Pope & Faith at Thursday Trivia!

Eighteen venues played host to Thursday’s Pour House Trivia game, doing so for a total crowd of 211 rough and ready squads.

FIRST ROUND:

The first regular question on Thursday proved to carry with it the most difficult bonus ask of the night. This was the wagering question:

• In March of last year, a ship ran aground in which Egyptian waterway that opened exactly 153 years ago today?

Getting the Suez Canal right was an easy task, but naming the ship itself for bonus points wasn’t so simple: while the company involved is named Ever Green, the ship is called the Ever Given. Only 15% of teams figured that part out for two extra points. The toughest wagering query in this round came two questions later:

• Which American distillery now offers its flagship product in honey and maple varieties, and has also introduced a line of fruit-flavored liqueurs including the black cherry flavored Red Stag?

Just under half of the field named Jim Beam to get their points.  Seven teams secured a perfect score after one round.

SECOND ROUND:

Three songs with stormy titles were provided in the night’s audio question, with teams asked to name the musical act for each of them: Stevie Ray Vaughan (Texas Flood), Garth Brooks (The Thunder Rolls), and Rihanna (Umbrella). An MLB question about the Cleveland Guardians was the trickiest bonus chance in the round, and 23% of teams earned those extra two points by naming the team’s current home stadium, Progressive Field. Following that question came the hardest wagering opportunity on Thursday:

• Winning the 2009 Tony Award for Best Musical, which production featuring music from Elton John was based on a film starring Jamie Bell in the title role?

That production was the musical adaptation of Billy Elliot, named correctly by 24% of the field. Great Scott! This round’s perfectos were earned by Scott’s Tots (Belly Love) and Scotty Doesn’t Know (Solace Brewing).

HALFTIME:

Famous American homes (such as the Biltmore Estate and Fallingwater) and NHL teams with at least four Stanley Cup titles were the subjects du jour on Thursday’s halftime sheet. On average, teams scored 14.4 points out of 20, but 12 went all the way to a perfect halftime score. At the halftime break, these teams ranked the highest:

• Potent Potables (Aslin): 89
• The Gang Plays Bar Trivia (Steinhardt): 89
• Scott’s Tots (Belly Love): 88
• Mad Facts: Query Road (Solace Brewing): 87
• Washington Foreskins (Loudoun Kitchen): 87

THIRD ROUND:

The second half of play started with questions about the Air Force Academy college football team and author Mark Twain. The roughest question in this round came midway through, a three-parter on film director Martin Scorsese for his 80th birthday in which a little less than half of our teams earned wagering credit and 23% got bonus points for getting all three parts right. After that, we sharpened knives on the whetstone and explored the Japanese islands of Hokkaido and Honshu. A game-high seven perfect scores were recorded in this round.

FOURTH ROUND:

Twenty-one teams secured all six points with a correct guess of piranha in this game’s 6-4-2. Round 4 kicked off with the second half’s most difficult wagering question:

• Which mononymous male singer recorded seven different songs which reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 during the decade of the 2000s, the most of any musical act?

About 30% of the field were right to name Usher, while 17% got bonus credit for knowing his hit song Yeah! spent 12 weeks at #1 on the Hot 100. Other topics in this round included the 180-degree difference between the freezing and boiling points on the Fahrenheit temperature scale and the God of War video game series which recently released a new game, subtitled Ragnarok. Your fourth-round foursome of perfect teams were Mad Facts: Query Road (Solace Brewing), Know Nothings (Bear Brick Oven), Potent Potables (Aslin), and The Gang Plays Bar Trivia (Steinhardt). Only one question separated our teams from Thursday trivia immortality, with these teams holding the advantage:

• Potent Potables (Aslin): 163
• The Gang Plays Bar Trivia (Steinhardt): 163
• Washington Foreskins (Loudoun Kitchen): 162
• Horse Tornado (Belly Love): 160
• FOUR TEAMS TIED WITH 159 POINTS

FINAL QUESTION (61.9% success rate):

• The calendar currently used by most of the modern world was implemented by a 16^th century Pope bearing which name?

