Thursday Trivia Sees the City Lights!

Twenty venues hosted Pour House Trivia this past Thursday for a total of 214 teams.

FIRST ROUND:

It took until the end of the first round to reach the first half’s toughest question:

• After a riot by inmates caused a four-day standoff, which prison located 30 miles east of Buffalo was stormed by New York state troopers in 1971?

About 45% of teams knew that prison was Attica, while bonus points went to just under 20% which recognized the 1975 film Dog Day Afternoon for using that prison’s name as a notable quote. Before that question, however, teams handled topics like Three Clues about the word fever, the accidental discovery of Teflon, and the 272nd birthday of former U.S. President James Madison. Six teams went perfect through the first round.

SECOND ROUND:

After an audio clue which showcased three actors portraying the Joker of Batman fame and the NBA Finals drought for 90s powerhouse Chicago Bulls, teams encountered this TV question:

• What are the two numerically-named current spinoffs of the tv series Yellowstone?

While 60% of the field knew at least one of those titles (1883 and 1923), a little more than a quarter of our teams knew both for bonus points. The round wrapped up with questions about the Yankee Candle company and singer Meghan Trainor. A game-high 13 perfect scores were earned in this round.

HALFTIME:

Thursday’s halftime round contained coffee mugs with board game references, followed by a list of the ten U.N. member states with four-letter English names (such as Cuba and Togo). On average, teams scored a solid 18.1 points, while 33 teams reached the 20-point peak. Three teams tied for the intermission lead, but there were quite a few teams within reach:

• Pat Schroeder Kicks Butt (Kalypso’s): 90
• Let’s Get Quizical (Belly Love): 90
• Great Heathen Army (Brewery Fire): 90
• Me Fail English? (Mark’s): 89
• SIX TEAMS TIED WITH 88 POINTS

THIRD ROUND:

The second half began with a question about North Dakota and Montana, the two U.S. states which border the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, then a quick query about the festival of Holi found in Hinduism. The most difficult wagering question was a look into a certain physicist:

• Daniel Gabriel was the given name of what Polish-born physicist who is credited with inventing the mercury-in-glass thermometer?

Only 28% knew that invention’s why we call him Mr. Fahrenheit. Another small-screen question became a tricky one at the end of the round:

• James Spader earned the Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series in 2004 and 2005 while playing the same character on which two different legal-themed shows?

This was the least successful bonus question of the night, as 11% of squads named both shows: The Practice and Boston Legal. Only We the Peephole (Loudoun Kitchen) and Medieval Maladies (Solace Outpost) were able to record a perfect third round score.

FOURTH ROUND:

The night’s 6-4-2 involved the superhero Wonder Woman, and just nine teams earned all six points by knowing she appeared on the first independently-published issue of Ms. Magazine. We discussed a piece of 19th-century literature for Thursday’s toughest wagering question:

• Written in 1842, which horror genre short story has a five-word title and depicts the torments endured by a prisoner of the Spanish Inquisition? You may name the story or its author.

Roughly 27% of teams received the wager for knowing either The Pit and the Pendulum or author Edgar Allan Poe, but 14% went ahead and named both for bonus credit. Other topics in this round included men’s and women’s Olympic gymnastics disciplines the floor exercise and vault, the fashionable bolo tie, and Ozzy Osbourne song (and Johnson’s Baby Shampoo slogan) No More Tears. This round featured nine perfect team scores. We reached the final question with this top five on the scoreboard:

• We the Peephole (Loudoun Kitchen): 166
• Great Heathen Army (Brewery Fire): 164
• Me Fail English? (Mark’s): 161
• Vapors (Mile 20): 161
• I Don’t Know (Aslin): 159

FINAL QUESTION (64.49% success rate):

• Which performer is the only male actor on the American Film Institute’s list of the greatest screen legends with an alliterative name?

With a final question more than ten times as successful as the previous Thursday’s, almost two-thirds of the field correctly named Charlie Chaplin. Five teams turned in a Perfect 21 effort for this game, each squad able to provide right answers for all 21 wagering questions. At the end of the night, these were the highest-scoring teams across our locations:

• I Don’t Know (Aslin): 171
• We the Peephole (Loudoun Kitchen): 171
• Monty Trython (Mark’s): 170
• Cat in the Chat (Loudoun Kitchen): 170
• Comfortably Dumb (Loudoun Kitchen): 170
• Purr and the Kitty Kats (Solace Outpost): 168
• Triviasaurus Rex (Olde Mother): 166
• Great Heathen Army (Brewery Fire): 166
• Wilson Countersink Flanges (Crooked Run): 166
• Pat Schroeder Kicks Butt (Kalypso’s): 166

THURSDAY’S WINNERS:

Smoketown Brewing Station in Brunswick, MD: Painful Burning Sensation  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: 1980s Action Films)

Fourscore Beer Co. in Gettysburg, PA: Lucky Number Seven  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Bluegrass Music)

Michaux Brew in Waynesboro, PA: Save the Clock Tower  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles)

Champion Billiards in Frederick, MD: Crabcakes  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: 1980s Music Videos)

Loudoun Kitchen and Bar in Leesburg, VA: We the Peephole  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: 95th Academy Awards)

Olde Mother Brewing in Frederick, MD: Triviasaurus Rex  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Ted Lasso)

Belly Love Brewing in Purcellville, VA: Hillbilly Geniuses  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Avatar: the Last Airbender (TV series))

Solace Brewing in Sterling, VA: Scotty Doesn’t Know  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Glue)

Brewery Fire in Taneytown, MD: Great Heathen Army  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Periodic Table Word Play)

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

Solace Outpost in Falls Church, VA: Purr and the Kitty Kats  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2)

Interchange Tiki Bar in Williamsport, MD: Shirts and Skins  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Wes Anderson Films)

Bear Brick Oven Pizza in Silver Spring, MD: Flux Capacitors  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Marathons)

Preston’s Pub in Manassas Park, VA: We Are Bob  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Mel Brooks Films)

Aslin Beer Co in Alexandria, VA: I Don’t Know  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Kings of Pontus)

Kalypso’s Sports Tavern in Reston, VA: Pat Schroeder Kicks Butt  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Aaron Sorkin)

Steinhardt Brewing in Frederick, MD: Just Good Enough  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Magnum P.I. (original))

Mile 20 at the Breeze in Herndon, VA: Vapors  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Troy McClure Films)

Comus Inn in Dickerson, MD: Puck’s Not Here  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Film Creatures)

Mark’s Pub in Falls Church, VA: Monty Trython  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: American Art)