Thursday Night Trivia was Smoking!
Thursday night’s edition of Pour House Trivia featured one of the most diverse rounds in recent memory. In the span of five questions we covered NASCAR, Greek philosophy, Orwellian literature, and Sonny & Cher! It just goes to show that the best teams are the ones who are made up of folks with uncommon interests. Our final round concluded with a rather odd occurrence, as the toughest question of the night was a multiple choice question! About toys and games no less! A seemingly innocuous category wreaked havoc on the scoresheets. So which teams were able to put all of those answers together into a winning game? Let’s find out!
THURSDAY’S STATS AND FACTS (81 teams across eight venues):
–> Highest Overall Score: Blue Collar (Quincy’s) with 178
** only three teams topped 170 points on Thursday, and all three played at Quincy’s **
–> Highest Score after Round 4: Blue Collar with 166
–> Highest First Half Score: Clever Team Name (Quincy’s) with 92
–> Perfect 21 (correct on all wagers and final): Blue Collar, Clever Team Name, Lowered Expectations (Quincy’s),
–> U.S. landmarks and movie music were featured on tonight’s halftime page, leading to average score of 17.4, with about 12% of our teams scoring 20 points.
–> The 6-4-2 question played slightly easier, with about 30% of our teams scoring six points by knowing Adam Sandler has recently released several films directly to Netflix. Apparently, those that have seen these films know why.
–> As referenced above, our toughest question of the night concluded the fourth round, as we asked which of these toys and games is the oldest? Rubik’s Cube, Twister, Furby, or the Magic 8-Ball? Only 18% of our teams were successful here with the Magic 8-Ball (1950 – more than 15 years before Twister).
TONIGHT’S FINAL QUESTION (29.2% success rate):
–> As part of the women’s liberation movement of the 1920s, the phrase “torches of freedom” referred to which objects? (you’ll find the answer in this blog)
Quincy’s in Gaithersburg, MD
Tonight was the busiest night of Pour House Trivia we’ve had in a while here at Quincy’s in Gaithersburg! With 17 teams, we made it work though!
Highlights of the Night:
In “The-Bar-Is-Jumpin”: As soon as the Snoop Dogg tune came on, the whole bar got a little rowdy. Mention Biggie Smalls and the roar goes up again. I’m beginning to think I need to change up my playlist to have a bit more hip-hop on it. Clearly it struck a chord!
In “An-Interesting-Spread”: It’s not often that we have a 6-4-2 where we have an almost even spread of six-point guesses, four-point guesses, and two-point guesses. It was almost eerie how even it was. More importantly though, it caused a couple critical shake-ups going into the final round!
In “Speaking-of-Spooky”: The Toys and Games timeline question at the end of the final round saw an interesting occurrence. Obviously, if you got the main part of the question wrong, you couldn’t get the two-point bonus. But what was interesting was that if you DID get the question right, you got the two-point bonus! No variation whatsoever on that. How very interesting!
About one-third of our teams turned in the correct response on the final question, leading to these overall standings to close out the evening:
In third place tonight, Fan Club!
In second place tonight, Clever Team Name!
In first place tonight, Blue Collar!
Great game everyone! Next week we’re gonna kick things off with the first category of “I Love Lucy”! It should be fun! Study up, and we’ll see you next time!
Until then,
~ Ian
Champion Billiards in Frederick, MD
Champion Billiards! We had some jokers in here tonight! Even when you don’t know the answers, you never disappoint on entertainment value. I just wish more of them were socially acceptable to say over the mic! Picking on Clinton, throwing shade on male appendages after a few (sorry, *lots of*) beverages, and apparently, Diogenes was really looking for a sugar daddy… The crews were on point with the wit and the laughs were much appreciated tonight.
Personally, I really want to see Bill Nye dancing on Dancing with the Stars. That’s got to be amazing. Did he wear a bowtie each time?! God, I hope so. It’s funny how often Bill Nye came up in conversation tonight, almost as often as NASCAR did! They are going left! They are going left again! I still think we were better off with the tequila question. Traditionally you all do well with the booze questions. Ha!
