Who Wants to Be a Trivia Winner?

The crowds came out in droves on Monday night as we began the second half of the Summer Fling season.  Three of our eight PHT venues featured more than 15 teams!  Overall, Monday night’s games included 79 teams, some of whom experienced a true roller coaster of a game!:

ROUND 1:

We began Monday’s game with a question on the children’s novel “James and the Giant Peach”, before asking about actress Jodie Whittaker, who will taking an iconic British TV role later this year:

In December, Jodie will become the Thirteenth Doctor, and the first female to fill the role.  While most of our teams earned their wager here, only the true “Doctor Who” fans knew the name of the current actor playing the role, Peter Capaldi:

We followed with an unexpectedly difficult question for the first round, one which only 38% of our teams answered correctly:

–> Which American war was fought in five distinct theaters: the Eastern, the Western, the Pacific Coast, the Lower-Seaboard, and the Trans-Mississippi?

While popular (incorrect) guesses included the Mexican-American War and the War of 1812, the correct response was the U.S. Civil War, which was much more widespread than most people thought:

We closed the round by asking about these “MAG”-nificent celebrities:

Only four teams managed to sweep the first round with a perfect score:  H.R. Puff ‘N’ Stuff (DRP),  Worst Case Ontario (DRP), Killer Snails (Hershey’s), and Dusty Baker School of Management (Hershey’s)

ROUND 2:

Our audio question featured a novelty song which referenced this memorable film quote:

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PT20MU6WXs[/embedyt]

We continued with a question on this MLB rookie, who made quite a splash at this month’s Home Run Derby:

All rise for the major leagues’ current home run leader Aaron Judge.  The second round closed with its most difficult question:

–> Derived from the Book of Daniel, the words “mene, mene, tekel, upharsin” are the origin of an English expression meaning a sign of impending doom.  For your wager, name this phrase which also inspired the title of an Oscar-winning song from Sam Smith.

Only 29% of our teams earned points here by coming up with “the writing is on the wall”.  Because of that, only three teams swept the second round with a perfect score: Giant Meteor (DRP), Killer Snails (Hershey’s),

HALFTIME:

The top half of our halftime page dealt with pictures of ‘H’ foods, while the bottom half included a 50/50 round, asking whether or not certain TV theme songs were sung by the cast members.  While this page played to an average score of 16.8 points, only two teams notched a perfect score: Morgan Station (Morgan Inn) and Who R Those Guys (Uno Pizzeria).  At the halftime break, these teams recorded the top overall scores:

• Killer Snails (Hershey’s):  91
• Dusty Baker School of Management (Hershey’s):  90
• That’s a Niner (Greene Turtle):  87
• H.R. Puff ‘N’ Stuff (DRP):  87
• Del Ray Dummies (DRP):  87

ROUND 3:

The second half opened with the most difficult wagering question of the night, which is not entirely surprising considering the category was African Geography.  We asked our teams to name two of the three countries which border Lake Victoria, which is Africa’s largest lake.  Only 27% of our teams earned points here, with just five teams earning a bonus for knowing all three countries:

(photo courtesy of Encyclopedia Britannica)

We continued with a question on the Chubby Checker hit “Limbo Rock”, before moving into our Three Clues category, with tonight’s version dealing with a certain symbol:

CLUE 1: This symbol is thought to have been derived from the Spanish coat of arms, which depicts a banner and the Pillars of Hercules.

CLUE 2: In Scrabble scoring notation, this symbol indicates that a word is valid in North American games, but invalid in British games.

This proved to be our most difficult bonus question of the night.  Many teams ventured incorrect guesses here, while only ONE TEAM (Band Meeting from DRP) earned a two-point bonus.  Most of the teams that waited until the third clue earned their wagers withe correct response of the dollar sign ($):

CLUE 3: On a standard PC keyboard, holding down the shift key and the number four key will produce this symbol.

Finally, the third round concluded with this athlete best known a certain ‘video game’ nickname:

Adam “Pac-Man” Jones has had that nickname virtually since birth, as his mother noted that he sucked on his bottle with significant tenacity, much like the video game character of the same name.  Thanks to Lake Victoria, no teams earned a perfect score of 36 points in the third round.

6-4-2 QUESTION:

Monday’s six-point clue was also a toughie, as only five teams earned six points on the following clue:

–> I am a fruit.  Since 1915, I am sold commercially by the barrel in the U.S., making me the only fruit to be sold by volume rather than by weight.

The correct response?  Cranberries!

ROUND 4:

In a bit of a departure from the norm, the final round proved to be the easiest round of the night.  Four out of the five questions were answered correctly by at least 80% of our teams.  The only query to befuddle our teams was this question in the category of Restaurant Chains:

–> Deriving its name from Korean words meaning ‘my hometown’, what South Korean fried chicken restaurant chain opened its first U.S. location in Annandale, Virginia in 2002?

Even with a crossword-style hint offered, only 41% of our teams earned points here.  We closed the round with a Triple 50/50 question in the category of Dice Game or Card Game?  The games of Canasta, Oh Hell, and Sic Bo must be favorites of our field, as more than half of our teams knew all three correct answers (cards, cards, dice respectively) to earn a two-point bonus.  As a result, seven teams picked up perfect scores of 36 points in the final round.  Here are your top Monday scores after the final round:

• Killer Snails (Hershey’s):  161
• Dusty Baker School of Management (Hershey’s):  157
• Band Meeting (DRP):  154
• Men and Pausers (Morgan Inn):  154
• The Fan Club (Hershey’s):  153
• Arrondissements of Ouagadougou (Greene Turtle):  153

FINAL QUESTION (52.7% success rate):

–> This Cole Porter song was performed by Frank Sinatra and Celeste Holm in the 1956 film “High Society”.  More than 40 years later, it would appear as the title of a TV game show.  What is that song?

Sorry!  No lifelines were allowed for this answer:

Congratulations to Dusty Baker School of Management (Hershey’s), as the only team to score the Perfect 21 tonight by answering correctly on all wagering questions.  Here are your top overall scores:

• Killer Snails (Hershey’s):  170
• Dusty Baker School of Management (Hershey’s):  166
• The Fan Club (Hershey’s):  165
• Arrondissements of Ouagadougou (Greene Turtle):  165
• That’s a Niner (Greene Turtle):  161
• Worst Case Ontario (DRP):  161
• Men and Pausers (Morgan Inn):  160
• Tequila Mockingbird (Uno Pizzeria):  160
• B-58s (DRP):  159
• Giant Meteor (Cheesetique):  156

TONIGHT’S WINNERS:

DRP in Alexandria, VA:  Worst Cast Ontario  (Next week’s first category: English History)

Greene Turtle in Hagerstown, MD:  Arrondissements of Ouagadougou  (Next week’s first category: Chad Sings Billy Joel)

Morgan Inn in Woodbine, MD:  Men and Pausers  (Next week’s first category: Harry Potter)

Hershey’s Restaurant in Gaithersburg, MD:  Killer Snails  (Next week’s first category: Hippos)

Uno Pizzeria in Frederick, MD:  Tequila Mockingbird  (Next week’s first category: Cribbage)

Cheesetique in Arlington, VA:  Giant Meteor  (Next week’s first category: “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York”)

Adam & Eve Gastropub in Frederick, MD:  We’re Not Nicky  (Next week’s first category: Italian Geography)

Il Forno in Frederick, MD:  We Thought This Was Speed Dating  (Next week’s first category: The Beatles)