Thursday Trivia is Looking Good!

We were back up to 20 Pour House Trivia venues for Thursday evening’s game, played by 202 teams in all and 24 at Aslin Beer Co in Alexandria, VA. Speaking of Alexandria, we would like to thank Redfin for featuring PHT on a recent blog post as one of the top things to do in the area!

FIRST ROUND:

A trio of Hot things (Hot Pockets, Hot Rod magazine, and the Hot Topic retail chain) started us off on Thursday, followed by this small-screen question:

• A highly customized 1982 Pontiac Trans Am was one of the main characters in which NBC action series?

That car, better known as KITT, starred (more or less) in Knight Rider. KITT, by the way, stood for Knight Industries Two Thousand, an acronym that gave bonus points to 17% of our teams. The alliterative term finger food and the blood-regulating hormone insulin (or glucagon) were the final subjects of the round, which had 17 perfect team scores.

SECOND ROUND:

The roughest wagering chance of the first half showed up in the form of Thursday’s audio question, in which teams were asked to name the vocalist covering each of three Bob Marley songs. Wagering points went to 48% of the field for correctly identifying at least two of Eric Clapton, Wyclef Jean, and Beyonce. At the round’s midpoint, we reached the least-successful bonus question of the night, which came attached to this query:

• Tony Tucker holds the dubious distinction of being the shortest-reigning heavyweight boxing champion in history, reigning for only 64 days in 1987. What boxer defeated Tucker on August 1, 1987, to claim the title of heavyweight boxing champion?

The vast majority of teams knew Mike Tyson beat Tucker to become the champ, but only 7.4% of the field knew that Tyson lost that title to Buster Douglas in 1990. The round concluded with questions on the Ben Affleck superhero film Daredevil and the only two letters not found in any two-letter U.S. state postal code: B and Q. Just one team was able to record a perfect score in this round: Rob Humphrey’s Underpants (Solace Outpost).

HALFTIME:

The evening’s halftime page dealt with films that utilize masked characters (like Vanilla Sky and The Purge), as well as the current positions of high-level U.S. political figures. Just five perfect team scores were earned here on a page that carried a halftime score of 14.2 points. We hit the halftime break with ties at first, third, and fifth place:

• Vapors (Mile 20): 89
• Cat in the Chat (Loudoun Kitchen): 89
• McLovin (Belly Love): 88
• Educated Friends (Fourscore): 88
• FOUR TEAMS TIED WITH 87 POINTS

THIRD ROUND:

Alien protagonist Ellen Ripley was the overall subject of the first question of the second half, in which teams earned their wager for getting the character’s surname and bonus points for the first name. The ill fate of British explorer James Cook came next, followed by this elemental three-parter:

• 1) In addition to Europium, which chemical element bears a symbol comprising two vowels?
• 2) Bearing the atomic number of 11, what is the lightest element whose symbol doesn’t begin with the same first letter as its full name?
• 3) Among the 14 chemical elements with one-letter symbols, which element has the highest atomic number at 92?

In order, those answers are gold (Au), sodium (Na), and uranium (U); 48% of the field had at least two right answers, but 16% earned extra points for turning in all three. The round came to a close with questions about American author Nora Roberts and the Navajo Native American tribe. Seven teams recorded a perfect 36-point third round.

FOURTH ROUND:

Thursday’s final round started with subjects like Grammy winner Darius Rucker‘s rendition of Wagon Wheel, the Samuel Adams beer company’s Rebel IPA, and Three Clues about the South American nation of Peru. For the most difficult question all night, we went back, baby!:

• Shortly before becoming ESPN’s first college basketball analyst, Dick Vitale served as the head coach of which NBA team?

Dicky V was the head coach of the Detroit Pistons before joining the ESPN ranks. Finally, a bonus question regarding Game of Thrones asked teams to translate its phrase Valar morghulis into English; almost a fifth of our teams did so with answers of All men must die. This round had five perfect team scores. Going into the final question, these teams were in the lead:

• Mad Facts: Query Road (Loudoun Kitchen): 162
• I Don’t Know (Aslin): 160
• Wilson Countersink Flanges (Crooked Run): 159
• Scotty Doesn’t Know (Solace Brewing): 158
• Educated Friends (Fourscore): 157

FINAL QUESTION (17.33% success rate):

• Which celebrity been named #1 in People Magazine’s Most Beautiful People issue a record five times?

Doing so in 1991, 2000, 2005, 2010, and 2017, Julia Roberts has the fivepeat! Unfortunately, no team earned the Perfect 21 for giving right answers for all 21 wagering questions on Thursday. Even with a tricky final question, we racked up a set of ten teams leading the pack in the 160s:

• Educated Friends (Fourscore): 169
• Hot Magma (Mark’s): 167
• Second Guess All-Stars (Olde Mother): 167
• F U COVID (Mark’s): 166
• Teachers Have Class (Solace Brewing): 163
• Deck Chairs on the Titanic (Steinhardt): 163
• Third Round Meltdown (Smoketown): 163
• FFT (Michaux): 162
• Museum of Salt and Pepper Shakers (Solace Outpost): 161
• Just Good Enough (Steinhardt): 160

THURSDAY’S WINNERS:

Smoketown Brewing Station in Brunswick, MD: Third Round Meltdown  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Paul Thomas Anderson Films)

Fourscore Beer Co. in Gettysburg, PA: Educated Friends  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Fahrenheit 451)

Michaux Brew in Waynesboro, PA: FFT  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: The Kardashians)

Champion Billiards in Frederick, MD: Scared Money Don’t Make Money  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Las Vegas Strip)

Loudoun Kitchen and Bar in Leesburg, VA: Mad Facts: Query Road  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: The White Lotus)

Olde Mother Brewing in Frederick, MD: Second Guess All-Stars  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: The Princess Bride)

Belly Love Brewing in Purcellville, VA: Three Brains, One Answer  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: West Point Graduates)

Solace Brewing in Sterling, VA: Teachers Have Class  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Rian Johnson Films)

Brewery Fire in Taneytown, MD: Great Heathen Army  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon)

Crooked Run in Sterling, VA: Wilson Countersink Flanges  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Palindromes)

Solace Outpost in Falls Church, VA: Museum of Salt and Pepper Shakers  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Danny Kaye Films)

Interchange Tiki Bar in Williamsport, MD: Gong Gong and the Butt Demons  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Triple 50/50: Did They Win an NBA Finals MVP?)

Bear Brick Oven Pizza in Silver Spring, MD: Titanic String Quartet  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Broad City)

Preston’s Pub in Manassas Park, VA: That’s What She Said  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: C0mputer Operating Systems)

Aslin Beer Co in Alexandria, VA: I Don’t Know  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Jennifer Lopez Rom-Coms)

Kalypso’s Sports Tavern in Reston, VA: Humble Squids  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Military Aircraft)

Steinhardt Brewing in Frederick, MD:  Just Good Enough  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Triple 50/50: ACC or Big Ten Mascot?)

Mile 20 at the Breeze in Herndon, VA: Vapors  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: SEC Football)

Comus Inn in Dickerson, MD: Par Social  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: The Masters)

Mark’s Pub in Falls Church, VA: Hot Magma  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: 1960s British Pop Culture)