Terrific! Transcendentalist Tuesday Trivia!

Tuesday’s game of Pour House Trivia welcomed 107 teams across ten venues.

FIRST ROUND:

After opening Tuesday’s game with questions regarding gin and two-word phrases bearing the initials R. B., our teams hit a wicked speed bump on this query in the category of performance art:

• In which dexterous performance art would you perform moves called fountain, cascade, shower, and Burke’s barrage?

In an extreme rarity, a first round question proved to be the most difficult wagering question of the night, as only 14% of the field responded correctly with juggling.  Despite closing the round with an easier question regarding Olympic snowboarder Shaun White (and his current girlfriend Nina Dobrev), none of our Tuesday teams ran the table with 36 opening round points.

SECOND ROUND:

The field got back on track in Tuesday’s audio question, which asked our teams to identify three musical acts singing cover versions of television theme songs.  We listened to the Ramones sing Spider-Man, the B-52s sing Meet the Flintstones, and Alicia Keys sing the theme to the 1980s cartoon series Gummi Bears.  From there, we discussed topics such as Epsom Salt, the most populous countries in the European Union, and the Evil Dead franchise.  Four teams posted a perfect second round score: Hipster Fashion Consultants (Dudley’s), Speaks For the Trees (Dudley’s), Marshfellows (Solace Outpost), and Full Frontal Nerdity (Gentleman Jim’s).

HALFTIME:

For Tuesday’s halftime round, our teams identified types of pasta based on their appearance (the pasta, not the teams), while the bottom half featured notable duos.  The overall average reached 14.4 points with five teams earning a perfect score of 20 points.  These were your highest scoring teams at Tuesday’s halftime break:

• Hipster Fashion Consultants (Dudley’s): 90
• Off in the Park (Solace Outpost): 87
• Enough Already (Distilled): 87
• Shirley You Can’t Be Serious (Epiq): 85
• Marshfellows (Solace Outpost): 85

THIRD ROUND:

Though our Tuesday teams performed quite well on their third round wagering questions, a pair of difficult bonus questions kept the perfect scores off the board.  The first question dealt with the French children’s book The Little Prince (or Le Petit Prince), but only nine teams earned two bonus points by knowing that the narrator of the book is a pilot.  After our teams lost their heads over a question about Anne Boleyn, we asked our nightly Three Clues question, starting with these two clues:

• CLUE 1: During the original run of this series, the final episode jumps 20 years into the future.
• CLUE 2: Titled Final Frontier, this show’s theme song was co-written by its lead actor.

Very few teams even ventured a guess at this point, forgoing the chance at a two-point bonus in exchange for an easier third clue.  Six teams took advantage of the pause and tacked on two bonus points with the correct response of Mad About You.  The categories of European geography and mathematics terms rounded out the third round, but none of our teams managed to post a perfect score.

FOURTH ROUND:

We chased away opossums in Tuesday’s 6-4-2 question, before diving into fourth round topics such as the song Save Your Tears from The Weeknd and Ariana Grande, Time magazine’s Person of the Year award, the Charms Blow Pop, and fictitious fans of the Detroit Tigers.  A three-part question concerning the film Wayne’s World provided our teams with another difficult bonus question, as only ten teams knew that Wayne’s ex-girlfriend Stacy (portrayed by Lara Flynn Boyle) gave him a gun rack as a gift.  As a result, Shirley You Can’t Be Serious (Epiq) notched the only perfect score of Tuesday’s final round.  After four rounds of play, these teams topped Tuesday’s leaderboard:

• Shirley You Can’t Be Serious (Epiq): 158
• Off in the Park (Solace Outpost): 153
• Enough Already (Distilled): 152
• Hipster Fashion Consultants (Dudley’s): 151
• Full Frontal Nerdity (Gentleman Jim’s): 151

FINAL QUESTION (41.1% success rate):

• By rearranging all of the letters in this person’s full three-word name, you can spell the phrase A VERY HIDDEN AUTHOR, which is quite a coincidence when considering this person’s most notable literary work.  For your wager, what is this person’s full name?

Just over two-fifths of the field figured out this anagram to deliver the correct response of Henry David Thoreau (author of the work Walden).  Thanks to a little juggling, none of our Tuesday teams earned a Perfect 21 tonight, as all 107 teams missed at least one wagering question.  Tuesday’s final overall leaderboard included these teams:

• Shirley You Can’t Be Serious (Epiq): 164
• Off in the Park (Solace Outpost): 160
• Kid Free Zone (Solace Outpost): 159
• Marshfellows (Solace Outpost): 158
• Hipster Fashion Consultants (Dudley’s): 158
• Supernovas (Dudley’s): 157
• Speaks For the Trees (Dudley’s): 157
• Fan Club (Gentleman Jim’s): 154
• Wiseacres (Distilled): 149
• FOUR TEAMS TIED WITH 148 POINTS

TUESDAY’S WINNERS:

Upper Deck in Mount Airy, MD: Fabulous Killjoys  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Marvel Cinematic Universe)

Olney Winery in Olney, MD: Killer Snails  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Stripes)

Dudley’s Sport and Ale in Arlington, VA: Hipster Fashion Consultants  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Gilmore Girls)

Ramparts Tavern & Grill in Arlington, VA: Wonder Boys  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Roman History)

Solace Outpost in Falls Church, VA: Off in the Park  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Inventing Anna)

Smoketown Creekside in Frederick, MD: Freudian Shitz  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Taylor Swift)

Distilled in Frederick, MD: Wiseacres  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Gwent: The Witcher Card Game)

Antietam Brewery in Hagerstown, MD: Smartinis  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Harry Potter – books)

Gentleman Jim’s in Gaithersburg, MD: Fan Club  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Bad Guys in Baseball)

Epiq Food Hall in Woodbridge, VA: Shirley You Can’t Be Serious  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Mel Brooks Films)