Weekend Trivia Was Very Animated!

Seven weekend locations stepped into December games for Pour House Trivia, providing the questions for a total of 53 teams.

FIRST ROUND:

The two most difficult wagering questions in first-round action over the weekend both had to do with award-winning actors. On Friday, we had this question about actors in the film Pearl Harbor:

• The 2001 film Pearl Harbor featured which two cast members who had previously won Academy Awards? Respectively, these men won their awards for the films Jerry Maguire and Coming Home.

Just over two thirds of the field named either Cuba Gooding Jr. or Jon Voight, while 17% had both right answers for bonus points. The end of Saturday’s first round had its own tricky question:

• Morgan Freeman earned his only Oscar win for his supporting portrayal of Eddie Scrap-Iron Dupris in a 2004 film that also won the Oscar for Best Picture, while his most recent Academy Award nomination came for a 2009 film. Name either of these movies.

Freeman won for playing Dupris in Million Dollar Baby, while he most recently earned a nomination for the film Invictus; 36% of teams had one of those answers, but nobody was able to get both. Other topics in this round over the weekend included the epic Beowulf, the Dada art movement, and the many men of Pennsylvania and Virginia who signed our Declaration of Independence. Lone Strangers (Mason Social) was the only perfect first-round team.

SECOND ROUND:

The audio questions respectively covered musical acts singing about thunder, TV sitcoms, and various works with the word Wild in the title. At the end of Friday’s second round, teams faced this question:

• Which two former Olympic figure skaters have worked together as lifestyle commentators for NBC and the Food Network, reporting at high-profile events such as the Olympics, the Kentucky Derby and the Westminster Dog Show?

Those former Olympians are Johnny Weir and Tara Lipinski; 67% of teams had at least one of those names, but 35% earned bonus points with both correct answers. A pricey question came midway through Saturday’s second round:

• According to Forbes, who are the top two highest earning entertainers of 2022? One is a film director known for his fantasy films at $580 million, and the other is a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer who sold his five decades of work to Sony at $435 million.

While 36% of teams provided one right answer, nobody was able to name both Peter Jackson and Bruce Springsteen for bonus credit. Otherwise, we talked about moth balls, original Canadian NBA franchises Vancouver Grizzlies and Toronto Raptors, and the all-time most-watched Youtube video, that darn Baby Shark. This round had the most perfectos over the weekend, as five teams earned all 36 points each.

HALFTIME:

Some halftime round topics this weekend were actors in surprising roles, terms that end in the letters -one, and matching NFL teams to their current and former stadium names. A tough Friday halftime page brought the average weekend score down to just 12.3 points, but there were five perfect Saturday teams. At the intermission, these teams were in the lead:

• Lone Strangers (Mason Social): 91
• Ten Thousand Dugongs (Mason Social): 87
• Five Heads, One Brain (Springfield Manor): 84
• PB and J (Belles’): 84
• Slightly Agitated (Belles’): 83

THIRD ROUND:

The most difficult wagering query all weekend came in Friday’s third round, on this literary question:

• He is one of the most respected American poets of the 20^th Century, but might be just as famous as the inspiration for the stage name of folk singer Robert Zimmerman. What is this poet’s first and last name?

Only 14% of the field knew that man was Dylan Thomas, whose name inspired the man we most commonly know as Bob Dylan; one of those teams earned bonus points for naming Thomas’s 1951 work Do not go gentle into that good night. Teams over the weekend also encountered questions about the giant foot in the Monty Python logo, Three Clues about the word pieces, and the musical Brigadoon. Once again, Lone Strangers (Mason Social) had the lone perfect score here.

FOURTH ROUND:

We covered topics like the European nation of Finland, the first name Andrew, and the color blue for our weekend 6-4-2 questions. Fourth-round questions dealt with subjects such as the science behind the playground seesaw, Christmas beast Krampus, and cell phone brand Boost Mobile. Friday’s Three Clues question about late musician Barry White saw 41% of teams name him at any point, but only one squad have a correct early answer for two bonus points. A sporty question on Saturday was a tricky one for those teams:

• Which quarterback from the Pac-12 Conference is currently the heavy favorite to win the 2022 Heisman Trophy?

Teams could have named either that player, Caleb Williams, or his college, USC, for credit; 45% of teams got wagering points, while one team pulled out both answers for extra points. There were no perfect scores in any weekend fourth round. These teams led the pack ahead of the final question:

• Lone Strangers (Mason Social): 165
• Ten Thousand Dugongs (Mason Social): 156
• PB and J (Belles’): 154
• Dead Sea Squirrels (Mason Social): 146
• Five Heads, One Brain (Springfield Manor): 146

FRIDAY’S FINAL QUESTION (26.5% success rate):

• Apart from the United States, what is the most populous nation on Earth whose national flag consists of red, white, and blue, and no other colors?

SATURDAY’S FINAL QUESTION (9.1% success rate):

• Often depicted fighting with Perseus, the mythological figure Cetus gives its name to a constellation that is commonly known by the name of what animal?

SUNDAY’S FINAL QUESTION (75% success rate):

• In Spanish-speaking countries, which Disney film is known as La Sirenita?

That flag belongs to Russia, Cetus is more commonly known as The Whale, and La Sirenita is the Spanish title for The Little Mermaid. We had one Perfect 21 team; Lone Strangers (Mason Social) fired off right answers for each of our 21 wagering questions! They were the top overall weekend squad as well, followed by these other top-ranked teams:

• Lone Strangers (Mason Social): 169
• Ten Thousand Dugongs (Mason Social): 168
• Dead Sea Squirrels (Mason Social): 158
• PB and J (Belles’): 154
• WTF (Flying Ace): 152
• Five Heads, One Brain (Springfield Manor): 151
• Heavy Metal Parking Lot (Mason Social): 147
• Trash Can (Flying Ace): 142
• Real Friends (Mason Social): 141
• Multiple Scoregasms (Dragon): 140
• No MSG (Flying Ace): 140

WEEKEND WINNERS:

South Mountain Creamery in Frederick, MD: Misfits  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Disney Music (audio))

Springfield Manor Winery in Thurmont, MD: Five Heads, One Brain  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Fleetwood Mac Songs)

Dragon Distillery in Frederick, MD: Multiple Scoregasms  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Triple 50/50: Queen (band) or Queen Elizabeth II?)

Flying Ace Farm in Lovettsville, VA: WTF  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: The Beatles)

Belles’ Sports Bar in Frederick, MD: PB and J  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Saint Nicholas)

Pretzel and Pizza Creations in Hagerstown, MD: Quality Guesswork  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Wednesday (TV series))

Mason Social in Alexandria, VA: Lone Strangers  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Music Theory)

Coast Tacobar in Hagerstown, MD: NO GAME  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Star Wars)