Tuesday night marked the return of Pour House Trivia to the Baltimore area, as we launched Opening Night at Black Eyed Suzie’s in Bel Air!  After a short hiatus, we welcomed back some of our most loyal teams, who were obviously thrilled to get back into the trivia mix.  Meanwhile, our final question provided some interesting finishes: at seven of our venues tonight, exactly ONE team answered the final question correctly, and in five of those seven instances, it was a team that was not winning after round four!  Plenty of come-from-behind victories tonight!  Check out the details below:

TUESDAY’S STATS AND FACTS (104 teams across 14 venues):

–> Highest Overall Score: Wingardium Triviosa (Quincy’s South) with 165

–> Highest Score after Round 4: Wingardium Triviosa with 164

–> Highest First Half Score: Wingardium Triviosa with 88

–> Perfect 21 (correct on all wagers and final): The Other Sarah (Champion Billiards), Einhorn is Finkle (FireFlies), Wingardium Triviosa

–> The corporate mascots theme on our halftime page led to an average score of 16.2, with just four teams (The Other Sarah, Taco Tuesday, The Arrondissements of Ouagadougou, La Quizalabra) scoring 20 points.

–> Likewise, only TWO teams (Capital Hillbillies and Balls Out) scored six points on the 6-4-2 question, by knowing that a first-season episode of “Law & Order” featured guest appearances by BOTH Samuel L. Jackson and Philip Seymour Hoffman.

TUESDAY’S FINAL QUESTION (23.8% success rate):

–> The quarter commemorating which U.S. state features a reverse design that lists four different calendar years: 1804, 1821, 2003, and 2004?  (you’ll find the answer later in this blog)

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Capitol City Brewing in Arlington, VA

Spring is in the air in historic Shirlington, and Tennyson said it best: “In the spring a young man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of [bar trivia]”!  Nine top-notch squads pulled themselves away from the glorious weather to face off over a minefield of brain-busting trivia.  Our players didn’t have to wait long for some truly challenging questions.  In Round One, a winner’s choice on Pennsylvania breweries tripped up quite a few teams, including the ones who made that pick: returning champs Show Me on the Doll!  Folks, if you get a chance to pick a category for the following week, make sure you know that your “subject matter expert” is going to show up!  Later in that round, our teams showed off some impressive U.S. geography skills, but only a handful were able to break out from the pack by identifying Colorado Springs as the second-most-populous city in its state, picking up that two-point bonus.

Best Setup for Joke Answers: For another 2-point bonus, players were asked to fill in the blank for the tagline of the divisive HBO comedy Girls: “Living the dream, one ___ at a time”.  This led to a pile-on of wild guesses, mostly unprintable and all hilarious.  Only one team – Three Million People – knew the actual answer (“mistake”) and picked up some points!

In Round 2, we jammed to some classic tunes, considered the menu at Chipotle, and faced another dreaded video game question.  Newcomers “Lovely Lady Trumps” were the only ones to get the correct answer with just two of three clues – and sadly, no one re-created this (fictional) trivia fail:

How to Get Booed: “The radar, sir – it appears to be jammed! … Raspberry!”  So goes a memorable quote from Mel Brooks’ well-loved spoof Spaceballs, which I admitted to (gasp!) somewhat disliking.  Okay, “stupid” and “overrated” may have been the words I used, who’s to say?  Well, the crowd was not having it – a lusty chorus of boos hit me at “ludicrous speed”!

At the end of the first half, Menace 2 Sobriety held a modest lead over the field, with the Capital Hillbillies in 2nd place and a three-way tie for third.  Round 3 really tightened the screws, with a tough opera question, art terminology, and European mountains.  But the one question that shredded our teams was the multiple-choice: what metal (element #29) is most often alloyed with silver to create sterling silver?  Don’t let the color fool you, it’s actually copper, which every team missed except the Capitol City Goofballs!  To make matters worse, about half of the teams had picked this as their five-point bonus question, which really set them back.  Tough break!

