Welcoming Our Oldest Newest Venue at Tuesday Trivia!

Tuesday night featured an opening night game at our newest venue, which also happens to be one of our oldest venues!  Ramparts Tavern in Alexandria was the first Virginia venue in PHT history, and this great spot returned to the Tuesday schedule after a short hiatus…  of five years!  We last hosted a game here on September 30, 2014.  Believe it or not, three of the teams who played on that night were back at the bar last night as well!  With a huge opening night crowd of 12 teams at Ramparts, we welcomed a total of 153 teams across 22 venues.

FIRST ROUND:

We opened Tuesday’s game with a Three Clues question regarding the name Troy (e.g. Polamalu and the ancient city), before moving on to topics such as minor characters from the Harry Potter universe, the kiwi fruit, and the world’s most populous nations.  With few surprises in our opening stanza, we saw 17 teams run the table with 36 points.

SECOND ROUND:

Tuesday’s audio question featured three songs whose titles contain the word ‘candy’.  We listened to “Candy Girl” by New Edition, “Candy Shop” by 50 Cent, and “Sex and Candy” by Marcy Playground.  We continued with a look at the Emmy Awards won by Ed Asner, the leaders of post-Communist Russia, and the two versions of the film “The Thomas Crown Affair”.  Though none of the three bonus questions was particularly treacherous, each one yielded a success rate of under 25%.  As a result, only four teams swept the second round: Cell Phony Baloney (Charlie’s), I Am Smartacus (Quincy’s Uptown), Bizarre, Interesting, and Essential (Dudley’s) and Balls Out (Quincy’s South).

HALFTIME:

Film wardrobes and hip hop groups were the featured topics on Tuesday’s halftime page.  Ten teams notched a perfect score of 20 points, while the overall average reached a healthy 17.3 points.  At Tuesday’s halftime break, these teams sat atop the overall leaderboard:

• Bizarre, Interesting, and Essential (Dudley’s):  93
• Hipster Fashion Consultants (Dudley’s):  92
• Cell Phony Baloney (Charlie’s):  91
• Balls Out (Quincy’s South):  91
• MoMo (Cuginis):  90

THIRD ROUND:

We got a little sauced to begin Tuesday’s second half, as the third round began with a three-part question regarding geographic locales that share their names with condiments.  We also looked at the work of composer Antonio Vivaldi, the Saxons of Medieval Europe, and the Ernest Hemingway novel “A Farewell to Arms”, the latter of which included an incredibly difficult bonus question.  Only five teams could identify either one of the two lead characters from the book: Frederic Henry or Catherine Barkley.  After closing the round with a discussion of the first feature films to be produced by Nickelodeon Studios, we saw just one perfect score, as Breadsticks (Upper Deck) notched a hard-fought score of 36 points in the third round.

FOURTH ROUND:

Final round topics from Tuesday night included the history of Google, the 1971 Native American occupation of Mount Rushmore, the Seattle Mariners, and music groups or songs whose names include ‘Boy’ or ‘Girl’.  The final round also included the most difficult wagering question of the night:

–> If you change one letter among these two words, you’ll go from the land where Cain went to live immediately after killing Abel to a villain portrayed by Terence Stamp in the films “Superman” and “Superman II”.

Only 31% of our teams gave us the correct response of Nod and Zod.  In addition to that question, our teams also struggled to come up with bonus answers such as Sergei Brin and Edgar Martinez.   As a result, only three teams closed their night by running the table in the final round: Breadsticks (Upper Deck), Bizarre, Interesting, and Essential (Dudley’s), and Hipster Fashion Consultants (Dudley’s).  These were your highest scoring Tuesday teams heading into the final question:

• Bizarre, Interesting, and Essential (Dudley’s):  165
• Hipster Fashion Consultants (Dudley’s):  164
• Cell Phony Baloney (Charlie’s):  163
• Fawn Liebowitz’s Pallbearers (Charlie’s):  162
• Breadsticks (Upper Deck):  160

TUESDAY’S FINAL QUESTION (27.4% success rate):

–> Which future U.S. president was the only U.S. senator from a Confederate state to remain in Congress after secession?

