opportunity to gain points.

Round 4’s first question asked teams to decide whether each of three clues was over or under the number 10.  Five teams successfully guessed all three, earning them bonus points.  The next question was quite possibly the easiest of the day, asking the name of the fairy tale in which a young girl is forced to spin straw unless she can guess the title character’s name.  Of course the correct answer was Rumpelstiltskin.  Wrapping up the round, the teams were asked to name the creator or the name of the conceptual art show described as “a family theme park unsuitable for children”.  While a few teams guessed “Sex Flags” (coming soon to a city near you), the real show was Banksy’s Dismaland.

While team Flight Level Awesome was in the lead for the first three rounds, team Kobe Buffalo Meat eked out a one-point lead in Round 4 and held on till the end, becoming tonight’s champions.  Get excited for next week’s Winner Choice question, where you’ll have to guess: Triple 50/50 (Adult Film Star or World Leader?)

~ Allison

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Bennigan’s in Frederick, MD

Another Wednesday gone, another game of Pour House Trivia in the books for Bennigans!

Highlights of the Night:

In “The-Groans-Boss-the-Groans”: It’s Cold In Here, The Dreaded Opera Question, and the Dreaded Oprah Question, all earned groans tonight from the teams, and all I could do was giggle.  Granted, they were all groaning for different reasons, but still, watching their reactions to the categories tonight was a treat.  Hopefully, no one comes for me for them later!

In “That-Didn’t-Help…”: When the third clue of a Three Clues-One Word doesn’t cause faces to light up with understanding… hooooooo boy.  Somehow the wide net of “High School Musical”, “Community”, and “The Simpsons” managed to miss most of the teams tonight.  It wasn’t until I explained after the face that it finally dawned on teams.  Too hung up on Carat!

In “Best-Wrong-Answer-of-the-Night”: I knew as soon as I read the question, that no one was gonna pull DismaLand or Banksy tonight.  Sure enough, not a single point earned on that question.  It did however glean the best wrong answer of the night.  When asked to give the name of a theme park, not suitable for kids, that is based on the name of a real theme park, Simple Minds was happy to oblige with “Sex Flags”.  When I tell you I almost fell out  of my chair xD

The final tonight was one of those where everyone turned in an equally good answer, just not all of them were right, and that’s always tough to watch. Still, the podium was set and it went down like this.

In third place tonight, Simple Minds!

In second place tonight, Literally Anything!

In first place tonight, Momentary Lapse of Reason!

Great game tonight guys! Next week we’ll kick things off with a category on Radiohead!  Study up, and we’ll see you next time!

~ Ian

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Woodside Deli in Gaithersburg, MD

Six teams came into the competition at Woodside Deli with a close top 3 finish in the end.  The first round did not provide too much trouble for the teams tonight but the Hardy Boys did a bit.  While the teams tonight, in general, knew who the Hardy Boys were, there was not one team who knew specifically both the Hardy Boys.  Each team either got Frank or Joe, but not both!  At the end of round 1 High Water Mark and Contribution were tied at 34 with Nerds Say What close behind at 32.

Modern Music stumped two-thirds of the teams tonight in round 2.  “Black Beatles” is apparently not a song popular among those of us at Woodside Deli.  This question did allow the younger teams: B&E and The Fellowship to make up some grounds on the older teams.  At the end of two it was Contribution (86), High Water Mark (84), The Fellowship (82), Nerds Say What (80), and the duo of B&E (78).

I believe it is safe to say that tonight’s game was won and lost in the third round, and to be much more specific, the selection of the bonus category.  Whoever choose “Commercial – Films – and Musical Fun” as their bonus was cursed!  Both the leader (Contribution) & 3^rd place (The Fellowship) fell to this innocent looking category.  Only Nerds Say What got this question correct and used it to springboard into 2^nd place.

The final round brought no surprises to most of the teams as the standings stayed the same moving into the final category!  Unfortunately for teams looking to make up ground, this was not the final question to do so on as every team new Michael Jordan and his illustrious career.

High Water Mark nailed first and have chosen Board Games for their first category.  Nerds Say What always podium when they arrive and tonight took 2^nd.  Contribution finished in 3^rd tonight.