Speaking of booze, I have to give much love to Charlie and the Vodka Factory as the only team to pull a 20 on a deceivingly tough puzzle page. Many got close, but just couldn’t make it. Some of you got hung up on thinking we were trying to pass off a picture of Paris as a U.S. city… Come on. I am not that sly.
Tonight’s final question rocked you all! It was a great question and only three teams managed to make the “Freedom torches” connection with cigarettes. Fittingly, every single one of those three teams ended up in the top three spots by game’s end. Slugs Normal, congrats on your first appearance in the top three, coming back from eighth place on the final question to take third. Our second place prize went to Slanjava (I know, I butchered the spelling). In first place tonight, it was Suck it Trebek! They’re making a habit of being up there, congrats on your first win of Season XV.
Next week’s first category: Pickleball (that’s a new one to me…)
~ Sam
Bunker Sports Cafe in Leesburg, VA
Happy Thursday to all my fine “Bunker-ites”, and here we are back once again for our weekly bout of Pour House Trivia. Our first category for tonight was March Madness, which caused a little “madness” as only three of our seven teams answered correctly, better luck next time. Included in that first round as well was Matt Damon going all “Jason Bourne” on some mythical beasties in 11th century China, and the original spelling of this iconic jungle dweller:
For our second round, we showcased another proud moment in American sports with another “dopey” cyclist. Our music question reminded up that Tequila might cause some women to disrobe, and we discovered that there were not many Reel Big Fish fans however, as only one team had heard their song “Beer” before. We also asked about this TV scientist, current climate change advocate, and former “Dancing With the Stars” contestant:
We visited some landmarks and matched up some movie soundtracks for our halftime puzzle, then looked into our dystopian future as envisioned by Orwell, while dizzily singing “I Got You Babe” from traversing the famed crooked street shown here:
All of our teams did know that Diogenes was looking for an honest man, but they didn’t know he was the father of Cynicism. Congrats to Your Mom for being the only team to get Adam Sandler at the six-point clue on our 6-4-2 question, and to the Indians and Landsharks as the only teams to correctly slot some toys/games in order of introduction to the masses. About half of the teams knew that late rapper Biggie Smalls had an album jump dramatically in sales after his death, but no one could tell me the title of the aforementioned album. We also saw great success on the final, and it took a tie breaker between two teams to settle third place. Here are the results:
First Place: Cranius Maximus
Second Place: Your Mom
Third Place: Thoroughly Screwed
Next week’s first category: the SyFy TV series “The Expanse”
~ Ronnie
Smoketown Brewing in Brunswick, MD
Folks, this is one of my favorite games to host here at Smoketown Brewing Company in beautiful Brunswick. I really mean that. It was a loud, ruckus game with lots of back and forth between the teams after each question, including myself! Yes yes, that Sears tower question will haunt me for a while…
After the first half, we had a fairly close game thanks to a halftime puzzle page which a majority of teams did rather well on. And no again Smoketown, that wasn’t the Baltimore Aquarium. The Scoundrels took the lead at the half by a fair amount, but things began to change in the final round. We began the round with a 1990s rap question that saw three of our teams drop their nine-point wager on an incorrect response. We concluded the fourth round with what would be our most difficult question: a toys and games timelines question which included just two teams earning their wagers.
By the time we reached the final question, we had a tie for first between Raider Nation and The Scoundrels. Would the Scoundrels’ winning streak be maintained or would we have a new champion? Well, bearing their torches of freedom, The Scoundrels were one of four teams to get the final, and continued their impressive streak! It’s up to six weeks! Great job! Natty Boh, What are Those? was hovering around the middle of the pack all night, but because of a correct response on the final, they were able to take second place. Meanwhile, Beer Makes Smart took third after a smart zero wager. Once again, here are your top teams:
First Place: Scoundrels (six in a row!)
Second Place: 2nd Natty Boh, What are Those?
