X Marks the Spot at Weekend Trivia!

March 13, 2023

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Over the weekend, seven locations hosted a game of Pour House Trivia for a total of 78 teams.

FIRST ROUND:

The toughest wagering question in any first round came at the end on Saturday with this 2010s Showtime throwback:

  • This actress earned two Emmy Awards for her starring role as CIA officer Carrie Mathison on a Showtime drama that aired for eight seasons and ended in 2020. Name either the actress or the show in question.

Either Claire Danes or Homeland were named by 44% of the field, while 22% had both for bonus credit. A Name That Year offering on Friday was that round’s hardest. See if you can name the year in which this trio of events occurred:

  • The U.S. Mint introduces the Delaware state quarter, the first of the 50 State Quarters program.
  • The animated series Family Guy debuts on FOX.
  • Wayne Gretzky plays his final NHL game.

Just under three-quarters of our teams got within two years of that year, 1999, while 34% were exactly right with their answer. The most difficult bonus try came next on this residential question:

  • The White House in Washington, D.C. is the most visited home in the United States. However, which two landmarks rank second and third on the list of the most visited homes in America?

Only 8.5% of teams earned two extra points for naming both Graceland and Monticello. In other first-round action, we discussed Labor Day, Keiko the Orca from Free Willy, and the radioactive notebooks of Marie Curie. Ten Thousand Dugongs (Mason) and Lone Strangers (Mason) were the only perfect teams in this round.

SECOND ROUND:

Our audio clues this weekend offered up a trio of titles that start with the letters Jo, celebrities namedropped in song lyrics, and three song titles that each rhyme with each other (namely Uptight by Stevie Wonder, Dynamite by Taio Cruz, and Limelight by Rush). The latter clue came on Sunday, in which just one team had all three titles for bonus points. Friday’s round-two toughie came in its last question, Three Clues about the number 97; 60% of teams earned wagering points. A European governmental question proved to be difficult on Saturday:

  • Since November 2014, Nicola Sturgeon has served as the First Minister of which constituent country of the United Kingdom?

Sturgeon is the First Minister of Scotland, which had a success rate of 44%. Other topics covered in this round included the Capri Sun fruit drink brand, the four power pellets found on a Pac-Man board, and late journalistic trailblazer Barbara Walters. No teams achieved perfection in any second round over the weekend.

HALFTIME:

Various and sundry topics in weekend halftime sheets included Mediterranean countries and their capital cities, matching TV series to the year in which they each premiered, and films with four-letter titles. A tough Saturday page brought the average weekend score down to 15.8, while 12 teams went 20-for-20 on their respective halftime. These teams were the overall top six at the halftime intermission:

  • Ten Thousand Dugongs (Mason): 90
  • Lone Strangers (Mason): 90
  • Fresh Off the U-Haul (Flying Ace): 89
  • Hey, That’s My Bike (Mason): 88
  • Vandelay Industries (Garage): 88
  • Sexual Chocolate (Garage): 87

THIRD ROUND:

Each night’s third round featured a question that was at least tied for the least-successful in its game. Friday’s was a three-parter in which teams had to name the last name shared by these three real-life people:

  • 1)  This historic figure who died in 1831 was the focus of the 2016 film The Birth of a Nation.
  • 2)  This female singer was born with the real name of Anna Mae Bullock.
  • 3)  This actress portrayed Chandler’s drag queen father, performing under the stage name Helena Handbasket on Friends.

Two-fifths of the field knew they were all surnamed Turner, while 22% picked up all three first names for a bonus: Nat, Tina, and Kathleen. On Saturday, this question about a famous sample proved tough:

  • The Ray Charles hit I Got a Woman was used as the main sample for what rap song that topped the Billboard Hot 100 Chart in 2005?

The Kanye West song Gold Digger was named by 44% of teams, with two earning extra credit for correctly providing the album it debuted on, Late Registration. Questions in Sunday’s game about the alkali metal group of the periodic table and 2022 Stanley Cup champions Colorado Avalanche each had success rates of exactly 50%. We also supplied questions about Keurig‘s venture into in-home alcoholic drink systems, Three Clues about Robert Frost, and kids’ game show Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?. As with the previous round, a perfect score eluded the field here.

FOURTH ROUND:

Frank Sinatra and Duran Duran were each guessed by several teams from a single clue in weekend 6-4-2 questions; however, nobody was able to do the same on Sunday for a clue about malaria. The most difficult wagering chance in the fourth round came on Sunday:

  • In 1986, which cofounder of a successful computer company purchased LucasFilm’s Graphics Group and established it as an independent company named Pixar?

Half of the field named Steve Jobs for wagering points. A Friday NFL question also ended up playing tough:

  • As of Friday morning, which three teams had the first three picks in next month’s NFL Draft due to their poor performances in the 2022 regular season? One team represents the AFC while the other two are part of the NFC.

As Friday’s game was beginning, news broke that the Carolina Panthers had traded for the first overall pick in the draft; however, as of the morning, those three teams were the Chicago Bears, Houston Texans, and Arizona Cardinals. Wagers went out to 54% of the field, while 20% knew all three for bonus points. The origins of the phrase dystopia, the recent NASCAR Daytona 500, and the salamander were also covered in this round. A weekend-high six teams were perfect in this round. We headed into the final questions with these teams atop the standings:

FRIDAY’S FINAL QUESTION (37.14% success rate):

  • What U.S. city is home to the St. Charles Line, the nation’s oldest operational street railway, designated a National Historic Landmark in 2014?

SATURDAY’S FINAL QUESTION (29.63% success rate):

  • As the predominant naturally occurring form of glucose, which chemical compound derives its name from the Latin for right side?

SUNDAY’S FINAL QUESTION (18.75% success rate):

  • The phrase X marks the spot became a common cliché when it was used in a novel originally titled The Sea Cook: A Story for Boys. That novel was renamed to which more well-known title a year later?

The St. Charles Line is found in New Orleans, that chemical compound is dextrose, and The Sea Cook: A Story for Boys is much better known as Treasure Island. The only Perfect 21 team all weekend did so on Saturday: Quality Guesswork (Pretzel and Pizza) locked down right answers for all 21 wagering questions. At the weekend’s conclusion, these were the best overall teams:

Honorable mention goes out to Prost Group (Flying Ace), which played over the limit with more than seven team members in a 167-point effort.

WEEKEND WINNERS:

South Mountain Creamery in Frederick, MD: DC Swampers  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: World War I)

Dragon Distillery in Frederick, MD: Round Three, Not For Me  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Scooby-Doo)

Flying Ace Farm in Lovettsville, VA: Fresh Off the U-Haul  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: 1994 Dallas Cowboys)

Belles’ Sports Bar in Frederick, MD: PB & J  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: The Office)

Pretzel and Pizza Creations in Hagerstown, MD: Nerd Birds  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Female Saints)

The Garage in Frederick, MD: Sexual Chocolate  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Plantagenet Kings)

Mason Social in Alexandria, VA: Ten Thousand Dugongs  (NEXT WEEK’S FIRST CATEGORY: Northern Ireland)

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