TUESDAY’S STATS AND FACTS (105 teams across 13 venues):

–> Highest Overall Score: Screaming Death Monkey (Quincy’s South) with 174

–> Highest Score after Round 4: Screaming Death Monkey with 162

–> Highest First Half Score: Uncle Jack (Quincy’s South) and Sofa King Smart (Quincy’s South) with 91

–> Perfect 21 (correct on all wagers and final): Green Machine (Capitol City Brewing), Einhorn is Finkle (FireFlies), Give Us Your Beer Money (Primanti Bros.), Uncle Jack, Screaming Death Monkey

–> The Tony Awards halftime page played to an average of 16.9, with about 12% of our teams scoring a perfrect 20 points.

–> The 6-4-2 question proved to be slightly easier, as 28% of our teams knew that the only major prfoessional sports franchise with four I’s in its full name is the Philadelphia Phillies.

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

–> Which spherical candy is mentioned by name in a notable poem published in 1823, and is also the namesake for a character featured in an 1892 ballet? (you’ll find the answer later in this blog)

Capitol City Brewing in Arlington, VA

After taking Valentine’s Day off last week (thanks, Chris!) I was happy to see the impressive turnout last night at Cap City!  It looked like just about every one of our “regular” squads made it out – plus some scrappy newcomers – for a 15-team battle royale of trivia.  And what a set of questions!  The first half is often on the lighter side, but not this week: questions about advertising trademarks and elementary particles stopped some of our sharpest teams in their tracks, faster than a Denver boot.  After the halftime puzzle page, the Capital Hillbillies held a narrow 2-point lead over the Goofballs and Valley Girls, with several other teams hot on their heels.

Speaking of the Hillbillies, their topical team-name-of-the-week was “Bye Bye Bao Bao”, which, interestingly, brought us to two team names with individual zoo animals (the others being the Season XIV house champs, Hillary Did Harambe).  Weird, right?  In the second half, the leading teams were able to hold their position at the top of the scoreboard, despite the curveball thrown by the obscure/classic videogame Battletoads.  Team Green Machine pushed up from the middle of the pack, helped by their knowledge of late-period Jack Nicholson and getting the full 6 points on that tough 6-4-2.  After Round 4, the top five teams were all within 11 points of each other (with the Hillbillies still on top) meaning it would all come down to the Final.

Now, I had always thought sugar plums were some kind of tasty fruit – but back in the day, they were just solid, vaguely plum-shaped spheres of hard candy.  Teams that recalled allusions to sugar plums in a certain poem and ballet picked up 12 points here; those that did not, well, there’s always next week!  Your top three:

First Place:  Capitol City Goofballs

Second Place:  Valley Girls

Third Place:  Green Machine

~ Austin

Next week’s first category:  Edith Wharton

Champion Billiards in Frederick, MD

Champions, you are such a good and steady crowd, so receptive to new faces that you make a great training ground for future PHT superstars!  Thank you for being so kind to Lindsay tonight – I think she will make a very kind addition to the Pour house crew! Maybe she can’t quite pull off the horny toad answer yet, but she’ll get there!

Next week’s first category:  Huge Tracts of Land

Cugini’s Restaurant in Poolesville, MD

Back again here at Cugini’s in Poolesville for another round (well set of rounds) of Pour House Trivia!  The house was standing room only with ten teams here to battle it out for some nice prizes, World Series points (it’s coming sooner than you thin!), and kudos!  For round one, the trivia ebb and flow was smooth with categories ranging from The Grammys to African Nations, and this little film kitty:

Our second round featured only one category that was a bit of a struggle when it came to naming which beverage company featured the Dynamic Ribbon in its logo (it’s Coca-Cola).  Otherwise, all was well with subjects like elementary particles, basketball plays, and an iconic talking car of the 1980’s:

For round three, we dove into a question on a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision and subsequent Supreme Court correction, along with a TMNT knock off super group, and an iconic Academy Award winning actor who bit it at the end of two of his films:

Our final round had little in the form of adversity as these fine trivia players handled fast food, similar song titles, an Asian body of water, and a reality TV show airing its final episode this Spring:

This game was very close at the end, with only a few points separating the top half of the field.  After most of our teams came up with the correct response of Sugar Plum on the final question, we awarded our top three teams:

First Place:  No Clue

Second Place:  Never Mind

Third Place:  MoMo

Next week’s first category:  South American Capitals

~ Ronnie

Orioles Nest in Frederick, MD

This week’s installment of trivia kicked off with a question about The Evil Dead, asking which body part Ash cut off because he was partially possessed by a demon, which was his hand (he replaced it with a chainsaw).  We even had a question about one of the more ridiculous games from my childhood, Battletoads, which most teams actually got!  At halftime teams had to identify celebrities who won Tony awards, as well as giving answers that have double Es in their name.

