Thursday Trivia Has the Right Sound!
After a week off for Thanksgiving, we were back on Thursday with Pour House Trivia! A full 20-venue slate welcomed 194 squads, including 26 teams playing at Aslin Beer Co in Alexandria, VA.
FIRST ROUND:
In the opening round of Thursday’s game, teams dealt with topics like the TV talk shows of Kelly Clarkson and Jennifer Hudson as well as West Point’s location on the banks of the Hudson River. The final question in the round had its most difficult bonus chance, which came with this wagering query:
- Featuring the tagline Catch it if you can!, this film starred Robin Williams as a mad scientist who tries to create a new energy source. Name this film that topped the box office exactly 25 years ago.
While it was relatively easy to name the film Flubber, only 16% of the field knew it was a remake of the 1961 film The Absent-Minded Professor. A game-high 11 teams recorded perfect scores in this round.
SECOND ROUND:
The toughest wagering question of the first half was the audio clue that began round two, in which teams had to name a trio of artists performing Christmas songs. Just over half of Thursday’s teams earned wagering points for naming at least two of those musical acts: Neil Diamond, Harry Connick Jr., and Pentatonix. Midway through the second round, teams came across the hardest bonus question all night. This question kicked things off:
- On Christmas Day 1991, which world leader resigned as the Head of State of the Soviet Union?
Mikhail Gorbachev was correctly named by a majority of teams, but a bonus question asked who Gorbachev succeeded as General Secretary of the Communist Party; only seven teams (3.6% of the field) had the right man, Konstantin Chernenko. This round has no perfect scores.
HALFTIME:
The top half of Thursday’s halftime sheet asked teams to identify various soft drink brands, while the bottom section had a mystery theme, which ended up being terms related to the sitcom Seinfeld. Twelve teams got all 20 points in this part of the game, and the average score was 15.6 points. The halftime intermission featured these teams at the top of the scoreboard:
- Washington Foreskins (Loudoun Kitchen): 90
- Great Heathen Army (Brewery Fire): 88
- Andre’s Empire Strikes Back (Michaux): 87
- Blinded By the Wine (Loudoun Kitchen): 87
- Binge Thinkers (Belly Love): 86
THIRD ROUND:
We started the third round with its trickiest bonus try, which came on Three Clues about the restaurant chain Buffalo Wild Wings; about 17% of teams had the right answer after two clues for two extra points. After a question about the gasoline rationing coupons printed (but never used) by the U.S. in the 1970s, we reached the most difficult wagering query of the night:
- Which Romantic poet (who was married to an equally famous writer) penned Ozymandias and To a Skylark?
That poet, Percy Shelley, was named by 42% of teams. The round concluded with the spittoon, followed by Pete Davidson’s latest main squeeze, supermodel Emily Ratajkowski. A quartet of teams earned perfect scores in the third round: Washington Foreskins (Loudoun Kitchen), Cat in the Chat (Loudoun Kitchen), Educated Friends (Fourscore), and F U COVID (Mark’s).
FOURTH ROUND:
Thursday’s 6-4-2 gave three clues about the word cage, in which 27 teams only needed the first of those clues to get the right answer for six points. Fourth-round subjects included Emmy Rossum’s role on the TV series Shameless and the meteorological term gale. However, the hardest second-half wagering question came at the end of this round:
- While filmmaker Robert Rodriguez is perhaps best known for his violent action films, he is also the creator of which series of family films?
Rodriguez, known for films like From Dusk til Dawn, Machete, and the Sin City franchise, also sat in the directors chair for the Spy Kids film series! Roughly 57% of the field got that right, while 5.6% knew that the most recent film in that franchise is subtitled All the Time in the World. Educated Friends (Fourscore) had the fourth round’s only perfect score. Before the final question, these teams were on top:
- Washington Foreskins (Loudoun Kitchen): 162
- Quarter Path (Crooked Run): 161
- Great Heathen Army (Brewery Fire): 159
- Cat in the Chat (Loudoun Kitchen): 156
- Educated Friends (Fourscore): 155
FINAL QUESTION (40.7% success rate):
- Which movie sound effect was created by Ben Burtt, who combined the hum of idling movie projectors with the interference caused by a television on a shieldless microphone?
Burtt combined those sounds together to give us the iconic whirr of the lightsaber in the Star Wars franchise! A trio of teams earned the Perfect 21 on Thursday: Washington Foreskins (Loudoun Kitchen), Mad Facts: Query Road (Solace Brewing), and The Gang Plays Bar Trivia (Steinhardt). Thursday trivia accolades were earned by these top scorers:
- Quarter Path (Crooked Run): 173
- Washington Foreskins (Loudoun Kitchen): 169
- Great Heathen Army (Brewery Fire): 168
- Cat in the Chat (Loudoun Kitchen): 168
- Wisdom is Our Dump Stat (Olde Mother): 167
- Educated Friends (Fourscore): 167
- Painful Burning Sensation (Smoketown): 165
- Mad Facts: Query Road (Solace Brewing): 165
- F U COVID (Mark’s): 165
- The Gang Plays Bar Trivia (Steinhardt): 164
- Alley Cats (Solace Brewing): 164
THURSDAY’S WINNERS:
Smoketown Brewing Station in Brunswick, MD: Painful Burning Sensation (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Cocaine Bear)
Michaux Brew in Waynesboro, PA: Andre’s Empire Strikes Back (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Andre Michaux)
Champion Billiards in Frederick, MD: Scared Money Don’t Make Money (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: M*A*S*H (TV series))
Loudoun Kitchen and Bar in Leesburg, VA: Washington Foreskins (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: El Niño)
Olde Mother Brewing in Frederick, MD: Wisdom is Our Dump Stat (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Video Game Soundtracks)
Belly Love Brewing in Purcellville, VA: Brain Train (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: College Mascots)
Solace Brewing in Sterling, VA: Mad Facts: Query Road (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory)
Brewery Fire in Taneytown, MD: Great Heathen Army (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Bill Murray Films)
Fourscore Beer Co. in Gettysburg, PA: Educated Friends (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: The Wire)
Crooked Run in Sterling, VA: Quarter Path (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: 1980s Music)
Solace Outpost in Falls Church, VA: Squonk (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Sherlock Holmes)
Interchange Tiki Bar in Williamsport, MD: No Brainers (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Celebrity Chefs)
Bear Brick Oven Pizza in Silver Spring, MD: Pringles (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Molecular Biology)
Preston’s Pub in Manassas Park, VA: That’s What She Said (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: 1990s MLB)
Aslin Beer Co in Alexandria, VA: Charioteers (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Franco-Prussian War)
Kalypso’s Sports Tavern in Reston, VA: Tequila Mockingbird (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Taylor Swift)
Steinhardt Brewing in Frederick, MD: The Gang Plays Bar Trivia (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Legendary Irish Kings)
Mile 20 at the Breeze in Herndon, VA: Joey’s Date (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Standup Comedy)
Comus Inn in Dickerson, MD: Never Gonna Quiz You Up (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Video Games)
Mark’s Pub in Falls Church, VA: F U COVID (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Christmas Carols)