Monday Trivia is Elective!

The first Monday of Season XXII was the highlight of the night at thirteen locations around the area, at which a total of 137 teams took part. We also welcomed Ellie’s Pub in Winchester, VA back from a short hiatus!

FIRST ROUND:

Round one was an easy ride for Monday’s teams. They navigated topics such as John Glenn‘s feat as the first American to orbit Earth, 2-time Super Bowl-winning tight end Travis Kelce‘s upcoming SNL hosting gig, and the 80s comedy film Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. In all, 29 teams recorded a perfect score in this round.

SECOND ROUND:

For the audio question on Monday, teams heard a trio of songs and were asked to name the musical act, each of which had an animal in the name; we listened to clips from Whitesnake, Alien Ant Farm, and the Pussycat Dolls. After questions on the culinary bisque and theatre’s The Crucible, we took a trip to physics class:

• Which scientific concept is calculated by multiplying the mass and velocity of an object?

The corresponding equation is p = mv, in which p stands for momentum; just over a third of the field got that right, making it the least successful wagering question in Monday’s first half. As for the trickiest bonus chance before halftime, that came next on this query:

• Which advertising character has first and middle names of Horatio Magellan?

While a significant number of teams knew that character is Cap’n Crunch, just 5.8% of teams named either Quaker Oats or Pepsi as the company that owns the rights to the character. One of those teams, How Did I Get Here? (Quincy’s), earned the only perfect score of the round.

HALFTIME:

At halftime, teams had to identify television shows from photos of their restaurants (such as Monk’s in Seinfeld and the Honker Burger in Doug), then match famous battles to the corresponding war. Our teams were pretty successful on this one, with an average team score of 18.3 points and 26 perfect squads. One team hit perfection up to this point in the game:

• How Did I Get Here? (Quincy’s): 92
• Hipster Fashion Consultants (DRP): 90
• Get Off My Lawn (Quincy’s): 90
• Baby Hippos (DRP): 89
• Legalized Gambling (DRP): 89
• Ten Thousand Dugongs (Ragtime): 89

THIRD ROUND:

The third round featured the hardest wagering question and the most difficult bonus opportunity in Monday’s game. We started with the U2 song Pride (In the Name of Love) but then, once again, a science question proved to be a roadblock:

• When a cell divides into two, each of the new cells is a genetic duplicate of the parent cell. What is the familial term used to refer to these new cells?

Those new cells, daughter cells, were named correctly by 29% of the field. The night’s Three Clues question followed, with teams asked to name a certain word from these offerings:

• In “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” a character with this nickname performs the famous head-bobbing, side-to-side shuffle dance.
• Measured in years, it is the standard length of one term for the Secretary-General of the United Nations.
• This word can be found in a former TV series featuring Neve Campbell.

Just two teams had the word five from the first two clues, receiving bonus points for the feat. We ended the round with questions about Al Capone and John Belushi‘s famous COLLEGE shirt from the film Animal House. Unfortunately, this round had no perfect scores.

FOURTH ROUND:

Eight teams correctly identified Andre the Giant from a single clue about his street art posse to get all six points. Monday’s final round began with a question about the teams involved in the most recent all-Canadian Stanley Cup Finals; just 8.7% of teams got bonus points for knowing both the Montreal Canadiens and Calgary Flames faced off for the Cup in 1989. Later on, a TV question proved to be the round’s toughest:

• At the close of the series 30 Rock, Liz Lemon marries a character portrayed by X-Men actor James Marsden. The name of Marsden’s character is pronounced identically to which 1990s rap duo?

Marsden played Criss Chros, pronounced just like Jump duo Kris Kross. You Had Me at Chester Arthur (Cushwa) had this round’s lone perfect score. These were the top teams before the final question:

• How Did I Get Here? (Quincy’s): 162
• Hipster Fashion Consultants (DRP): 161
• You Had Me at Chester Arthur (Cushwa): 161
• Ten Thousand Dugongs (Ragtime): 159
• H.R. Puff ‘n’ Stuff (DRP): 157

FINAL QUESTION (31.39% success rate):

• Among the eight men who ascended to the office of Commander-in-Chief after the death of a sitting U.S. President, who was the first to subsequently win a Presidential election?

Almost a third of the field correctly named Teddy Roosevelt to notch one more wager in Monday’s game. Once again, we only had one Perfect 21 team: How Did I Get Here? (Quincy’s) provided the right answer for all 21 wagering questions. That group also topped the final overall Monday standings:

• How Did I Get Here? (Quincy’s): 171
• Hipster Fashion Consultants (DRP): 170
• H.R. Puff ‘n’ Stuff (DRP): 169
• You Had Me at Chester Arthur (Cushwa): 167
• Donner Party Planners (Ragtime): 166
• Gong Gong and the Butt Demons (Cushwa): 166
• Killer Snails (Quincy’s): 163
• Worst Case Ontario (DRP): 162
• Oliver’s Army (DRP): 162
• FOUR TEAMS TIED WITH 160 POINTS

MONDAY’S WINNERS:

Ellie’s Pub in Winchester, VA: Ameribrits  (NO GAME NEXT WEEK — FIRST CATEGORY ON MARCH 6: The Beatles)

Clyde’s in Alexandria, VA: Gut Wrenchers  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Nuclear Physics)

Cushwa Brewing in Williamsport, MD: You Had Me at Chester Arthur  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Triple 50/50: U.S. Vice President or Tony Award Winner?)

DRP in Alexandria, VA: Hipster Fashion Consultants  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Rowing Terminology)

Bushwaller’s in Frederick, MD: Five Idiots Walk Into a Bar  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Queens of the Stone Age)

Rockwell Brewery in Frederick, MD: Backstreet’s Back  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: NSYNC)

Mark’s Pub in Falls Church, VA: Fresh Off the U-Haul  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Cybersecurity)

William Jeffrey’s Tavern in Arlington, VA: Dog Park Mafia  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Israeli Defense Forces)

Ragtime in Arlington, VA: Donner Party Planners  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Budget Beer Brands) 

Aslin Beer Co in Herndon, VA: Smartacus  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Cereal)

Quincy’s Bar and Grille in Gaithersburg, MD: How Did I Get Here?  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Jimmy Carter Administration)

Whitlow’s in Washington, DC: Shaw Hoes  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Harry Potter)

Rai’s Pour House in Sterling, VA: NO GAME  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: PBS Children’s Shows)

Il Forno Pizzeria in Frederick, MD: Bass Slappers  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Jimmy Carter)