Next week’s first category:  Board Games

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Nido’s Ristorante in Frederick, MD

Coming soon…

Next week’s first category:  Detroit Lions History

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Top Golf in Alexandria, VA

Tonight was our second night of Pour House Trivia here at TopGolf Alexandria.  We welcomed back It’s in the Hole, who were also at our premiere game last week.  This time, we didn’t have a $50 cash bonus to offer, but rather a $50 gift card good for all TopGolf services and products, certainly a great prize for our avid TopGolfers.  Even our TopGolf staffers wanted in for tonight’s game as they competed as Quiz in My Pants.  So, in a way it really was our teams against the house.

Our winning team from last week was not here tonight, so that left only one team able to answer our first question on the English Premier League.  But, teams were able to scoop up points on Northwestern University and The Hardy Boys book series.  Going on to Round 2, teams were able to realize the second-most densely-populated U.S. city was probably a city that had nowhere to expand, such as being on a peninsula, which led to every team identifying San Francisco correctly.

Our 6-4-2 question was quite notable as we were looking for an automobile manufacturer known for its boxer engine layout.  Three of our teams decided to take a chance and it didn’t pay off for them.  So, the remaining two teams managed to scoop up four more points.  Round 4 had a question on opera and Oprah.  Surprisingly, every team managed to answer the opera question correctly and everyone missed the Oprah question.  Perhaps it’s time to introduce more opera questions?

Tonight’s Final Question involved knowing who did ESPN declare as the Greatest North American athlete of the 20th century.  Putting together his six championship wins and the positive image he brought to the sport of basketball, all five teams figured out we were looking for Chicago Bulls 23, Michael Jordan.  And with some strategic wagering, here was our medal table for tonight:

First Place:  Two Balls, One Bag

Second Place:  It’s in the Hole

Third Place:  Easter Bunnies

Next week’s first category: Naval History in the First World War

Join us every Wednesday night at 7.00pm for more trivia.  Free to play and fun to play with great prizes on offer!

Until next time,

~ Chris

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Bennigan’s in Clarksburg, MD

A lovely day today as I wore a T-shirt and SHORTS for the first time in a while!  It was warm outside but it got HOT in here at Bennigan’s in Clarksburg, as we cranked up the temperature (metaphorically, of course) and got ready for a heated game of Pour House Trivia!  A crowd full of veteran teams joined us, which is always a tough environment to come in and sneak a win.  We’d see if anyone had enough luck on their side to bring down the Bennigan’s juggernaut that is Dusty Baker School of Management.  Dusty Baker has lost only once this season and tonight they looked to add another game to the wins column.

A lot of teams out tonight to try to put an end to Dusty Baker’s reign of terror, but it just seemed like it wasn’t gonna happen.  Dusty Baker led at the half by only five points, but a significantly difficult third round set everyone back a bit as Dusty Baker added to their lead.  Only a few teams picking up any points on subjects such as Baseball, TV Commercials, and World Capitals.  It was gonna be hard to catch up as Dusty Baker led by 13 points going into the final round.

Round 4 did the field no favors as Dusty Baker cruised through those questions and easily locked the game before the final.  Their 161 points going into the last question was enough to put them up 19 points on Roaming Gnomes, our second place finishers tonight.  Rhymes with Orange also played well to finish in third place.  Another solid victory for Dusty Baker!  We’re about 3/4 of the way through the season and Dusty Baker is showing no signs of letting up, putting on another trivia clinic tonight.  Get those minds fresh and come back next time to see if someone can take these dudes down! Until then, I’ll be seeing ya!

~ Bill

Next week’s first category:  “Orphan Black”

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Memories in Mount Airy, MD

I think the consensus tonight was that this week’s game was one of the most fun nights we’ve had!  A great set of questions, some rather difficult two-point bonuses, and some answers that certainly would have earned a comedy payoff at World Series!

Satan’s School for Girls and FOWL flew out of the gates, with each team racking up an impressive 90 points at the end of the first half.  Each score was bolstered by a perfect 20 on the halftime page – the only two perfect scores here tonight.  Sexual Chocolate and Heisenberg remained just a few points behind thanks to their 19 points.

The competition level was high, as most teams were well within striking distance of the podium for the majority of the second half.  As the sun went down, those two-point bonuses became so much more important (and more difficult), as teams struggled to keep up.  After the last question of the fourth round stumped most of our teams, the joke answers flooded in.  FOWL and Sexual Chocolate managed to separate themselves from the field, making this one a two-team race heading into the final question.  We got serious for the final, which ended up being a coin flip for our teams between Jordan and Gretzky.  Here are your winners tonight:

First Place:  FOWL

Second Place:  Sexual Chocolate

Third Place:  Satan’s School for Girls

The Parents of FOWL beat out the kids of LOWL, and took home the gold this week.  They selected, World War II: The Eastern Front as next week’s first category.  See you then!

