PHT World Series XX Recap!
The 20th edition of the Pour House Trivia World Series welcomed 105 teams to Thurmont Event Complex. Which of our powerhouse teams would walk away with $2,000 in cash?
FIRST ROUND:
Sunday’s game began with a look at the namesakes of U.S. states, the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and homophones for the names of national capital cities. The most difficult wagering question of the opening round was asked in the category of Change a Letter:
–> If you change one letter among these two words, you’ll go from the last name of the anthropomorphic title character voiced by Michael J. Fox in a 1999 film to the name of the dot above a lower case ‘i’ or ‘j’.
Slightly more than half of the field answered correctly with Little (as in “Stuart Little”) and Tittle. We closed the first round with a visual question, asking our teams to process a set of three linguistic maps. Sixteen teams began their championship game by posting a perfect first round score of 36 points.
SECOND ROUND:
Sunday’s audio question featured three musical acts with ‘watery’ names, as we listened to Frank Ocean, Johnny Rivers, and the group Emerson, Lake & Palmer. We played Last Word / First Word with the correct response of Star of David Ortiz before discussing the clipper ship Cutty Sark, the purchase and (and re-sale) of the website Tumblr, and the most prevalent American restaurant chains whose names begin with the letter ‘J’. Nine teams posted a perfect score in the second round.
HALFTIME:
To commemorate the end of Season XX, our championship halftime page depicted notable athletes who donned the uniform number 20, while the bottom half included ten general knowledge questions about the number itself. The final two questions on the page were by far the most difficult, as only a handful of teams remembered the film “20 Feet from Stardom” and the classic rock song “Twentieth Century Fox” from The Doors. Several teams posted 19 points, but Hipster Fashion Consultants recorded the only perfect score during Sunday’s halftime page, as the overall average reached 14.2 points. These were your highest scoring World Series teams after one half of play:
- Full Bullpen: 91
- Dave Martinez School of Management: 89
- Power Vacuum: 89
- Kitten Mittens: 89
- Van Buren Boys: 88
- Killer Snails: 88
- Notch Eight: 87
- FIVE TEAMS TIED WITH 86 POINTS
THIRD ROUND:
Appropriately, we saved the most treacherous questions for the second half. Collectively, the three bonus questions from the third round were among the most difficult in World Series history, yielding an average success rate of just 3.5%. To start the third round, about half of the field earned wagering points by recognizing descriptions of three people who share the last name Whitman. Unfortunately, none of our teams picked up two bonus points by knowing that Debra was the first name of the short-lived love interest of Spider-Man. After a quick discussion of the agricultural process of ginning, we asked this question concerning current U.S. Senators:
–> The current U.S. Senators from Delaware, Chris Coons and Tom Carper, have last names that begin with the same letter. Identify either one of the other two states whose U.S. Senators share this distinction.
Nearly half of the field earned wagering points with either of the two correct answers: Texas (Ted Cruz / John Cornyn) and Illinois (Dick Durbin / Tammy Duckworth). Six teams tacked on two bonus points with both correct responses. The third stanza closed with the most difficult wagering question of the game:
–> Since the year 2000, three films with commas in their official titles have been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture: a foreign language film released in 2000, a historical drama released in 2005, and a drama released in 2017. Identify any two of these three films.
Only 16% of our teams gave us any two of these three correct answers: “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”, “Good Night, and Good Luck”, and “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”. Five teams snagged the final two bonus points of the round with all three correct answers. Needless to say, we did not see any perfect third round scores at Sunday’s World Series.
FOURTH ROUND:
After the 6-4-2 question discussed the influence of preacher Billy Graham, we were ready for the final round of play. Unfortunately, things did not go according to plan during the first question, so we asked Gregori Rasputin to pinch hit for the Sundance Kid. Only 13% of the field scored two bonus points by knowing the Christopher Lee portrayed the “Mad Monk” in a 1966 film. Later, we visited Iguazu Falls in South America, discussed the music of Sting, and learned about a unique quality pertaining to the number 18. The final round of our championship game closed with a Three Clues question:
CLUE 1: Drafted in 1948, he played for the San Francisco 49ers, New York Giants, and Baltimore Colts.
CLUE 2: A Hall of Fame inductee in 1971, he retired in 1964 with NFL career records in passing yards, passing touchdowns, and games played.
Exactly one-quarter of our teams were bold enough to earn two bonus points with the early correct answer of Y. A. Tittle. That’s So Clavin recorded the only perfect score of Sunday’s final round. Heading into the final question, the leaderboard included these teams:
- Full Bullpen: 165
- Dave Martinez School of Management: 161
- Hipster Fashion Consultants: 158
- Kitten Mittens: 155
- That’s So Clavin: 154
- Power Vacuum: 153
- Killer Snails: 153
- It’s Mueller Time: 152
- Fawn Liebowitz’s Pallbearers: 151
- Bizarre, Interesting, Essential: 151
FINAL QUESTION (12.3% success rate):
–> Debuting in 1954 and airing for 19 seasons, this is the longest-running American TV show in history to have been adapted from a novel. For your wager, name this TV show, based on a 1940 novel that also spawned a series of seven films.
Fourteen teams came home to the correct answer of “Lassie”. In a thrilling finish, we awarded our championship trophy to a first time winner, as Kitten Mittens responded correctly on this question, jumping three spots in the final standings and earning a one-point victory. Though several teams had answered each of the first 20 wagering questions correctly, none of them could seal the deal on the final question to record a Perfect 21.
