The Maple-Flavored Edition of Thursday Trivia!

With the Season XVII post-season lurking in the near future, we crowned a few more house champions on Thursday night, as we welcomed 104 teams across 14 venues:

FIRST ROUND:

We wasted no time challenging our Thursday teams, as the first bonus question of the night proved to be the most difficult of the first half.  After most of the field knew that the Mississippi River formed the eastern boundary of the land acquired in the Louisiana Purchase, only 11% of our teams earned two bonus points by also knowing that the purchase extended all the way into current-day Montana.  Later, we took a trip to Walmart and discussed celebrities named Ball, before finishing with a question on this Broadway musical:

Nearly all of our teams knew that the musical “Evita” featured songs such as “Buenos Aires” and “The Lady’s Got Potential”, with 22% of our teams tacking on two bonus points by knowing the Patti LuPone originated the role of Eva Peron on stage.  With that, the first round yielded only six perfect scores.

SECOND ROUND:

Thursday’s audio question featured clips from the TV series “Three’s Company”, “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”, and “Futurama”.  We also discussed the surgical procedure of angioplasty, and the personal life of this soccer star:

The second round also included the most difficult wagering question of the night:

–> First mentioned in Chapter 2 of the Book of Genesis, which Biblical figure passed away at 930 years old?

While Noah also lived to nearly 1,000 years old, the reference to Chapter 2 of Genesis was a (subtle) clue that the answer must have appeared VERY early in the Biblical timeline.  Sure enough, in this case we were talking about Adam.  Only 17% of our teams picked up points here, leading to just two perfect scores in the second round: Slapsgiving and 1-2-3 Drink (both from Cushwa Brewing).

HALFTIME:

Toys of the 20th century was the featured topic on Thursday’s halftime page.  The overall average score reached 15.4 points, with five teams recording a perfect 20 points.  Here are Tuesday’s top scores at the halftime break:

• Andy (Champion Billiards):  86
• PC Principals (Fish Market):  84
• Punslingers (Beef O’ Brady’s):  84
• Vitrifiers (Champion Billiards):  84
• FIVE TEAMS TIED WITH 83 POINTS

THIRD ROUND:

After most of our teams began the second half by rolling through the first three questions, these two speed bumps ruined hopes for many perfect third round scores:

–>  Later adapted into a film featuring Liam Neeson in the title role, what novel written by Edith Wharton is set in the fictitious town of Starkfield, Massachusetts?

–> Taylor Swift’s first #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100 chart also has the longest title of any of her chart-topping hits. For your wager, what is the seven-word title of this song?

In each case, about one-quarter of our teams answered correctly, but very few teams were successful on both questions: the novel was “Ethan Frome”, the song was “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together”.  As a result, the third round did not yield any perfect scores.

FOURTH ROUND:

Thursday’s final round included questions on French vocabulary and this diminutive basketball star:

The final round closed with a surprisingly difficult question on landmarks:

–> Found on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places, the TWA Flight Center can be found at which airport located near Rockaway Beach in the borough of Queens?

Even if you are unfamiliar with the building itself, this question would seemingly amount to a 50/50 guess between New York City’s two major airports.  Yet, only 31% of our teams answered correctly with Kennedy Airport.  With that, we did not see any perfect scores in Thursday’s final round.  Here are Thursday’s top scores after four rounds of play:

• Uranus Fly Trap (​Smoketown Brewing):  154
• PC Principals (Fish Market):  153
• Brother of Menelaus (Fish Market):  153
• Vitrifiers (Champion Billiards):  152
• Breadsticks (Quincy’s):  151

THURSDAY’S FINAL QUESTION (18.7% success rate):

–> Before joining the Union in 1791, which U.S. state existed as an independent nation for 14 years?

About one-fifth of our teams earned points on the final question with the correct answer of Vermont.  Thanks to this question and the Bible question from the second round, none of our teams earned the Perfect 21 with correct answers on all wagering questions.  Here are Thursday’s top overall scores:

• PC Principals (Fish Market):  165
• Power Vacuum (Champion Billiards):  161
• Breadsticks (Quincy’s):  157
• 1-2-3 Drink (Cushwa Brewing):  156
• Effin Peter (Quincy’s):  155
• Dire Wolves (Belly Love Brewing):  153
• FNQ (Champion Billiards):  150
• North Country (Quincy’s):  149
• Thunder Buddies (Fish Market):  148
• Indians (Bunker Sports):  148

THURSDAY’S WINNERS:

The Grille at Flower Hill in Gaithersburg, MD:  Blood Legion  (Next week’s first category: Greek Mythology)

Black Walnut Brewery in Leesburg, VA:  Mouse Rat   (Next week’s first category: “Saved By the Bell” – original)

Dawg House in Waynesboro, PA:  50 Shades of Grey Matter  (Next week’s first category: “NCIS”)