Third Place: Beer Makes Smart
Next week’s first category next week: “Doctor Who”
~ Zach
Beef O’ Brady’s in Frederick, MD
What an incredible night at Beef o’ Brady’s in Frederick! Nine teams joined us for Thursday night trivia, including four new teams that we welcomed to the Pour House fold. We absolutely LOVE introducing new teams to our trivia games… don’t forget, we host every day but Friday throughout Frederick, Washington, Baltimore, and Montgomery Counties, as well as Arlington and Alexandria in Virginia. Oh! And if you find yourself in Florida, look us up! We’re expanding!
On to tonight’s game. Kudos to last week’s winners who purposefully chose a category that would annoy me to no end. You still, however, managed to get it wrong. Shame on you. Our halftime round was a breeze for these fine folks, as three teams managed to score a perfect 20 points. In the third round, who knew how many of you loved people who drive in consistent LEFT TURNS? You KILLED the NASCAR question!
Lastly, the old/young factor definitely played (or perhaps didn’t play) a role in terms of toys and games, which concluded the fourth round of tonight’s game. Fortunately, this question was kids-proof and age appropriate. The Magic 8-Ball, Twister, Rubik’s Cube, and Furby. In that order. PhD never showed up. The final question was a doozy of a history question. Anytime you have a game where only ONE TEAM correctly answers the final question, you know it’s going to shake up the standings. That was the case last night, as one team jumped two spots on the last question to take down the win. Here are your top finishers tonight:
First Place: Fat Kids are Hard to Kidnap
Second Place: Flight Level Awesome
Third Place: Master Haters
Next week’s first category (fortunately missing either the words “hodge podge” OR “potpourri”): West Virginia University Basketball
Fair Winds,
~ Chief
Rocklands Farm Winery in Poolesville, MD
Tonight was our second week of Pour House Trivia here at Rockland Farms Winery in Poolesville. Our game started smoothly, but the field was stumped on a first round question that involved a little bit of wordplay. None of our teams could surmise that the 1910s literary character once known as ‘Zantar’ simply had the syllables in his name reversed to become ‘Tarzan’. Nonetheless, we continued in a close game throughout the first half, which closed with The Hunters and Graham Crackers tied for second, but only trailing by one point to the leader at the time, Team Crowley.
The question that helped showed teams their destiny for the evening was the last question in round four, under the category of Toys & Games. For most teams, this was their five-point bonus category as well. The question asked teams to name the oldest of these brand-name toys: Twister, Magic 8-Ball, Furby, and the Rubik’s Cube. Only one team (Six Pack) came up with the correct response of the Magic 8-Ball. In addition, Six Pack also got the two-point bonus for arranging all four toys in chronological order. These points boost them into third place heading the final question.
The final question seemed tricky for some of our teams, as this U.S. history question asked what was referred to as ‘torches of freedom’ during the women’s liberation movement of the 1920’s. The only team to answer correctly was The Hunters as they took home the win. In second place was Team Crowley, while Six Pack held on to third place.
Until next time…
~ Devan
Next week’s first category: Presidents on U.S. Currency
Morgan Ridge Railwalk in Salisbury, NC
Let’s all yell LITTLE DEBBIE! Well, our night at Morgan Ridge Railwalk in Salisbury started off just great. We had a team visiting from Maine on a business trip. They were so enthusiastic, and they were just a great group of people to join my already spunky crowd. Furthermore, the room was filled with a lot of knowledge… I was amazed. I had three teams by the names of Loyalty Dawgs, Slow Bro in Memoriam, and the Jersey Kids Plus. Our game was close just about all night, right up until the final question. ☹
Two teams went big for their wager on the last question, but only one team turned in the correct response. In the end, our final scoreboard featured these results:
First Place: Jersey Kids Plus (131)
Second Place: Loyalty Dawgs (128)
Third Place: Slow Bro in Memoriam (105)
We all had a fun night and really enjoyed the questions! We’re looking forward to next Thursday at Rail Walk Brewery in Salisbury, NC @ 7:00 pm. Have a great week!
