Monday Trivia Flips a Coin!

Pour House Trivia started the week off strong with a Monday game at 11 venues for a total of 128 teams.

FIRST ROUND:

Monday’s first round was no trouble for our teams, as they cruised through subjects such as 99th-birthday boy Bob Barker, the origins of the film term cinematography, Three Clues about the word pinch, and European NFL hosts London and Munich. Over a quarter of the field ended the opening round with a perfect score, with 37 teams acing this part of the game.

SECOND ROUND:

Teams were asked to listen to three holiday shows and identify the character in each clip; just over a fifth of them earned bonus points for naming all of Cindy Lou Who, Hermey the Elf, and Jacob Marley. Other topics in this round included Fun Dip candy, Les Miserables, and the organic compound known as formaldehyde. Another round with double-digit perfect scores saw 14 teams earn all 36 points.

HALFTIME:

At halftime, players had to identify TV shows from screencaps of their Christmas episodes, then move on to match islands with the independent nations that own them. While the average score was 16.9 points, 11 teams were able to earn all 20 on the page. Multiple teams over 90 points made up the halftime leaderboard:

• Cheddar Biscuits (Mark’s): 92
• Legalized Gambling (DRP): 92
• That’s So Clavin (Cushwa): 91
• Wagering Pi (Cushwa): 91
• Brain Freeze (Quincy’s): 91
• H.R. Puff ‘n’ Stuff (DRP): 91
• Jerk and Thrive (Rockwell): 91

THIRD ROUND:

The second half of Monday’s game started with the hardest bonus try of the night on this wagering question:

• What is the FIRST and LAST name of the author who died less than a year after the publication of Wuthering Heights, her only completed novel?

About 64% of teams named Emily Bronte correctly, but only 7.8% were able to add bonus points for knowing Wuthering Heights was first published under the pen name Ellis Bell. We went to Lake Mead, had a bullish three-parter, and tried some gazpacho before reaching the most difficult wagering question in the third round:

• The fast-paced song I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General first appeared in which comic opera composed by Gilbert and Sullivan?

This question gave teams the decision of either answering early for a two-point bonus or waiting for multiple-choice options; 63% got the answer right at some point for their wager, but 35% named The Pirates of Penzance early enough to get two extra points out of it. The perfect third-round teams were Paddy Wagon (Ellie’s), That’s So Clavin (Cushwa), and I Don’t Know (William Jeffrey’s).

FOURTH ROUND:

Sixteen teams earned all six points on Monday’s 6-4-2, which offered up to three clues about Burger King. The last round of questions hooped it up with recent March Madness men’s champions Kansas and Baylor, spent Christmas in Hollis with Run-DMC, and quoted the holiday film Elf. However, the two toughest wagering queries of Monday’s game showed up back-to-back at the end of this round. First up, a presidential question:

• Who is the only U.S. President to have graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis?

Jimmy Carter was successfully named by 52% of teams. A three-parter about fictional families came next:

• Name the eldest child of each of these fictional TV couples: 1) Tony and Carmela Soprano, 2) Tim and Jill Taylor,                3) Bob and Linda Belcher.

In order, those TV children are Meadow, Brad, and Tina. Wagering points were earned by just over half the field, but just 17% knew all three answers for bonus credit. This was another round with a trio of perfect teams: Cheddar Biscuits (Mark’s), Santos L Halper (Ragtime), and First on First (Aslin). Before the final question was read, these were the top-scoring squads:

• Cheddar Biscuits (Mark’s): 166
• That’s So Clavin (Cushwa): 165
• H.R. Puff ‘n’ Stuff (DRP): 165
• Legalized Gambling (DRP): 164
• Gong Gong and the Butt Demons (Cushwa): 161

FINAL QUESTION (55.5% success rate):

• Which Central American country uses a national currency called the quetzal, which is named for the species of bird depicted on its national flag?

More than half of our teams secured final wagering points with the right answer, Guatemala. A half-dozen teams recorded a Perfect 21 by supplying right answers for each of our wagering questions on Monday. Battles for first at two different venues comprised the high end of Monday’s final scores:

• H.R. Puff ‘n’ Stuff (DRP): 177
• Legalized Gambling (DRP): 176
• That’s So Clavin (Cushwa): 174
• Gong Gong and the Butt Demons (Cushwa): 173
• Cheddar Biscuits (Mark’s): 169
• Satchel of Richards (Rockwell): 169
• Pork Chop Express (DRP): 168
• How Did I Get Here? (Quincy’s): 165
• Brain Freeze (Quincy’s): 164
• Cobra Kai (DRP): 164

MONDAY’S WINNERS:

Ellie’s Pub in Winchester, VA: Paddy Wagon  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Jane Austen)

Cushwa Brewing in Williamsport, MD: That’s So Clavin  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Triple 50/50: Die Hard or Die Hard 2?)

DRP in Alexandria, VA: H.R. Puff ‘n’ Stuff  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation)

Bushwaller’s in Frederick, MD: Pursue This  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: A Christmas Story)

Rockwell Brewery in Frederick, MD: Satchel of Richards  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Georgia Bulldog Quarterbacks)

Mark’s Pub in Falls Church, VA: Cheddar Biscuits  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Jingle All the Way)

William Jeffrey’s Tavern in Arlington, VA: Bread Loaf  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: The Real Housewives of Potomac)

Ragtime in Arlington, VA: Better Late Than Never  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Bowls (dishware)) 

Aslin Beer Co in Herndon, VA: First on First  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Festivus)

Quincy’s Bar and Grille in Gaithersburg, MD: How Did I Get Here?  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: One-Hit Wonders)

Il Forno Pizzeria in Frederick, MD: Bass Slappers  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: What We Do in the Shadows (TV series))