The namesake of the Gregorian calendar, that man was Pope Gregory (specifically, Gregory XIII).  Four teams wrapped up a Perfect 21 game on this evening: Scott’s Tots (Belly Love), Mad Facts: Query Road (Solace Brewing), Great Heathen Army (Brewery Fire), and Potent Potables (Aslin). These teams were the final Thursday leaders:

• Potent Potables (Aslin): 175
• Mad Facts: Query Road (Solace Brewing): 171
• Scotty Doesn’t Know (Solace Brewing): 171
• Alien Bounty Hunters (Aslin): 171
• Vapors (Mile 20): 169
• Horse Tornado (Belly Love): 168
• Scott’s Tots (Belly Love): 167
• YOLO Swaggins (Crooked Run): 166
• Quarter Century (Crooked Run): 165
• FIVE TEAMS TIED WITH 164 POINTS

NOTE: ALL GAMES ARE OFF NEXT THURSDAY (NOV. 24) FOR THE THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY. HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

THURSDAY’S WINNERS:

Smoketown Brewing Station in Brunswick, MD: Ask Me Know Questions  (FIRST CATEGORY ON DEC. 1: German Names for Animals)

Michaux Brew in Waynesboro, PA: Suspect Tuna  (FIRST CATEGORY ON DEC. 1: Triple 50/50: Chris Rock or Will Smith?)

Champion Billiards in Frederick, MD: Scared Money Don’t Make Money  (FIRST CATEGORY ON DEC. 1: Curacao (island))

Loudoun Kitchen and Bar in Leesburg, VA: Washington Foreskins  (FIRST CATEGORY ON DEC. 1: Twin Peaks)

Olde Mother Brewing in Frederick, MD: Corn in the USA  (FIRST CATEGORY ON DEC. 1: Female Human Anatomy)

Belly Love Brewing in Purcellville, VA: Horse Tornado  (FIRST CATEGORY ON DEC. 1: House, M.D.)

Solace Brewing in Sterling, VA: Mad Facts: Query Road  (FIRST CATEGORY ON DEC. 1: Pretty Woman (film))

Brewery Fire in Taneytown, MD: Great Heathen Army  (FIRST CATEGORY ON DEC. 1: John Hughes Films)

Fourscore Beer Co. in Gettysburg, PA: Lucky Number Seven  (FIRST CATEGORY ON DEC. 1: Steely Dan (AUDIO))

Crooked Run in Sterling, VA: YOLO Swaggins  (FIRST CATEGORY ON DEC. 1: Succession)

Solace Outpost in Falls Church, VA: Ohio Sucks  (FIRST CATEGORY ON DEC. 1: Cryptids)

Interchange Tiki Bar in Williamsport, MD: Gluten Intolerant  (FIRST CATEGORY ON DEC. 1: Spanish Transition to Democracy)

Bear Brick Oven Pizza in Silver Spring, MD: Know Nothings  (FIRST CATEGORY ON DEC. 1: Dungeons & Dragons)

Preston’s Pub in Manassas Park, VA: Bazinga  (FIRST CATEGORY ON DEC. 1: Cajun Cooking)

Aslin Beer Co in Alexandria, VA: Potent Potables  (FIRST CATEGORY ON DEC. 1: Syrian Rebel Groups)

Kalypso’s Sports Tavern in Reston, VA: Bad Rhino  (FIRST CATEGORY ON DEC. 1: New Zealand)

Steinhardt Brewing in Frederick, MD: The Gang Plays Bar Trivia  (FIRST CATEGORY ON DEC. 1: Czech Beer)

Mile 20 at the Breeze in Herndon, VA: Vapors  (FIRST CATEGORY ON DEC. 1: World War II Aircraft)

Comus Inn in Dickerson, MD: Fresh Meats  (FIRST CATEGORY ON DEC. 1: English Premier League)

Mark’s Pub in Falls Church, VA: What About Dave?  (FIRST CATEGORY ON DEC. 1: 1783 Treaty of Paris)