The Bard Would Love Weekend Trivia…

Last weekend featured the latest edition of the Pour House Trivia theme games, as we delved into four rounds of Harry Potter trivia at two venues which welcomed a combined 58 teams!  Congratulations goes out to Two Doctors and a Patient and Offbeats, who won the respective games held at Rockwell Brewery and Pretzel & Pizza Creations.  Meanwhile, our standard weekend games also featured several competitive matches, leading to a total weekend crowd of 136 teams across nine venues.

FIRST ROUND: 

Opening round topics from last weekend included the Disney animated film “Pocahontas”, the literary works of Dante, varieties of bananas, Alexander Graham Bell, the cartoon character Woody Woodpecker, and 20th century U.S. history.  Saturday’s teams dealt with the most difficult bonus question of the round, as only two out of 33 teams knew that in the epic poem “The Divine Comedy”, the ancient poet Vergil acts as Dante’s guide through Hell.  As a result, all nine perfect scores from last weekend’s first round were recorded on Friday.

SECOND ROUND:

In Friday’s audio question, we listened to cover versions of the songs “Roxanne” by The Police, “Jump” by Van Halen, and “When I Come Around” by Green Day.  Meanwhile, our Saturday teams were asked to identify clips from the TV sitcoms “Gilligan’s Island”, “That ‘70s Show”, and “Black-ish”.  Other second round topics included 1950s U.S. Senator Joe McCarthy, MLB manager Sparky Anderson, the Virginia House of Burgesses, and the musical film “Annie”.  While seven teams earned a perfect second round score in our Harry Potter game, only three teams matched the feat in our standard game: Killer Snails (P. B. Dye), Demented and Sad But Social (Belles’), and That’s So Clavin (Pretzel & Pizza).

HALFTIME:

Our weekend teams breezed through their respective halftime pages, as perfect scores were recorded by 31% of the field.  The overall average was one of the highest we have seen this season at 18.7 points.  Here is the weekend leaderboard after one half of play:

• Killer Snails (P. B. Dye):  92
• Offbeats (Harry Potter):  91
• That’s So Clavin (Pretzel & Pizza):  90
• Huffleriot (Harry Potter):  90
• Five Heads, One Brain (Springfield):  89
• Green Acres (Vanish):  89

THIRD ROUND:

As usual, the difficulty level increased sharply in the second half, most notably with the first bonus question of Saturday’s third round.  Our teams were asked to identify either one of two Big 10 teams that are currently ranked #1 and #2 in the AP poll for men’s wrestling.  Only one team (A Doctor and a Librarian from Belles’) gave us both correct answers of Iowa and Penn State.  Our Friday teams dealt with the most difficult wagering question of the round, as only 13% of the field earned wagering points on a three-part question regarding the use of numbers in the titles of novels.  We also looked at the 1980s hair band Ratt, the film franchise “Spy Kids”, and the first use of aerosol spray cans.  A slew of Harry Potter teams posted 36 points in their third round, but Killer Snails (P. B. Dye) and Mad Acts of Thunderdome (Dragon) recorded the only perfect scores in the third stanza of our standard weekend games.

FOURTH ROUND:

Final round topics from last weekend included the current horror film “The Invisible Man”, the failed Edsel division of Ford, the Renaissance painting “The Girl with a Pearl Earring”, U.S. Presidents, and the Roman Colesseum.  Completing a stellar second half, Mad Acts of Thunderdome (Dragon) posted the only perfect score during the final round of our standard games.  These were your highest scoring weekend teams heading into the final question:

• Offbeats (Harry Potter):  168
• Killer Snails (P. B. Dye):  166
• Cauldron Heathens (Harry Potter):  164
• Anything But Sports (Vanish):  162
• Mad Acts of Thunderdome (Dragon):  160

FRIDAY’S FINAL QUESTION (16.7% success rate):

–> Pleading people not to visit his final resting place, which writer’s  headstone bears the following epitaph: “Good Friend, for Jesus’ sake forbear, To dig the dust enclosed here: Blessed be the man that spares these stones, And curst be he that moves my bones.”?

SATURDAY’S FINAL QUESTION (50.0% success rate):

–> Which of the planets in our solar system is named for the Roman god who exhibited the trait of cannibalism and ate all his children?

The correct answers to these questions were William Shakespeare and Saturn.  Three teams posted a Perfect 21 last weekend by answering every wagering question correctly: Anything But Sports (Vanish), Offbeats (Harry Potter), and Cauldron Heathens (Harry Potter).  Here is your final weekend leaderboard:

• Offbeats (Harry Potter):  180
• Cauldron Heathens (Harry Potter):  176
• Anything But Sports (Vanish):  171
• Mad Acts of Thunderdome (Dragon):  166
• Brown Chicken, Brown Cow (Vanish):  165
• That’s So Clavin (Pretzel & Pizza):  161
• Killer Snails (P. B. Dye):  161
• Cultured Heathens (Pretzel & Pizza):  160
• Deplorables (Belles’):  158
• Five Heads, One Brain (Springfield):  154

LAST WEEKEND’S WINNERS:

Springfield Manor Winery in Thurmont, MD:  Five Heads, One Brain   (Next week’s first category: “Monty Python and the Holy Grail”)

Vanish Brewery in Leesburg, VA:  Anything But Sports   (“The Office” Theme Game next week – First category on March 20: 1990s Song Lyrics)

Black Walnut at P. B. Dye in Ijamsville, MD:  Killer Snails   (Next week’s first category: Green Bay Packers)

Dragon Distillery in Frederick, MD:  Mad Acts of Thunderdome   (“The Office” Theme Game next week – First category on March 20: Physics of Flying)

Belles’ Sports Bar in Frederick, MD:  Deplorables   (Next week’s first category: Roman Emperors)

Pretzel & Pizza Creations in Hagerstown, MD:  That’s So Clavin   (Next week’s first category: Triple 50/50 – Bowling or Curling?)