The Goofballs jumped into first place, thanks in part to the Copper Debacle, but the Hillbillies stayed in strong position by being the sole team to nail the 6-4-2 for six points!  In Round 4, we again wondered at how every pop starlet has a younger sister (see also: Jamie Lynn Spears, Haylie Duff, Ashlee Simpson…) and looked forward to the animated big-screen version of a charming little kid’s book.

Best Joke Answer: The question on narcissistic personality disorder offered some low-hanging fruit for amateur presidential psychoanalysts, but the Spitting Llamas took the cake with their swing at the change-a-letter wordplay.  Asked to come up with a noted Johnny Cash cover song that becomes a portable nomad’s hut (really “Hurt –> Yurt”), the Llamas went with “Pee Pee –> Teepee”.  Just imagine the Man in Black singing that, in his world-weary baritone… priceless!

Going into the Final, it was the Goofballs on top by five points – not too shabby – with the Hillbillies, Menace 2 Sobriety, and Three Million within striking distance.  But that Final question on a certain state’s commemorative quarter stumped the Goofballs, along with every other team except one – who emerged victorious!  “Show Me” the top three:

First Place:  Capital Hillbillies

Second Place:  Capitol City Goofballs

Third Place:  Menace 2 Sobriety

~ Austin

Next week’s first category:  History of St. Louis

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Champion Billiards in Frederick, MD

Even working Mardi Gras at Champion Billiards in Frederick didn’t leave me so tempered to ask a woman to cover her chest!  Brenda, all of those times you wore your Periodic Table T-shirt, and it finally paid off! We’re going to have to institute a new scientific apparel policy for the World Series, and it’s going to be all your fault!

Eleven teams joined us for our Tuesday night showdown, including a few new kids who seemed to really enjoy the shenanigans of our brain wave square dance. What a dance it was, as this was no softball set!  I think at some point throughout the night teams made mention of “This is where the spiral starts…”  It’s cool, that’s why there’s beer of course!  There were not many cheers from the first question, but quite a few long drinks as many of you came up short on the first category of Latin Phrases.

The second round went well, gave everyone a chance to enjoy dinner, and settle in before getting hit with that Tony award winning question – you start talking about “Bring It On” and no one makes the Lin-Manuel Miranda connection!  Lots of groans when I announced that one…

The halftime puzzle was certainly deceiving tonight!  Sure, it looked like a piece of cake as most teams skated through, BUT there was just one or two answers that would slip under the “Yeah, we got this” radar and keep our teams form a perfect score!  The only team to pull a 20 tonight was The Other Sarah!  Yet again using that puzzle to put some cushion between them and the rest of the pack as they had their sights set on the returning boys (and girls) of Comfortably Dum, who held the lead after the half.

Round 3 was a bit eclectic, with barbers, Nazis, copper, Moldoveanu (which I didn’t butcher, thank you very much) and decoupage!  A couple of our teams managed to pull Carpathian Mountains from their nether regions – much to even their own surprise!  I love it when that happens..  The only real kicker for our teams in the last round was that damn Miley Cyrus… and now there’s ANOTHER one on the scene?  I’m pretty sure we were good with just one of the sisters, if we have to have any.

I really liked our final tonight, and with most of our teams heading to Louisiana and not Missouri, we had a tiebreaker in the house for 2nd and 3rd place!  Many thanks to Wiseacres and Crystal Methodists for making me grab a calculator as my mathing is officially broken after 6:00pm.  It was very close, but it was Crystal Methodists in 2nd taking the tiebreaker, which puts Wiseacres in 3rd.  Our winners tonight – The Other Sarah!

Nice job on that one! Next week we will start with the cartoon mini series Over the Garden Wall.  Study up!

