Once I Was Afraid, I Was Petrified of Thursday Trivia…

Thursday night’s game of Pour House Trivia featured a masterful performance by one of our powerhouse Virginia teams.  Overall, we welcomed 108 teams across 15 venues.

FIRST ROUND:

Thursday’s game opened with a three-part question in which each answer ended with the letters ‘I-O-N’.  While a majority of our teams picked up two bonus points on this question, the next two bonus questions were far from easy.  First, we asked our teams for the Greek name of the hybrid creature that was once found in the logo for Air France.  Only seven teams gave us the correct response of the hippocampus:

The first round closed with a question concerning poet Emily Dickinson, with 13% of the field tacking on two bonus points by knowing that ‘immortality’ is the longest word in the poem “Because I could not stop for death”.  Thanks to these bonus questions, only three teams earned a perfect first round score: Castle Greyskull (Quincy’s), Dave Martinez School of Management (Flower Hill), and Brother of Menelaus (Fish Market).

SECOND ROUND:

Thursday’s audio question featured three songs whose titles include adverbs: “Suddenly I See” by KT Tunstall, “Accidentally In Love” by Counting Crows, and “Faithfully” by Journey.  We continued with questions concerning Texas A&M University, the film “Happy Gilmore”, and these two MLB players who remind us that star athletes come in all shapes and sizes:

We closed Thursday’s first half with its most difficult wagering question:

–> Which five-letter adjective links a New Mexico locale where the first nuclear weapon was detonated, an inlet of the Barents Sea off northern Russia, and the main branch of the River Nile which joins the Blue Nile?

Only 31% of our teams gave us the correct answer of White (White Sands, White Sea, White Nile), with just eight teams also earning two bonus points by knowing that the White Nile joins the Blue Nile in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum.  Five teams swept the second round: Fan Club (Quincy’s), Breadsticks (Quincy’s), Cheeky Bastards (Cushwa), Dave Martinez School of Management (Flower Hill), and Brother of Menelaus (Fish Market).

HALFTIME:

The historic popularity of female baby names was the featured topic on Thursday’s halftime page.  Falling on the more difficult side, this page yielded an average score of just 13.4 points, with just two teams coming away with a perfect score: 99th Precinct (Smoketown) and Bushwhackers (Fish Market).  Here is Thursday’s halftime leaderboard:

• Brother of Menelaus (Fish Market):  90
• Dave Martinez School of Management (Flower Hill):  89
• 99th Precinct (Smoketown):  86
• Breadsticks (Quincy’s):  86
• Tuna Noodle Casserole (Guido’s):  84
• Slapsgiving (Cushwa):  84

THIRD ROUND:

Thursday’s third round topics included Wikileaks, the many uses of lemongrass, the European region of Transylvania, and this cartoon character:

In an odd twist, Thursday’s third round was by far the easiest of the night, as 14 teams recorded a perfect score of 36 points.

FOURTH ROUND:

After a quick discussion of NFL MVPs in the 6-4-2 question, we began Thursday’s final round with the most difficult wagering and bonus question of the second half:

–> A natural disaster in 1906 forced the 1908 Olympics to be moved from the originally planned location of Rome, Italy to a new city.

Earning wagering points for identifying the disaster or the eventual host of  the 1908 Olympics, only 21% of our teams knew at least one of the two correct answers of a volcanic eruption (Mount Vesuvius) or London, with just nine teams earning bonus points by both correct answers.  Later, we looked at the song “A Thousand Miles” by Vanessa Carlton, the California King bed, and this U.S. state flag:

Thanks to the first question, Brother of Menelaus (Fish Market) notched the only perfect score of Thursday’s final round.  This marked the third instance during Season XIX in which a team posted four perfect rounds in one night.  These were your highest scoring Thursday teams heading into the final question:

• Brother of Menelaus (Fish Market):  168
• Dave Martinez School of Management (Flower Hill):  161
• North Country (Quincy’s):  156
• 99th Precinct (Smoketown):  155
• Tuna Noodle Casserole (Guido’s):  154

THURSDAY’S FINAL QUESTION (26.4% success rate):

–> The Grammy Award for Best Disco Recording was first awarded in 1980, but because of a backlash against disco, the Academy discontinued the category before the next ceremony.  Perhaps ironically, what was the only song to win this now-defunct Grammy Award?

The most popular answer to the final question was “Stayin’ Alive” by The Bee Gees.  But since that song was released in 1977, it would have been ineligible for a Grammy Award in 1980.  Just over one-quarter of the field responded correctly with the disco anthem “I Will Survive” by Gloria Gaynor.  Congratulations to Brother of Menelaus (Fish Market), who posted the only Perfect 21 on Thursday night.  Missing two points on the difficult halftime page kept this team from recording its first perfect game.  These were your highest scoring teams at the close of Thursday’s game:

• Brother of Menelaus (Fish Market):  180
• North Country (Quincy’s):  166
• Breadsticks (Quincy’s): 165
• Tuna Noodle Casserole (Guido’s):  162
• Unatheltico Madrid (Guido’s):  161
• Gryffindorks (Beef ‘O’ Brady’s):  158
• Lowered Expectations (Quincy’s):  157
• Obstructionists (Olde Mother):  157
• Smarty Pants (Beef ‘O’ Brady’s):  156
• 99th Precinct (Smoketown):  155
• Where’s Len? (Belly Love):  154
• Your Mom (Loudoun Kitchen):  154

THURSDAY’S WINNERS:

Quincy’s Bar and Grille in Gaithersburg, MD:  North Country   (Next week’s first category: World War II Pacific Theater)

Champion Billiards in Frederick, MD:  Vitrifiers   (Next week’s first category: Cosmonauts)

Loudoun Kitchen and Bar in Leesburg, VA:  Your Mom   (Next week’s first category: 1980s Baltimore Orioles)

Smoketown Brewing Station in Brunswick, MD:  99th Precinct   (Next week’s first category: Classic Science Fiction Novels)

Beef ‘O’ Brady’s in Frederick, MD:  Gryffindorks    (Next week’s first category: “Captain Marvel”)

Olde Mother Brewing in Frederick, MD:  Obstructionists   (Next week’s first category: Medical Conditions)

Belly Love Brewing in Purcellville, VA:  Where’s Len?   (Next week’s first category: Boy Scouts)

Cushwa Brewing in Williamsport, MD:  Big Brown   (Next week’s first category: Kix – band)

The Grille at Flower Hill in Gaithersburg, MD:  Dave Martinez School of Management   (Next week’s first category: Kacey Musgraves)

Dawg House in Waynesboro, PA:  50 Shades of Grey Matter   (Next week’s first category: Jean-Luc Picard)

The Derby Restaurant in New Market, MD:  Crazy Cat People   (Next week’s first category: Jimmy Buffett Songs NOT on “Songs You Know By Heart”)

Right Around the Corner in St. Petersburg, FL:  There Goes the Gayborhood   (Next week’s first category: Texas History)

Fish Market Restaurant in Alexandria, VA:  Brother of Menelaus   (Next week’s first category: “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” – 1990 film)

Mark’s Pub in Falls Church, VA:  Thankful Dead   (Next week’s first category: “World of Warcraft”)

Guido’s in Frederick, MD:  Tuna Noodle Casserole   (Next week’s first category: Jon Sings TLC)