As March Madness rolled in, Pour House Trivia kept the games rolling with three nights of trivia last weekend to coincide with the start of “the tournament”.  Across three nights of games, it was clear who the top team was this weekend!  Check out the recaps:

WEEKEND STATS AND FACTS (39 teams across four venues):

–> Highest Overall Score: Uncle Jack (Belles’) with 165

–> Highest Score after Round 4: Uncle Jack with 162

–> Highest First Half Score: Uncle Jack with 90

–> Perfect 21 (correct on all wagering questions and final): Uncle Jack

–> Uncle Jack and Give Us Your Beer Money were also the only teams to score 20 points on any of our halftime pages, which played to an average of 14.3.

–> Smarty Pants and Give Us Your Beer Money were also the only teams to score six points on our 6-4-2 question regarding Quentin Tarantino’s early life and career.

SATURDAY’S FINAL QUESTION (33.3% success rate):

–> At the time of Grandma Moses’ death, John F. Kennedy was serving as U.S. President.  At the time of her birth, which Democrat was our President?

SUNDAY’S FINAL QUESTION (50.0% success rate):

–> When using PROPER Roman numeral notation, there are only eight numbers which use each Roman numeral exactly once each.  What are the lowest and highest of these eight numbers?  (you’ll find the answers later in this blog)

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Springfield Manor Winery in Thurmont, MD

Today I had the fortunate pleasure of substituting for Chief at the beautiful Springfield Winery.  The competition was intense, with a couple of surprises here and there throughout the night.  The Adorable Deplorables took an early lead followed by a four way tie just two points behind them.  Breakfast cereals was the difference maker in the first round with only the Adorable Deplorables knowing that Sonny was the mascot for Cocoa Puffs.  Round two thinned the field out a bit: keeping the Adorable Deplorables on top after the puzzle page, giving sole possession of 2nd to Breakfast for Dinner (always a good option) and 3rd place to my Drinking Team has a Trivia Problem.  Adorable Deplorables and Breakfast for Dinner were the only teams to get the puzzle page perfect in this field of 11 teams.

Round three saw much of the same with the field staying extremely tight, and the top three staying the same with fourth place being the Yunzers. The Yunzers, unfortunately were not eligible for the prizes since they were a member or two, or five above the max team size and refused to split up because of their comradery! The spirit of good-natured trivia and competition was definitely alive at Springfield Winery!

The final round truly brought out the game changers.  Questions 3 and 4 both were answered by less than half of the field and brought about lead changes going into the final question. Cut to the Chase was apparently a phrase not in everyone’s lexicon and late night television is apparently not a big interest to those at the winery! Yunzers stole the lead going into the final question with the Adorable Deplorables in 2nd and a tie for 3rd with My Drinking Team has a Trivia Problem and Witless Wonders!

The final question was missed by over half the field including some of the leaders! My Drinking Team Has a Trivia Problem snuck into 1st, Breakfast for Dinner took 2nd with the Adorable Deplorables rounding out the top 3.

For our next game in two weeks (March 31), we will begin with a question on U.S. State Birds.

~ Scott

Belles’ Sports Bar in Frederick, MD

It sure was great to see you all again here at Belles’ Sports Bar for another fine evening of Pour House Trivia.  Sorry I was a bit under the weather, I felt as though I was a bit less engaging than usual.  Our first round tonight did a few things for us.  First, it provided the origin of the expression “Catch-22”, being a fantastic book written by author Joseph Heller.  Second, it confirmed that Bill Clinton does have a “thing” about cylindrical shaped objects, placing a Twinkie in the Millennium Capsule.  Our first category referenced a lesser known Disney animated film, and we also examined some familial titles, including this dysfunctional pairing as feature in the 1981 drama, “Mommie Dearest”:

Round two featured an audio clue with a monetary theme, we also “had no need to fear, Underdog is here”, we also saved Sweet Polly Purebred in the process.  The was “no sanctuary” when it came to our L.A. question, a hockey rivalry between the Kings and the Ducks, which our players answered fairly well, but only a couple of teams could also name both of their home venues.  Thankfully, our “Ring” horror film question was not a video clue, we topped it all off with these 21st century ladies, a fashion doll line that’s been around since 2001:

Our third round dove into yet more “March Madness” trivia, reminded us of just how much Facebook has a hold of our lives, and remembered one of the first acts to be (technically) classified as heavy metal, Jethro Tull.  By this point, I was really starting to “feel like a dead duck”.  Our biggest miss of the night was Androcles’ lion, with most folks saying his two encounters were with a bull.  Lastly we visited Northern Ireland and it’s great city of Belfast. History buffs would get a former tourism slogan for Ireland popular in the 1980’s. “Come to Ireland, we invited you.”

Our final round breezed by fairly well, covering topics like the latest installment of Zelda for the Nintendo Switch, Richard Nixon’s coining of the political phrase “silent majority”, and germs, a particularly frightening concept for famous aviation pioneer and philanthropist Howard Hughes.  Did he eat cereal grains there towards the end, I think he just relegated his nutritional intake to milk. Finally we had “no failure to communicate” this classic Paul Newman film, though only one of the teams knew which Guns N Roses song referenced that famous speech:

Our final was a tough one about a very long lived American painter and just how many Presidents served during her lifetime.  Strategic wagering did help determine the final outcome, but only two teams could come up with James Buchanan.  Thanks again for coming out and putting up with my coughing, I’ll be taking lots of vitamins to back to normal for you next week.  Here are the results:

First Place:  Uncle Jack

Second Place:  Demented & Sad, But Social

Third Place:  Smarty Pants

Next week’s first category:  College Hockey

~ Ronnie

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Pretzel and Pizza Creations in Hagerstown, MD

We hosted a PACKED house for our Saturday night game at Pretzel & Pizza Creations in Hagerstown!  Just about all of our regulars were out, but we also had three first-time teams join in the fun as well!  With lots of teams, we also saw lots of ups and downs throughout the game.  But I was pretty surprised at how many teams struggled with the halftime puzzle page!  It wasn’t a struggle for Give Us Your Beer Money, as they were the only team to score a perfect 20 points.  The Arrondissements of Ouagadougou scored “only” 18, but maintained a slim lead thanks to a strong first round.

Give Us Beer Money kept things close in the second half, as their unique knowledge of Quentin Tarantino helped them be the only team to score six points on the 6-4-2.  However, that was not enough to overtake Arrondissements of Ouagadougou, who finished string to a take a four-point lead into the final question.  Finishing in third place was the Off Beats (ending their two-game winning streak), second place went to Give Us Your Beer Money, and even though they haven’t been in for a couple weeks, they came in like they never missed a week…  The Arrondissements of Ouagadongou were our first place winners!  Congartulations on becoming the first team in PHT historhy with four wins in one week!  Since they won’t be in next week, they decided to pick a winner’s choice category to mess with everyone else!  So… Dutch Politicians will be first category next week.  Good luck with that, and we’ll see who knows anything about that at Pretzel & Pizza Creations on Saturday!!

~ Jon J

 

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Captain Benders Tavern in Sharpsburg, MD

Coming soon…