Thank you to all of our teams for more than ten years of loyalty. Good luck in the new season! Here is the winner’s gallery followed by the final standings from PHT World Series XX:
| 1 | Kitten Mittens | 167 |
| 2 | That’s So Clavin | 166 |
| 3 | Killer Snails | 165 |
| 4 | Notch Eight | 160 |
| 5 | Great Heathen Army | 158 |
| 6 | Beau Khaki | 157 |
| T-7 | Full Bullpen | 156 |
| T-7 | Bucket of B.S. | 156 |
| 9 | Van Buren Boys | 154 |
| 10 | Bailey’s Buddies | 153 |
| 11 | Dave Martinez School of Management | 151 |
| 12 | How Did I Get Here? | 148 |
| 13 | Hipster Fashion Consultants | 146 |
| 14 | Power Vacuum | 141 |
| 15 | It’s Mueller Time | 140 |
| T-16 | Fawn Liebovitz’s Pallbearers | 139 |
| T-16 | Bizarre, Interesting, Essential | 139 |
| T-18 | Hungry Hungry Georgian Hippos | 137 |
| T-18 | Gotta Have ‘Em | 137 |
| T-18 | Half-Nelsons | 137 |
| 21 | Slapsgiving | 136 |
| T-22 | Fat Kids Are Hard to Kidnap | 133 |
| T-22 | Duck Dodgers | 133 |
| T-24 | Five Dollar Dissin’ Terry | 132 |
| T-24 | Fan Club | 132 |
| 26 | George Washington’s Camel | 131 |
| T-27 | Stink Floyd | 130 |
| T-27 | Offbeats | 130 |
| 29 | Mack Attack | 129 |
| T-30 | Drunk Savants | 128 |
| T-30 | Breadsticks | 128 |
| T-32 | Jockish | 127 |
| T-32 | Flight Level Awesome | 127 |
| T-34 | Sexual Chocolate (MD) | 125 |
| T-34 | Quiztery, Inc. | 125 |
| 36 | Dad Bods | 124 |
| 37 | Tokyo Tentacle Storm | 123 |
| T-38 | Blood Legion | 122 |
| T-38 | Vitrifiers | 122 |
| T-40 | Balls Out | 121 |
| T-40 | Harsh Reality | 121 |
| T-42 | Irish Beer Mafia | 120 |
| T-42 | D.C. Swampers | 120 |
| T-42 | Uranus Fly Trap | 120 |
| T-45 | Comfortably Dum | 119 |
| T-45 | Crystal Methodists | 119 |
| T-45 | Zambookie | 119 |
| T-45 | Indians | 119 |
| T-49 | Pi | 118 |
| T-49 | Southpaw Fish | 118 |
| T-51 | Morgan Station | 117 |
| T-51 | Slime Puppies | 117 |
| 53 | Polys | 116 |
| 54 | Dino Amare | 114 |
| T-55 | Castle Greyskull | 113 |
| T-55 | Brain Freeze | 113 |
| T-55 | Just Good Enough | 113 |
| T-58 | Mad Facts: Query Road | 112 |
| T-58 | Quality Guesswork | 112 |
| 60 | Hard Boiled Eggs and Nuts | 111 |
| T-61 | Pearls of Wisdom | 110 |
| T-61 | Weasigators | 110 |
| T-61 | Beer Winners | 110 |
| T-61 | Eugoogilizers | 110 |
| 65 | Sexual Chocolate (VA) | 109 |
| T-66 | Adult Education | 108 |
| T-66 | Scott’s Tots | 108 |
| T-68 | See You Next Thursday | 107 |
| T-68 | Washington Foreskins | 107 |
| T-70 | Fat Thor | 106 |
| T-70 | Rural Jurors | 106 |
| T-72 | Think, McFly, Think | 105 |
| T-72 | I Say You He Dead | 105 |
| T-72 | Punslingers | 105 |
| T-75 | Wiley Coyotes | 104 |
| T-75 | Four Shots and Seven Beers Ago | 104 |
| T-75 | Just Joe | 104 |
| T-78 | Cultured Heathens | 103 |
| T-78 | Slightly Agitated | 103 |
| T-78 | Thankful Dead | 103 |
| T-78 | We Thought This Was Speed Dating | 103 |
| 82 | Game Time Decision | 101 |
| T-83 | Gong Gong and the Butt Demons | 100 |
| T-83 | Archived | 100 |
| T-85 | Why Not Zoidberg? | 99 |
| T-85 | Trivia Newton John | 99 |
| T-85 | Farmer Daughter’s Bakery | 99 |
| T-85 | Slow Trivia Movement | 99 |
| T-85 | Peele and Eat | 99 |
| 90 | Pho Q | 98 |
| 91 | Chickens with Dickens | 96 |
| T-92 | Smarty Pants | 95 |
| T-92 | Special Eds | 95 |
| 94 | Pen Is Mightier | 94 |
| 95 | Hunchbacks of Notre Gone | 93 |
| 96 | Tough Kitties | 91 |
| 97 | The Bar | 88 |
| T-98 | Anything But Sports | 83 |
| T-98 | F.U. Darts | 83 |
| 100 | Rum Ham | 82 |
| 101 | Bald Bols | 67 |
| 102 | Five Heads, One Brain | 63 |
| 103 | Georges on York | 59 |
| 104 | Rumpleforeskin Grinder | 42 |
| 105 | Drunk Lushes | 34 |