~ Sam

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Cugini’s Restaurant in Poolesville, MD

Ronnie was feeling a little under the weather tonight, so I had the privilege of running hosting duties for Tuesday’s game of Pour House Trivia here at Cugini’s in Poolesville!  They have a great group of teams that are SUPER nice and really make the game fun AND exciting to watch.  A lot of the teams are pretty evenly matched, as I had five different teams in and out of the top three spots throughout the night, as well as one or two ties each time I read the updated scores!  With the top score of 19 on the halftime page, No Clue took a slim lead at the break, with three other teams within two points.

Drunk and Disorderly gained some ground on the field, as they were the ONLY team to answer correctly on our third round chemistry question!  Even though they only wagered one point, four other teams lost out on their potential five-point bonus with an incorrect response on that question, so that one point went a long way!  As we finished the fourth round, MoMo had pulled into first place, but it was by no means a safe lead, as five other teams sat within ten points of the leaders.

I then got to see one of the BEST come from behind victories in a LONG while!  The final question was a tough one, and it changed the top three in a big way.  In the end, No Clue ended up dropping to 3rd, Mo Mo dropped to 2nd, and as the ONLY team to answer the final correctly, Lightfoot made an AMAZING jump from 6th place to 1st place for the victory!!  Wow!

Our winners selected “Criminal Minds” for next week’s first category, so study up, and Ronnie should be back to see everyone this Tuesday at Cugini’s!

~ Jon J

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Orioles Nest in Frederick, MD

Coming soon…

Next week’s first category:  “Dirty Dancing”

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Senor Tequila’s in Germantown, MD

Tonight’s game of Pour House Trivia was quick and dirty tonight at Senor Tequila’s in Germantown.  I think all of the recent nice weather had some teams out enjoying it…

Highlights of the night:

In “Mess-With-The-Host-You-Get-The-Horns”: Beer Pressure, you know I love you guys, but starting the game with ten people – you KNOW I gotta give you a hard time about it! You guys give as good as you get though 😉

In “Deja-Vu-All-Over-Again”: Is it just me, or have we had three Opera questions in the last six weeks here on Tuesday nights?  The teams certainly noticed and voiced their grump about it.  I’m with you guys!  Don’t shoot the messenger!

In “Ian-Has-Some-Strong-Feelings”: “Girls”…  Miley Cyrus…  Opera…  “The Boss Baby”. S o many things tonight that I am, shall we say, not fond of.  I may have, in my caffeine-propped up tired stupor, commented on these things. Sorry, but not sorry…

The final tonight didn’t have much impact with one team ahead in a runaway, so the standings stood thus.

In third place tonight, Misfits!

In second place tonight, Axl’s Doghouse!

In first place tonight, The Fan Club!

Good game tonight guys!  Next week…hoo boy, I gotta dust off the pipes, as we kick things off with the opening category of Ian Sings 1980s British New Wave.  Oh joy.  Study up, and we’ll see you next time!

Until then,

~ Ian

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FireFlies in Alexandria, VA

As John “Bluto” Blutarsky would say: “My advice to you is to start drinking heavily”.  It was another tricky trivia Tuesday at Fireflies in Alexandria!  Our “Animal House” question to start the game didn’t throw off many of our teams, as they were able to name “Shout” as the famous song from the film.  My favorite “mistakes” were made in question three: while all of our teams were able to name the HBO show “Girls” from the clue given, NONE were able to finish it’s tagline “Living the dream, one BLANK at a time”.  Interesting guesses were “toke”, “boy”, and “screw”, but by not answering “mistake”….they all made one.  The toughest question of round one was the last one, which sadly, many of our teams chose as their bonus.  Only half our teams knew Colorado bordered BOTH Oklahoma and Wyoming, and only ONE knew the bonus of Colorado Springs as the second most populous city (well, one other team did, but changed their answer – go with your gut!).  Round one ended with everyone in a distinct place, but that would change throughout the game.

