Thursday’s Trivia Cup Runneth Over!

September 27, 2022

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Three different Thursday venues each welcomed crowds of at least 20 teams, leading to an overall field of 193 teams across 21 venues.

FIRST ROUND:

The first four questions of Thursday’s opening round were a breeze for our teams, as we discussed the sitcom Friends, the slang phrase kangaroo court, and the states located on either side of the Savannah River.  With dozens of teams headed towards a perfect opening round score, this college football question dashed the hopes of many squads:

  • Respective members of the Atlantic Coast Conference and Conference USA, identify either one of the two FBS schools (formerly known as Division I-A) whose official athletic nicknames contain the word Blue.

While most teams picked up wagering points by recalling the Duke University Blue Devils, bonus points were much more difficult to attain.  Local knowledge led the vast majority of teams to submit the University of Delaware Blue Hens as their second response, but the Blue Hens do NOT play at the FBS level.  Instead, only 14 teams tacked on two bonus points with the Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders.  Half of those squads used these final two bonus points to post a perfect first round score.

SECOND ROUND:

In an odd coincidence, the second round also featured numerous teams cruising through the first four questions before being stalled by the final bonus question.  To kick off the second stanza, we asked our teams to identify music groups with rhyming names, as we listed to Sweet Home Alabama by Lynyrd Skynryd, Cum On Feel the Noize by Quiet Riot, and Tubthumping by Chumbawumba.  Other second round topics included the sportswear company Billabong, the first name Linus (as in Linus Van Pelt from Peanuts and Nobel Laureate Linus Pauling), and the John Steinbeck novel East of Eden.  The aforementioned final bonus question of the round was easily the most difficult on the entire game:

  • For your wager, which type of oven includes a device called a magnetron?
    • 2-POINT BONUS: Which former Raytheon employee is credited with the invention of this device?

Not surprisingly, virtually every team earned wagering points with the microwave oven, but only THREE teams tacked on two bonus points by also knowing that Percy Spencer invented the microwave oven.  Not surprisingly, a perfect score eluded Thursday’s field.

HALFTIME:

Thursday’s halftime round asked our teams to identify famous horses and match U. S. Secretaries of State to the Presidents under which they served.  The overall average reached 15.2 points with six squads posting a perfect scores of 20 points.  At the halftime break, the leaderboard included this teams:

THIRD ROUND:

We began Thursday’s second half with our nightly Three Clues question, tossing these two clues at our squads:

  • CLUE 1: At less than seven square miles, this is the smallest U.S. state capital in terms of land area.
  • CLUE 2: It is named for the last English monarch from the House of Stuart.

Only eight percent of the field earned two bonus points by recognizing that these two facts refer to the Maryland capital of Annapolis.  From there, the third round eased up a bit on our teams, as we discussed the scarab beetle, the recent Fletch remake film starring Jon Hamm, the Mexican-American War, and the stage musical My Fair Lady.  Thanks to the Three Clues question, only two squads ran the table in Thursday’s third round by posting 36 points: Alley Cats (Solace Brewing) and Late to the Party (Solace Outpost).

FOURTH ROUND:

After visiting Switzerland in the 6-4-2 question, we moved on to final round topics such as the 2022 Los Angeles Dodgers, the Denver omelet, ocular malady known as cataracts, and a pair of Paul McCartney duets: Say Say Say (with Michael Jackson) and Ebony and Ivory (with Stevie Wonder).  To complete a recurring trend, we closed the round with its most difficult bonus question:

  • What is the one-word stage name of the actress who has now won two Emmy Awards for her lead role on the HBO series Euphoria?
    • 2-POINT BONUS: What is her last seven-letter name?

Arriving at the correct answer of Zendaya was no problem for most teams, but only nine percent of he field also knew that her last name is Coleman.  As a result, Alley Cats (Solace Brewing) posted the only perfect score in Thursday’s final stanza.  After four rounds of play, these were your highest scoring Thursday teams:

FINAL QUESTION (17.6% success rate):

  • According to tournament rules at an annual event held in Las Vegas, a regulation table for which game is eight feet long, two feet wide, and stands 27.5 inches high?

As expected, the most popular wrong answer on this question was craps, but our resident gamblers knew that a craps table is about four times as large as the dimensions stated in the question.  About one in six Thursday teams responded correctly with beer pong.  Two teams recorded a Perfect 21 on Thursday by answering all 21 wagering questions correctly: The Wright Stuff (Bear Brick Oven) and I Don’t Know (Aslin).  Give it up for our highest scoring teams from Thursday night:

THURSDAY’S WINNERS:

Smoketown Brewing Station in Brunswick, MD: Painful Burning Sensation  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Triple 50/50: Megadeth or Metallica?)

Champion Billiards in Frederick, MD: Abe Froman  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Letterkenny)

Loudoun Kitchen and Bar in Leesburg, VA: Cat in the Chat  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Groundhog Day)

Olde Mother Brewing in Frederick, MD: Alcoholics Unanimous  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Groundhog Day)

Belly Love Brewing in Purcellville, VA: Scott’s Tots  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: 1990s Rap)

Solace Brewing in Sterling, VA: Alley Cats  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Triple 50/50: Admiral or General?)

Bad Habits Bar & Grill in Martinsburg, WV: NO GAME THIS WEEK  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Rock Music)

Brewery Fire in Taneytown, MD: Five Heads, One Brain  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Queen Elizabeth II)

Fourscore Beer Co. in Gettysburg, PA: Street Sharks  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Hocus Pocus)

Crooked Run in Sterling, VA: YOLO Swaggins  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Epic Rap Battles of History)

Solace Outpost in Falls Church, VA: Pigcakes  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: The Black Death)

Interchange Tiki Bar in Williamsport, MD: Mashley  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Las Vegas Strip)

Bear Brick Oven Pizza in Silver Spring, MD: The Wright Stuff  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: The Munsters)

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

Aslin Beer Co in Alexandria, VA: I Don’t Know  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: From Page to Video Game)

Kalypso’s Sports Tavern in Reston, VA: Deep Fried Chuckles  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: 1980s Comedic Actresses)

Two Story Chimney Ciderworks in Gaithersburg, MD: B and B Fun Factory  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Saturday Morning TV Cartoons)

Ten Eyck Brewing in Queenstown, MD: Oh Captain, My Captain  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: )

Lake Linganore Association in New Market, MD: Dropouts  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Waking Ned Devine)

Mark’s Pub in Falls Church, VA: Jews in All Hues  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Theme Parks)

Earn $100 for Referring PHT

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