The final question tonight was about candy and characters, and only a few teams got it right. This led to a small change in scores, as third place went to Book Club Babes, second went to We Are Number Two, and the win went to Fill Stick! Congrats!

Until next time,

~ Chad

Next week’s first category:  “Donnie Darko”

Tilted Kilt in Frederick, MD

A bunch of new teams turned this week’s game into a slugfest, with teams fighting it out to reach the podium. That included using some strange… tactics?… like trying to bet negative points, and turning in upside down answers.  The inmates were running the asylum this week.  In the end, the podium was locked in long before the final, after an impressive performance by our perennial powerhouse.  Your top three teams:

FireFlies in Alexandria, VA

Seven teams came to show off their trivia knowledge tonight, including two new ones brave enough to challenge our regulars.  Welcome!  Round 1 was a rough start for about half our teams when they could not identify the Rage Against the Machine album from its cover description.  From there it was mostly just the two-point bonuses that were missed, leading to only slightly less than perfect scores.  Round 2 saw our toughest question of the night, with only two teams correctly naming Coca Cola as using the “Dynamic Ribbon” as opposed to many other teams’ guess – Pabst Blue Ribbon.  And while no team got a perfect score on the half time puzzle, the majority got at least 17 correct.

The third question of Round 3 was the toughest of the round, as we asked for a video game about anthropomorphic amphibians and as a bonus, which company created the game.  One team even boasted they were proud to NOT know the answers of “BattleToads” and Rare.  Round 4 featured the toughest bonus question of the night, with not one team able to name both Sam Cooke as the singer of Chain Gang and The Pretenders as performers of “Back on the Chain Gang”.  First and second place kept flip flopping throughout the night, but in the end winners were as follows:

First Place:  Einhorn is Finkle, Finkle is Einhorn

Second Place:  Bowling Green First Responders

Third Place:  Dustin Hoffman’s Pants

Next week’s first category:  Baldwin Brothers not named Alec

See you next Tuesday!

~ Kate

Shuckin’ Shack in Frederick, MD

Dearest Shuckers (of which there were many variations): This. Venue. Is. Great.

Pour House Trivia’s Inaugural Night at Shuckin’ Shack  in Frederick, MD was a blast!  We invited new teams to the fold, and even entertained a couple veterans.  Most proud am I of our third place finishers tonight, who were both new and a two-person-only team.  They trailed most of the night, but in the end came through to find the money!  No particular question posed a problem for all teams; instead, everyone either knew something or didn’t; and it was a common trait.  That being said, team Donner Party (for all the morbidity that evokes) were consistent butt-kickers.

I am so happy to be your new host at this, Pour House Trivia’s newest venue in Frederick.  I can’t wait to see you all again, and for you to spread the word: this place rocks for trivia!  Here are tonight’s top finishers:

First Place:  Donner Party (winners of an extra $50 CASH prize!)

Second Place:  Mother Shuckers

Third Place:  Carolina Reapers

(Among other references to the venue, we also had the “Shuck Me Raw”.  I sense a trend.)

Until next week (I can’t wait!).  Fair Winds and Following Seas…

~ Chief

Next week’s first category:  1990’s Films (not this one)

Primanti Brothers in Hagerstown, MD

Introducing Pour House Trivia’s latest venue, Primanti Brothers at the Valley Mall in Hagerstown!  First off, I want to say thank you to some familiar teams for coming out and making this night a success.  After a few technical difficulties (which will be solved by next week!), we had a great game of trivia.  Even the serving staff was trying to answer the questions.

The first half was pretty close until the half time puzzle page, when Give Us Your Beer Money shot into a second-half lead which they never relinquished.  They answered correctly on the final question to claim first place, as well as  $50 in cold, hard cash.  The Arrondissements of Ouagadougou (Heretoforeafter known as AoO) stayed close and clinched second, wih FNQ taking the third spot.

I also want to welcome the new teams: Delaware’s a New Jersey and Pizzagate! I hope we see you all again next Tuesday at Primanti Brothers in Hagerstown!

~ Sean

Next week’s first category:  Pittsburgh Steelers Super Bowl Losses