The most missed question of the second round was regarding one of the musical composers of the stage show “Bring it On”.  When hearing the name, my husband always asks “Who’s she?”.  Ugh, it’s a “he” and only the most amazing composer of our time!  Lin-Manuel Miranda (insert fangirl screams).  Tonight’s halftime puzzle was a LITTLE tough, with none of our teams getting a perfect score.  Round 3 had the MOST missed question of the night – and it was multiple choice!  When asked “Which chemical element with atomic number 29 is most often combined with pure silver to create the alloy sterling silver“, only Einhorn is Finkel dared to answer without the multiple choice options, AND they got it right!  Every other team missed, even after hearing their options.

Our most confusing question of the night came in round four: “Featuring the Billboard hit “Make Me (Cry)”, the aptly named “NC-17” is the upcoming debut album for the younger sister of what solo artist that first topped the Billboard Hot 100 Chart in 2013?”  After multiple readings, teams needed time to figure out the family tree and it sounded a little like the monologue from Ferris Bueller (My best friend’s sister’s boyfriend’s brother’s girlfriend…) In the end, half the teams were able to name Miley Cyrus, but only Menace to Sobriety could name her little sister, Noah.  The final question of the game was one of the toughest I’ve seen in recent trivia memory, as only one team answered correctly.  Needless to say, that team went on to victory.  Here are your winners:

First Place:  Einhorn is Finkel, Finkel is Einhorn

Second Place:  From Russia With Love (a.k.a. Bad Hombres)

Third Place:  Menace 2 Sobriety

Next week’s first category:  Triple 50/50 – Butthole Surfers or Nada Surf?

See You Next Tuesday!

~ Kate

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Shuckin’ Shack in Frederick, MD

Tuesday was such a beautiful day outside.  At first, it looked like it might affect attendance at our regular Tuesday night Pour House Trivia game here at Shuckin’ Shack in Frederick.  Oh, how wrong I was!  Despite the beautiful weather outside (for once!), our regulars appeared and were ready for trivia combat.  Notably, a new team, ONCE AGAIN, was welcomed to the Pour House fold: How Ya Doin’?  Despite only playing from the puzzle page at halftime on, they STILL managed to put up an impressive score that would have contented with our overall leaders if they had gotten in at the start.  How encouraging we all were that they make this a regular stop on Tuesday nights.

The real kicker tonight was the final question (and perhaps one, earlier): there’s a reason they call them “fly-over states”.  Those folks that knew the answer to both questions, including the final, about states we on the left and right coasts take for granted, well… they excelled where others didn’t.  In the final, a tough question managed to move a non-placer into the scrum for prizes.  And, for the first time at this venue, two of three placers were first-timers. That makes me happy, if not them!

For evidence of the competitive atmosphere, just check this photo:

Here are your top finishers tonight:

First Place:  Turd Ferguson

Second Place:  Mother Shuckers

Third Place:  How ‘Bout Dat

Next week’s first category:  2002 Maryland Terps Basketball (national champs!)

Fair winds and following seas,

~ Chief

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Top Golf in Ashburn, VA

Tuesday night featured a great game of Pour House Trivia at Top Golf in Ashburn, with ten teams who had a lot of energy and drive.  However, a few teams struggled with some tough questions, many of which only a handful of teams answered correctly (yes, the Clerks catchphrase is a well known one!).  Scores remained fairly tight through the first half, with Taco Tuesday inching out into the lead by being the only team to score 20 points on the halftime page!  Just two points back, Kelly’s Heroes were hoping to continue their winning streak (they have NEVER lost here!) with a strong second half.

The third round provided the chance for a lot of teams to catch up, even though many of you said it was not your favorite bunch of categories!  Taco Tuesday relinquished its lead on our chemistry question, on which they dropped ten points as it was their bonus category.  After round four, Kelly’s Heroes were poised for yet another victory, and with an impressive nine-point lead, it seemed almost inevitable.  Needing only to wager four points, Kelly’s Heroes could only be caught by two other teams.  In an amazing come-from-behind victory, Taco Tuesday knew Missouri was the answer we were looking for on the final question, and they ended up nabbing first place!  Kelly’s Heroes ends its four-game winning streak, but second place is nothing to be ashamed of.  Victorious Secret also hit on the final, jumping three spots in the standings and nabbing third place.  Your winners once again:

First Place:  Taco Tuesday

Second Place:  Kelliy’s Heroes

Third Place:  Victorious Secret

Next week’s first category: Steven King Novels!

