Out With the Old, In With the New…

With an abbreviated schedule over the New Year’s Day weekend, we’re covering both Saturday’s and Monday’s games in this blog post (spanning over two years!).  We welcomed 28 teams across four venues:

ROUND 1:

The most difficult first round question of the weekend was asked on Saturday night:

–> Which men’s track event which is typically the final individual event to be contested at each Summer Olympiad?

Only three of our 14 Saturday teams earned points with the men’s marathon.  Two of those three teams also tacked on two bonus points by naming the last American to win this event.  It’s been just over 40 years since Frank Shorter took home the gold in Montreal:

On Monday night, we stumped half of our teams by asking for the most populous U.S. state whose postal code consists of two consonants.  A few of our competitors forgot that everything is bigger in Texas (TX), as it is the second-most populous state in the country behind California.  On Saturday, Uncle Jack (Belles’) notched the only perfect score of he first round, while Leprechauns (Greene Turtle) and Master Blaster (Bushwaller’s) matched the feat on Monday night.

ROUND 2:

Each of our audio questions dealt with a review of 2017 pop culture.  Our Saturday teams were asked to identify trailers from the recent films “Battle of the Sexes”, “Get Out”, and “Dunkirk”, while our Monday teams had an easier time recognizing the voices of celebrities who hosted “Saturday Night Live” in 2017: Ryan Gosling, Aziz Ansari, and Gal Gadot.  Saturday’s second round also included a question about this word that is not just used to classify animals:

Monday’s teams closed their first half by attempting to name the two songs with ONE-WORD titles that reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart for the Beatles in 1965.  The Monday field was well-versed in the hits of the Fab Four, as the majority of our teams earned bonus points with these two songs:

With correct answers on all three bonus questions, Master Blaster (Bushwaller’s) doubled up with another perfect score, while Veruca Pepper (Bushwaller’s) also notched 36 points in Monday’s second round.

HALFTIME:

Across the weekend, we covered ‘zoological’ film titles, famous paintings, and the work of actresses Natalie Portman and Jennfier Garner.  Overall, five teams recorded perfect scores of 20 points on our halftime round, with the average score reaching 16.7 points.  These were our top scores at the halftime break:

• Master Blaster (Bushwaller’s):  92
• Veruca Pepper (Bushwaller’s):  89
• Give Us Your Beer Money (Greene Turtle):  88
• Uncle Jack (Belles’):  87
• FOUR TEAMS TIED WITH 86 POINTS

ROUND 3:

Monday’s second half opened with a simple (but difficult) question on the topic of World Geography:

–> What is the only country to border BOTH Pakistan and Turkey?

Only four out of our 14 Monday teams earned points with this response:

On Saturday, many of our teams struggled to name the duo of young singers who teamed up on the recent hit song named for Marvin Gaye:

After hearing this answer, the most popular topic of conversation was “Who the hell is Charlie Puth?”, but one team that did NOT have that conversation was Arrondissements of Ouagadougou  (Pretzel & Pizza Creations), who swept Saturday’s third round with a perfect score.

ROUND 4:

Our most difficult wagering question of the weekend (excluding Saturday’s final question) was asked in the category of Academy Awards Hodge Podge:

–> Name any two of the three former cast members of “Saturday Night Live” to have hosted the Academy Awards telecast.

Though he was a frequent host of the show, Steve Martin was NEVER a cast member of “Saturday Night Live”.  With many of our teams missing that guess, only two teams earned their wagers with any two of the three correct answers: Billy Crystal, Chris Rock, or Chevy Chase.  Here are your top scores heading into the final question:

• Veruca Pepper (Bushwaller’s):  160
• Give Us Your Beer Money (Greene Turtle):  155
• Master Blaster (Bushwaller’s):  150
• Del Boca Vista (Bushwaller’s):  144
• Arrondissements of Ouagadougou (Pretzel & Pizza Creations):  140

SATURDAY’S FINAL QUESTION (0.0% success rate):

–> In addition to Susan Fowler, Adama Iwu, and Isabel Pascual, name the TWO women whose faces appear on the Time Magazine Person of the Year cover for 2017.

Needless to say, we thought the cover of this issue made more of an impact on our players, but none of our 14 Saturday teams were able to pick up points by naming both Ashley Judd and Taylor Swift:

MONDAY’S FINAL QUESTION (33.3% success rate):

–> This Caribbean nation named for a Catholic saint is the only country on Earth with a Bible depicted on its national flag.  Name this country of about ten million residents.

Yes, it’s tough to see The Bible on this flag, but with the other clues provided, four of our Monday teams turned in the correct response of the Dominican Republic:

Non of our teams earned the Perfect 21 this weekend by correctly answering all wagering questions.  Here are your top overall scores from the last two nights of trivia:

• Veruca Pepper (Bushwaller’s):  163
• Master Blaster (Bushwaller’s):  162
• Give Us Your Beer Money (Greene Turtle):  155
• Arrondissements of Ouagadougou (Pretzel & Pizza Creations):  133
• Del Boca Vista (Bushwaller’s):  132
• Uncle Jack (Belles’):  129
• Irish Mafia (Pretzel & Pizza Creations):  126
• Leprechauns (Greene Turtle):  126
• Smarty Pants (Belles’):  124

UPCOMING WINNER’S CHOICE CATEGORIES:

Vanish Brewery in Leesburg, VA  (Friday, Jan. 5):  Early 2000s Pop Punk

Belles’ Sports Bar in Frederick, MD  (Saturday, Jan. 6):  Body Odor

Pretzel & Pizza Creations in Hagerstown, MD  (Saturday, Jan. 6):  International Rivers

McAuley’s Pub in St. Petersburg, FL  (Sunday, Jan. 7):  Cultural Marxism