~ Madison
Right Around the Corner in St. Petersburg, FL
There was NO TRIVIA this week at Right Around the Corner. Your host C. J. will be back on March 16th with a question on Character Actors.
Fish Market in Alexandria, VA
I apologize for my absence last week, but I did see a lot of you guys back tonight, so it couldn’t have been that bad. I had an amazing weekend in Seattle, but now that it’s over, it was time to get back to real life. And my real life is pretty bad ass; I get to spend my weeknights hanging out with a bunch of cool drunk people! Thursdays are no different, and last night was a blast! Always a packed house at the Fish Market, we had 15 teams duke it out for the prizes last night. Ant Farm Keyboard, a usually strong duo, added some help last night, collaborating with il Forno’s namesake teammate from The Jeff King Experience, looking to put the hammer down at Fish. They surely were the favorites going into the game tonight.
AFK did not disappoint early, holding a lead after the first half by PC Principals was NOT going down without a fight. They kept up throughout the game and looked to hopefully have some luck their way in the second half. Well, AFK played nearly flawless, though they did miss points on the Toys & Games question, to end Round 4. It wasn’t just them — nearly EVERYBODY missed their wager on this Toys question! Which came first? Furby, Twister, Magic 8-Ball, or Rubik’s Cube? They actually aren’t even close! About 10+ years separating each of these! Magic 8-Ball was the earliest and only ONE TEAM picked up any points! Second to Last earned their wager, the two-point bonus, and the five-point bonus chip on that one! That’s a 16 point question for them against a field of ZEROES! A hell of an end to the 4th round!
Even that get was not enough for Second to Last to climb into the money spots but we did have a final question left. It was a toughie, asking what items were known as “torches of freedom” in reference to 1920’s woman’s rights. Those were their cigarettes! We only had three correct answers, and each of those was almost instantly turned in. Second to Last picked up the tough final too, making up 28 points in TWO questions! Could’ve been their night to win if the rest of the game had looked as good as the last two!
PC Principals was in 2nd place and MISSED the final, AFK in 1st and ALSO missed the final… If every team would’ve missed, the win would still go to Ant Farm Keyboard BUT we did have one team get the final that was in striking distance, so a new champion was crowned… Congratulations to Frankenwheat! A final get moved them into the lead (by about 2 points, at that!) for the first time all night and they take down a win, for the first time ever (if I remember correctly)! Amazing finish! Amazing game! That was fun. We’ll do it all again next Thursday! See ya then!
~ Bill
Next week’s first category: NCAA Gymnastics
Guido’s in Frederick, MD
For our Thursday night game of Pour House Trivia, one team was hoping to stretch their winning streak to another week and claim their third win in a row here at Guido’s Speakeasy in Frederick. We welcomed a new team to our game, as Ready to Kick Ass joined us for their first taste of Pour House Trivia. Our defending champs Tuna Noodle Casserole started strongly, as they nearly ran the table with a perfect first half, posting an impressive score of 87 points! Not to be outdone, Wreck ‘N’ Roll was the only team to score a perfect 20 on our halftime page, as they hoped to close the gap in the second half. Dinkelberg also kept things close, as they were the only team to pick up six points on the 6-4-2. Apparently, they are fans of horrible Adam Sandler films! It’s OK – I don’t judge!
The final round began with a glimmer of hope for our trailing teams, as T.N.C. dropped their nine-point wager on a question regarding the untimely deaths of rap stars. Our leaders were able to shake off that blunder, as they closed in dominating fashion, locking up their third win in a row before we asked the final question. However, there was a good battle between two teams who kept switching in and out of second place. After the final was answered, this is what the top three looked like. Finishing in third place was Wreck ‘N’ Roll, while taking second place was Dinkleberg. With an impressive 21-point lead heading into the final question, Tuna Noodle Casserole was once again our first place winner!! They have decided to go with “Fistula” for next weeks winner’s choice first category (enjoy that one, Matt). So study up and come join us for another good time next Thursday at Guido’s! I think we’ll skip the picture this time around…
~ Jon J