~ Zach

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Primanti Brothers in Hagerstown, MD

It won’t be long before we open up the patio doors for Tuesday night trivia here at Primanti Brothers in the Valley Mall in Hagerstown!  Tuesday’s game brought a slew of teams out to play, including three teams getting their first taste of Pour House Trivia.  We hope it’s the first of many games here!  Hopefully, Blondes Have More Fun will be a full team next week and bring the trivia power.  This week, we had fun with opera, mascots, and even pizza!

In spite of the full stale of teams, two of the best Pour House Trivia teams showed why they are a force to be reckoned with!  The Arrondissements of Ouagadougou took the lead by being the only team to score 20 points on the halftime page, with Give Us Your Beer Money just a few points behind.  In a third round that caused some times to wilt, The Arrondissements of Ouagadougou only increased their lead.  Give Us Your Beer Money and Alternative Answers vied for second place, but they were still within shouting distance of the lead.  The margins grew wider when we asked about French art terms (of which there are many to choose from).  That question solidified each team’s place by the end of the game.

The final question proved to be too difficult for any team to conquer. Everyone guessed that the state quarter with the years 1804, 1823, 2003 and 2004 on it was Louisiana.  They were close (geographically), but we were looking for Missouri.  With an 11-point lead before the final, The Arrondissements of Ouagadougou were able to wager low, which only kept them in first place, while everyone let the final wager ride.  Give Us Your Beer Money held onto second place and Alternative Answers clinched third.

Next week, be sure to read “Catcher in the Rye”, because it’s going to be the first question!

~ Sean

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Blue Parrott in St. Petersburg, FL

Seven teams, including two newcomers, competed for trivia glory on Tuesday night at the Blue Parrott in St. Petersburg.  A shout out to our Canadian friends, Mommas Gone Wild, as well as the Clavins, who placed third on the first night, for joining the trivia fun out on St. Pete Beach.

It was a close first half, with the top three teams within three points of each other.  Clavins, Parrotheads, and Freebirds all had strong starts.  There were a few curve balls in the first half, including questions about U.S. geography and old-school video games.  Each of those stumped a majority of our teams.  Apparently “Sonic the Hedgehog” and the location of Colorado are tough topics for our Florida population.

The halftime sheet went over fairly well for most of our teams.  Though I was disappointed to see that so few of our teams are familiar with the hit show “Pretty Little Liars”. Our teams averaged about 15 points of the halftime round.

Clavins, Freebirds, and Parrotheads strengthened their leads in round three.  Very few of our teams knew that copper combines with pure silver to make sterling silver.  But all seven teams correctly answered questions about Coco Chanel, and a Daily Double bet in horse racing. Freebirds and Clavins were tied for first place going into the final question. It all came down to a question about Missouri’s state quarter, with two teams answering correctly on the final question.  As always, congrats to all of our teams who competed, and we look forward to seeing you next week!

FirstPlace:  Freebirds

Second Place:  Quizknows

Third Place:  Clavins

Next week’s first category: “Star Trek”

~ C.J.

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Monkey La La in Frederick, MD

At Monkey La La in Frederick, we saw six teams push trivia to the limit on Tuesday night.  Round 1 saw five teams within five points of the top spot, with Friends Without Benefits leading the way.  The first round saw an uncharacteristic tricky U.S. State Geography question, with only 33% of the teams answering the question correctly and no one getting the bonus.  The second round had Demented and Sad But Social pull even with Friends Without Benefits.  This round also featured a question that blanked all the teams at the bar!  Contemporary Composers was Monkey Lala’s Achilles heel for the evening!  It may be time to study up on Lin-Manuel Miranda!

