Parachuting Into Wednesday Trivia!

We were up to 19 venues this past Wednesday with Pour House Trivia, and 201 teams turned out to play. That includes games at our two newest locations: Kitzie’s Restaurant in Martinsburg, WV (hosted by Josh) and Augie’s Mussel House in Alexandria, VA (run by Kirk)!

FIRST ROUND:

A relatively breezy opening round on Wednesday had only one hangup, this meaty question:

• While Pepperidge Farm makes cookies and crackers, which other brand owned by Tyson Foods is one of the leading American producers of smoked sausage and kielbasa?

A lot of teams were close (but not close enough) with guesses of Hickory Farms, that Tyson brand is actually Hillshire Farm, which had a success rate of 56%. Other topics in the round included the infamous wardrobe malfunction involving Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake from the Super Bowl 19 years prior, as well as the Rough Riders organized by Teddy Roosevelt who primarily fought in Cuba. There were 29 perfect scores here, the most of any round in this game.

SECOND ROUND:

Teams were asked to start round two by naming three musical acts performing songs with the word wonder in the title (Sam Cooke‘s Wonderful World, John Mayer‘s Your Body is a Wonderland, and Maroon 5‘s Makes Me Wonder). The most difficult wagering question in Wednesday’s first half was a nostalgic trip to early 21st-century MTV:

• Featuring Lauren Conrad and Kristin Cavallari, what is the geographic title of the former MTV reality series subtitled The Real Orange County?
• For a two-point bonus, also name the first series spun off from that show.

While some players thought The Hills was the original series, it was actually the spinoff for bonus points. The Hills was spun off from Laguna Beach; 52% of teams earned wagering points, while exactly one third of the field had the right bonus answer. We also discussed the stegosaurus, 2022 animated film The Bad Guys, and the many countries which border Germany. Perfect scores in this round were reached by 14 teams.

HALFTIME:

African-American Academy Award winners had to be named to earn points on the top half of Wednesday’s halftime page, while the bottom section asked teams to name which fast food chain of each listed pair has more locations worldwide. The average score was down to 13.7 points on this one, with a perfect 20-point effort gained by only two teams! A couple of ties are featured in the halftime intermission scoreboard update:

• Stink Floyd (Belles’): 90
• Fresh Off the U-Haul (Mark’s): 90
• Sexual Chocolate (Memories): 89
• Knocking Puss in Boots (Hops N Shine): 89
• FIVE TEAMS TIED WITH 88 POINTS

THIRD ROUND:

Subjects covered in the third round included current #1-ranked college basketball teams for the men (Purdue) and women (South Carolina), the Soviet Union‘s ousting from the League of Nations, and a book that covered the story of the band Queen. The final question of the round proved to be the night’s toughest:

• Which colorfully-named comedy starring Steve Martin as a gangster in the Witness Protection Program was based on the same true story which inspired Goodfellas?

My Blue Heaven was named by 36% of the field, while 22% added bonus points for knowing Rick Moranis was the second-billed actor in the film. A half-dozen teams achieved perfect scores in this round.

FOURTH ROUND:

Actor (and rockbilly musician) Billy Bob Thornton was named after the first clue by eight teams, each earning all six points in the 6-4-2. A Broadway question kicked off the fourth round:

• Years before Hamilton, Lin-Manuel Miranda won his first Tony Award for which musical named for the northernmost portion of Manhattan?

That theatrical work, In the Heights, was identified by 55% of teams. However, a game-low 9.4% of the field added bonus points for knowing its characters were looking to win a lottery ticket worth exactly $96,000. From there, we tackled topics like the Signet company which is the world’s largest diamond retailer, Three Clues about Michigan, and Jeff Winger’s disbarment on the sitcom Community. This round had perfect scores from Triple Doge (Quinn’s) and Washington Trivia Team (T.J. Stone’s). As we reached the night’s final question, these teams were in the lead:

• The Gang Plays Bar Trivia (Belles’): 162
• Fresh Off the U-Haul (Mark’s): 161
• Sexual Chocolate (Memories): 161
• Stink Floyd (Belles’): 161
• Triple Doge (Quinn’s): 160

FINAL QUESTION (73.63% success rate):

• To capture the movement of this title character’s clothing, animator Glen Keane looked at videos of rap star M.C. Hammer, essentially modeling the character’s movement after the music star. Name that Disney character.

It must have been those parachute pants inspiring the movement of Disney’s Aladdin. This Wednesday’s game featured a quartet of Perfect 21 teams: Sexual Chocolate (Memories), Pterodactyl (Memories), The Gang Plays Bar Trivia (Belles’), and Washington Trivia Team (T.J. Stone’s). These were the night’s final overall scoring leaders:

• The Gang Plays Bar Trivia (Belles’): 162
• Stink Floyd (Belles’): 161
• Sexual Chocolate (Memories): 161
• Fresh Off the U-Haul (Mark’s): 161
• Triple Doge (Quinn’s): 160
• H.R. Puff ‘n’ Stuff (Hops N Shine): 89
• Washington Trivia Team (T.J. Stone’s): 167
• Carpet Stretchers (T.J. Stone’s): 172
• The Legend of Taylor Heinicke (Axes and O’s): 167
• Pterodactyl (Memories): 170

WEDNESDAY’S WINNERS:

Belles’ Sports Bar in Frederick, MD: The Gang Plays Bar Trivia  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Romanov Dynasty)

Memories Charcoal House in Mount Airy, MD: Sexual Chocolate  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: -Isms)

Quinn’s on the Corner in Arlington, VA: Triple Doge  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: The Good Doctor)

GearHouse Brewing in Chambersburg, PA: Those Guys  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: In the Kitchen)

TGI Fridays in Hagerstown, MD: Shirts and Skins  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Hamilton)

Idiom Brewing in Frederick, MD: Tokyo Sex Whale  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Overwatch)

Axes and O’s in Sterling, VA: We Thought This Was Speed Dating  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: World War II Ships)

Hops N Shine in Alexandria, VA: H.R. Puff ‘n’ Stuff  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: The Brady Bunch)

Sully’s Pour House in Herndon, VA: Rusty Anchor  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: The Golden Girls)

T.J. Stone’s in Alexandria, VA: Washington Trivia Team  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Shoresy)

Craftworx Taproom in Gainesville, VA: Three Fifes and a Drum  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: African Geography)

Barstool Sportsbook in Charles Town, WV: Rattle and Roll  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Friends)

Grape Escape in Gaithersburg, MD: Black October  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Friday Night Lights)

Shipgarten in McLean, VA: Tommy Pickles  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Back to the Future)

Thick-N-Thin Brewing in Hagerstown, MD: Cutthroat  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Washington Capitals)

Kitzie’s Restaurant in Martinsburg, WV: Bush Bangers  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Christian Church History)

Celtic House in Arlington, VA: Celtic House Owners  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: 1990s Rap)

Mark’s Pub in Falls Church, VA: Fresh Off the U-Haul  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Chicago-Style Deep Dish Pizza)

Augie’s Mussel House in Alexandria, VA: TB12  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Dog Breeds)