Obviously, the correct answer to this question was a U.S. President who served after Abraham Lincoln, but only one of the first 12 Commanders-in-Chief who followed Lincoln was a Southerner.  Oddly, it was his own 1864 running mate Andrew Johnson, who was born in North Carolina and served Tennessee in the U.S. Congress.  Just over one-fourth of our teams earned wagering points on this final question.  Four teams answered every wagering question correctly on Tuesday night to earn the Perfect 21: How Did I Get Here? (Senor Tequila’s), Bizarre, Interesting, and Essential (Dudley’s), Hipster Fashion Consultants (Dudley’s), and Pearls of Wisdom (Shuckin’ Shack).  Here is Tuesday’s final overall leaderboard:

• Bizarre, Interesting, and Essential (Dudley’s):  177
• Cell Phony Baloney (Charlie’s):  175
• Hipster Fashion Consultants (Dudley’s):  174
• Fawn Liebowitz’s Pallbearers (Charlie’s):  174
• Screaming Death Monkey (Quincy’s South):  170
• What Could Go Wrong? (Casa Tequila):  166
• Pearls of Wisdom (Shuckin’ Shack):  166
• Balls Out (Quincy’s South):  165
• Adult Education (Shuckin’ Shack):  164
• Bonesaw (Topgolf):  164
• How Did I Get Here? (Senor Tequila’s):  164

An honorable mention goes out to Bucket of B.S. (Cuginis), who notched an impressive 175 points while playing ‘over the limit’.

TUESDAY’S WINNERS:

Champion Billiards in Frederick, MD:  See You Next Tuesday   (Next week’s first category: “Jack Ryan” – Amazon series)

Cuginis in Poolesville, MD:  MoMo   (Next week’s first category: Veterans Day)

Senor Tequila’s in Germantown, MD:  How Did I Get Here?   (Next week’s first category: Famous Weddings)

Shuckin’ Shack in Frederick, MD:  Pearls of Wisdom   (Next week’s first category: “King of the Hill”)

Topgolf in Ashburn, VA:  Bonesaw   (Next week’s first category: Triple 50/50 (J. R. R. Tolkien or C. S. Lewis?)

The Block in Annandale, VA:  Nat Pack   (Next week’s first category: “High School Musical” – AUDIO)

Upper Deck in Mount Airy, MD:  Steve Holt   (Next week’s first category: Colonial America)

Olney Winery in Olney, MD:  Starving Artists   (Next week’s first category: “Hamilton”)

Cheesetique in Fairfax, VA:  Fjords of Wally   (Next week’s first category: U. S. Department of Homeland Security)

Charlie’s On the Avenue in Alexandria, VA:   Cell Phony Baloney   (Next week’s first category: U.S. Gymnastics)

Vola’s Dockside Grill in Alexandria, VA:  High School Prom   (Next week’s first category: Law)

Funkstown Tavern in Funkstown, MD:  Irish Beer Mafia   (Next week’s first category: African Countries)

Dudley’s Sport and Ale in Arlington, VA:  Bizarre, Interesting, and Essential   (Next week’s first category: Men’s Figure Skating)

Quincy’s Uptown in Damascus, MD:  Wiley Coyotes   (Next week’s first category: Harry Potter)

Hometown Harvest Kitchen in Frederick, MD:  Half Nelsons   (Next week’s first category: “Hogan’s Heroes”)

Ramparts Tavern in Alexandria, VA:  TIE: Stamp Collectors / Hugh Jassol   (Next week’s first category: New York Mets)

Quincy’s South in Rockville, MD:  Screaming Death Monkey   (Next week’s first category: “The Good Place”)

Casa Tequila in Lovettsville, VA:  What Could Go Wrong?   (Next week’s first category: “Fleabag”)

Tommy Joe’s in Bethesda, MD:  Hunchbacks of Notre Gone   (Next week’s first category: Musical Instruments)

Union Jack’s in Gaithersburg, MD:  Twerking For Shots   (Next week’s first category: Toto – band)

Outta the Way Cafe in Derwood, MD:  88s   (Next week’s first category: World’s Largest Lakes)

Miller’s Ale House in St. Petersburg, FL:  Magnificent Seven   (Next week’s first category: Ohio)