Demented and Sad But Social pulled ahead, with Alternative Facts close behind and Friends Without Benefits falling to third after a tough third round. Chemistry put a hurting on the bar tonight.  Not only did two thirds of the bar miss the question, but a nine-point wager and a seven-point wager was blown in hopes of getting the chemistry question correct without the multiple choice!  It was a bold “all or nothing” strategy that can earn you the gold, or knock you off the podium!

Round four brought some normalcy with only the singing siblings question providing some problems.  However, NOT knowing about Miley & Noah Cyrus may have lost your team some points, but it likely gained your respect within the bar.  Demented and Sad But Social increased their lead to ten points over Friends with Benefits, and eight points over Alternative Facts.

For the second time tonight, the entire venue was stumped by a question – this time it was a bit more appropriate as it was the final question.  Missouri did not register in anyone’s radar for the final commemorative coin question, so our leader board stayed the same with Demented and Sad But Social winning with Alternative Facts 2nd and Friends Without Benefits 3rd.  See you next week!

~ Scott

Next week’s first category:  Forensic Psychology

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Quincy’s South in Rockville, MD

We’ve had two wins in a row by Screaming Death Monkey, and recent wins before that by Uncle Jack, but I’ll start off by saying we had a new champion tonight, and it wasn’t close.  Though our regular threats were competitive, there was another team that far and away had the best night tonight and they deserved to be picking up the win.

Going into the first half, Wingardium Triviosa led by a slim margin, 88 points to a 2nd place score of 86, but it was enough to hold the lead.  They missed the wager on the first question (winner’s choice), a two-point bonus in the first round, and one point on the halftime page, but that was it.

That lead they created would turn into a complete butt-kicking when the 3rd round came to an end.  Lots of teams struggling on Opera and Chemistry, but Wingardium Triviosa picked up wagers and two point bonuses on BOTH questions.  This helped them soar to a score of 124 points with the 6-4-2 and a final round to play.  Sofa King Smart was in a second place tie with Screaming Death Monkey at 112.  It was looking like the lead was gonna turn into a runaway pretty soon here.

A perfect fourth round  for Wingardium Triviosa left them in the lead, BUT a perfect fourth from Sofa King Smart kept them within 12 points to not quite make it a runaway.  WT opted for the one-point wager, going for the win if they answered correctly, but leaving themselves vulnerable to a loss if SKS got it right for the 12-point bet.  Well, it was a moo point (you know, like a cow’s opinion.. it just doesn’t matter… it’s “moo”…): WT nails the final and wins it tonight!  There was no other team picking up the final, as it was a hard one, so WT wins it by double digits!  A hell of a game!  I’ll be back in a week to see if they extend the streak to two games!  See ya then!

~ Bill

Next week’s first category:  British Composers

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Black Eyed Suzie’s in Bel Air, MD

Tonight was Opening Night as Pour House Trivia returned to Bel Air to kick off our first night of trivia at Black Eyed Susie’s.  The drinks were stiff, the food was fantastic, and the trivia was even better!  If you’ve never been here, it’s the newest hot spot in downtown Bel Air.

Our first game brought out eight teams.  Team Curly was the first to sign up, a family team that played well in our first two rounds.  We also welcomed Team One to the PHT mix!  Although they were hesitant of their abilities, they quickly showed their trivia knowledge.  Team Bundy also wasn’t sure how they would perform, but they jumped right in, because…  who doesn’t want to play trivia?!  Backstreet Boyz came to play hard ball, as they are old veterans of Pour House Trivia.  Finally, I Don’t Care certainly put out a valiant effort, and almost won!

After a very smooth first half, two tough questions began to spread the field in the third round, including a science question that stumped the field.  Our top three teams played strategically: Eleven Years is no stranger to Pour House Trivia, and as a solo player, he secured the third place slot.  Le Quizalabra and Two Beards & One Little Lady were neck and neck till the end. At the end it was a quarter flip that changed the game.  Two Beards & One Little Lady took the first place slot!  We’ll see you soon at Black Eye Suzie’s in Bel Air!

Next week’s first category:  Harry Potter