~ Nick

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Furnace Bar and Grill in Thurmont, MD

Tonight at the Furnace Bar and Grill in Thurmont, we hosted a very close game that lead to a nail biting finish.  After a win in their first appearance here last week, We Need An Adult was attempting to start a winning streak of their own.  But Breakfast For Dinner was looking for redemption after snapping their eight-game winning streak last week, while the Goobers and Member Berries where each going for their first Pour House win.

The competition was tight as Breakfast For Dinner and We Need An Adult were tied for first going into the second round, and the Goobers were just two points behind the two leaders.  After the halftime puzzle page, things started to really shake up as the goobers jumped into second place!  Breakfast For Dinner trailed them by eight points, all while We Need An Adult expanded their lead.

The Goobers weren’t going down without a fight, however We Need An Adult was able to expand their lead in the fourth round.  The third question of the round (dealing with the film “Selma”) was the back-breaker, as We need An Adult was the ONLY team to answer correctly, which grew their lead to 13 points, locking up a victory before the final question.  The Goobers were trying to secure second place, wagering eight points on the final question (since they had a six-point lead over third place), while the rest of the field went for it all.  Most teams were able to correctly answer the final question, but due to wagering here is how we ended up.

First Place:  We Need An Adult (two in a row!)

Second Place:  The Goobers

Third Place:  Breakfast For Dinner

Next week’s first category:  “Community”

Until next time…

~ Devan

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Barefoot Bernie’s in Hagerstown, MD

Wednesday night Pour House Trivia night is always a great time here at Barefoot Bernie’s in Hagerstown.  Tonight we stole the show with six teams.  Welcome back Discovery Channel, and welcome for the first time to team Love.

Our first half was no match for our veteran teams.  Three teams scored a perfect 20 points on out halftime puzzle page.  Pen Island played  PERFECT first half, securing every possible point and leading the way with a ridiculous 92 points!  Despite that performance, Pen Island was leading by only a four-point margin over Alternative Answers.

In Round 3, only Alternative Answers earned points on our Three Clues / One Word question: they knew that the film “Troy” was directed by Wolfgang Peterson; it was questions like this that gave Alternative Answers the lead in the second half.  Sad Fat Dragons picked up six points on the 6-4-2 question to cut the lead down to one point.  In Round 4, every team put their bonus chip on Soda Brands, and came out winners.

The scores remained amazingly close as we reached the final question.  Our top three teams were separated by just four points, with Alternative Answers clinging to a minuscule lead.  Our teams bet aggresively onthe sports-themed final question, but naming the best athlete of the 20th century (according to ESPN) was a no-brainer for our high caliber teams.  The wagers didn’t change the standings going into the final question, so our top three teams were:

First Place:  Alternative Answers

Second Place:  Sad Fat Dragons

Third Place: Pen Island

~ Sean

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Applebee’s in Waynesboro, PA

ave you ever had one of those days where everything seems to just go wrong?  Well, I had one of those yesterday, when among other things I locked my keys in my car with all of my trivia gear inside.  However, thanks to Not Your Team and the collective effort from Bees? I was able to break into my car and get the evening rolling, and it turned out to be a GREAT game at Applebee’s in Waynesboro.  Here are your highlights:

We started off round one with a “Game of Thrones” question, courtesy of Wingin’ It, and followed it up by asking about the origin of Uber.  JuJu and Friends turned in the strongest Round One performance, but we had several teams right on their heels.  They continued their dominance through the half with a near perfect Round Two, as well as one of the top puzzle page scores of the evening.

Round Three was a bit tougher, with JuJu and Friends being the only team to correctly guess that Belgrade meant “White City” and was also the capital of Serbia.  However, the 6-4-2 question tripped up a few of our teams, with the “Boxer Engine” wording leading them to incorrectly jump the gun and guess Porsche instead of Subaru.  One team to avoid this pitfall was We HATE Groot, who used this opportunity to take the lead, although JuJu and Friends and Wingin It were hot on their heels. Our final category asked about the greatest athlete of the 20th century per ESPN, and We HATE Groot wagered just enough to take home victory by one point over JuJu and Friends, in an awesome finish to what was a very competitive game.  Here are your top three:

First Place:  We HATE Groot

Second Place:  JuJu and Friends

Third Place: Alternative Facts

Next week’s first category:  The French Revolution

Enjoy this wonderful weather and I’ll see you next week!

~ Kyle

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