Telling Polk Tales at Wednesday Trivia!

A 23-team campaign at Idiom was just one part of a massive Wednesday night for Pour House Trivia which saw 156 total teams play at 16 area venues!

FIRST ROUND:

With school years coming to a close, we started the game off with a three-parter on graduation ceremonies in film. After a question about medications to treat rheumatoid arthritis, we asked the hardest wagering question of the first half:

• The upcoming 2022 FIFA Men’s World Cup will be held in which two calendar months?

Even though teams only needed to name one of those two months to get wagering points, just 41% were able to do so; a round-low 27 percent named both November and December for the bonus. The round ended with a sampling of New England and Manhattan clam chowder. Perfect scores were earned by 13 teams.

SECOND ROUND:

Three songs were covered by unconventional artists for Wednesday’s audio question, which ended up being the toughest of the second round. Roughly 54% of the field was able to name two of those three covers (of All About That Bass by Meghan Trainor, You Oughta Know by Alanis Morissette, and Black Sabbath’s Iron Man, respectively). Other topics in the round included the Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt, the 25th anniversary of daytime talk show The View, and the carat unit of measurement. The least-successful bonus opportunity in the first half came on its final question; only 13% of teams could name both Austin and Indianapolis as the most-populous U.S. cities that start with a vowel.  Three teams played the round perfectly: Tokyo Sex Whale (Belles’), Safety Third (GearHouse), and Fresh Off the U-Haul (Mark’s).

HALFTIME:

A bit of a tricky halftime sheet tasked players with identifying films by scenes with computers and two-word phrases with B.C. initials. The only perfect 20-point team was Stinkfist (Idiom) on a page that averaged 14.4 points. Not only was the aforementioned team perfect during halftime, they led the field after the first half of play:

• Tokyo Sex Whale (Belles’): 90
• Stinkfist (Idiom): 89
• Fresh Off the U-Haul (Mark’s): 87
• I Don’t Know What She Said (Moe’s): 87
• Trending Towards Fourth (T. J. Stone’s): 87
• Marco Polo and the Peanuts (Idiom): 87
• Demented and Sad But Social (Belles’): 87

THIRD ROUND:

A three-parter for Kanye West’s 45th birthday came through the wire to start the third round, followed by its toughest wagering question:

• According to Drinksmixer.com, which word precedes the phrase Sex on the Beach to create the name of a similar cocktail made without alcohol?

Without alcohol, you’re having Safe Sex on the Beach; 35 percent of the field got that one right. We went on to some Good Times with Jimmie Walker, celebrated Niels Bohr‘s Nobel Prize from 100 years ago, and played a round of cat’s cradle to put a bow on the round. What the Fork (TGI Fridays), Comfortably Dumb (Axes and O’s), and Virtual Cigar (Hops N Shine) made up the trio of perfect third-round efforts.

FOURTH ROUND:

The night’s 6-4-2 granted the full six points to 14 teams that named the University of Miami after a single clue about their six-player group picked in the first round of the 2004 NFL Draft. The fourth round tackled many a team through its first three questions, starting with a query about the Disney film Oliver & Company, continuing with a question on Caitlyn Jenner‘s quick rise to one million Twitter followers, and finishing with the hardest wagering shot of the game:

• Rounding to the nearest whole number, how many square kilometers are equal to an area of ten square miles?

Even with a set of four choices, just 21% of teams correctly answered 26 square kilometers; only three teams in all did so before the choices were revealed for two bonus points. Our players rebounded well afterward with questions on the Kayak online travel agency and the current two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning. However, no teams were able to score a perfect 36 points in Wednesday’s fourth round. A pre-final question leaderboard was headed up by these groups:

• Fresh Off the U-Haul (Mark’s): 152
• FBB (Falling Branch): 152
• Lindsay and the Boys (Axes and O’s): 151
• Killer Snails (Grape Escape): 147
• High as a Giraffe (Hops N Shine): 147
• Ladies (Falling Branch): 147

FINAL QUESTION (8.3% success rate):

• Passing away about three months after completing his only term in office, which 19^th century U. S. President had the shortest lifespan among those Presidents that died of natural causes?

Passing away from natural causes at only 53 years old, James K. Polk was named by a total of 13 teams on this final question of the evening. Once again, none of them were able to score a Perfect 21 by answering every wagering question correctly. These were Wednesday night’s scoring leaders:

• Killer Snails (Grape Escape): 159
• Titanic Was an Inside Job (Hops N Shine): 157
• I Don’t Know What She Said (Moe’s): 157
• Trending Towards Fourth (T. J. Stone’s): 156
• Business Drunk (T. J. Stone’s): 151
• Lindsay and the Boys (Axes and O’s): 146
• Fresh Off the U-Haul (Mark’s): 145
• Ladies (Falling Branch): 145
• Trash Bag Donuts (Idiom): 144
• FIVE TEAMS TIED WITH 143 POINTS

Einsteins of Beer (Memories) would have charted on the official leaderboard with 149 points, but they’ll have to settle for an honorable mention due to playing over the limit with more than seven total players.

WEDNESDAY’S WINNERS:

Moe’s Peyton Place in Springfield, VA: I Don’t Know What She Said  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Apples)

Valley Sports Grill in Middletown, MD: Billy Mays Fan Club  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: BoJack Horseman)

Belles’ Sports Bar in Frederick, MD: Tokyo Sex Whale  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Parks and Recreation)

Memories Charcoal House in Mount Airy, MD: In Last Place  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: The B-52s)

GearHouse Brewing in Chambersburg, PA: Safety Third  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: 1980s Sitcoms)

TGI Fridays in Hagerstown, MD: Sally O’Malley  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Montreal Expos Hall of Famers)

Idiom Brewing in Frederick, MD: Trash Bag Donuts  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Zachary Taylor)

Axes and O’s in Sterling, VA: Lindsay and the Boys  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Liverpool FC)

Hops N Shine in Alexandria, VA: Titanic Was an Inside Job  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Narnia)

Sully’s Pour House in Herndon, VA: Jimmy and the Jets  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Taylor Swift)

Falling Branch Brewery in Street, MD: Ladies  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: High School Musical)

T. J. Stone’s in Alexandria, VA: Trending Towards Fourth  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Michael Jordan)

Craftworx Taproom in Gainesville, VA: Open For Quizness  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: 1980s Pop Music)

Barstool Sportsbook in Charles Town, WV: I’m With Stupid  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Greek Mythology)

Grape Escape in Gaithersburg, MD: Killer Snails  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Airplane!)

Mark’s Pub in Falls Church, VA: Fresh Off the U-Haul  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Cuts of Beef)