Well, mother said there’d be trivia games like these. Well…maybe not in so many words! If Monday’s My Trivia Live game at Powell’s Pub were a test? Let’s say we utterly, utterly failed (got only 53 percent of the questions correct, not including the final question…which NO teams got correct). If it were a kindergarten assignment, the teacher would draw a “frowny face” on the score sheet. Is this how kindergarten assignments are graded these days? That’s how it was back when I was in kindergarten! You either got a “smiley face” on your papers – or “frowny faces.”  In fact, the first time I was ever grounded by my parents was when they learned that I was throwing away all of my “frowny face” papers from school rather than taking them home (Mrs. Porter totally ratted me out for that one). That was when I had to learn to own up to what I did – even if I did an awful, awful job! Speaking of awful, here are the questions from Monday’s game. Don’t say you weren’t warned! You’re really not going to keep on reading, are you? I’ll bet you’re one of those drivers who rubbernecks on the freeway whenever something is amiss, don’t you? All right then, but you might want to grab a hanky! Just Mike and I battling the questions this time…we had just 41 points going into  the final, wound up in third with a $10 prize.
Round One
1. States – Which state is bordered by North Dakota, Wyoming, South Dakota and Idaho? 5
2. Presidents – Which U.S. president was born first in February – Abraham Lincoln – or George Washington? And they are super pissed that they have to share a holiday for their birthdays, lol! 3
3. Oceans – The Ring of Fire is located in which ocean?

Dragonmead Brewery in Warren, MI makes a beer called “Ring of Fire,” which has some hot pepper it. I tried some at a summer beer festival once – just a four-ounce pour. It would be quite tasty with Tex-Mex (or good to throw into a pot of chili)! Too many of these, however, and you might find yourself singing a Johnny Cash song on your way to the bathroom! 🙂

And thus ends the only round of questions we will get all correct! It only gets worse from here!
Round Two
1. New TV – What Fox network series features Angela Bassett and Connie Britton? 5
2. New Albums – Mania is the seventh studio album released in January, 2018 by what band? Nope, miss for 1. Mike said, “This sounds like a Sporcle question.”
3. Mobsters – What was mobster Charles Luciano’s nickname? For an extra three bonus points, in what decade did Al Capone die? Got first part, missed the bonus, so no points.
Round Three
1. Cartoons – What Nickelodeon series airing from 1996 to 2004 was set in the fictional series Hillwood? I said to Mike, “Let’s think about what animated stuff we watched during that time.” He had a better idea…”Let’s think about the stuff we DIDN’T watch.” He was on the right track with this thinking, but it didn’t help us come up with the answer!
2. Comedians – What comedic newcomer landed a gig as Groupon’s spokeswoman, and will appear in Super Bowl advertisements? This was the first of two “female comedian” questions that will kill us, insert knife…miss for 3.
3. Fast Food – Alvin Copeland started what fast-food franchise, insisting that it was named for a character from the film The French Connection, and NOT a cartoon character? Thankfully we got this, we had our five point slip remaining to use!
Haltime – Donnie? Or Mark? Given the following movies and release years, indicate whether Mark or Donnie Wahlberg appeared in the movies.
1. Zookeeper, 2011
2. Patriot’s Day, 2016
3. We Own The Night, 2007
4. The Sixth Sense, 1999
Knew #3 and #4 for sure. Consulted “the bones” for the other two, they were correct on one, but not both. So we wound up getting three of these right.
Scores: Five teams, scores 23 to 35, with Ham Wallets in first. We were in third with 25 points.
Round Four
1. Diamonds – Because of its large diamond district, what European city is known as the diamond capital of the world? Newsletter answer, 6. If you want a happy ending, stop reading here! We will not log any more points until round six! Fasten your seat belts!
2. CEOs – Marissa Mayer was once the CEO of what web service provider? Miss for 2.
3. TV Characters – What comedic actress played April on “Parks and Recreation?” We narrowed our choices down to two, and NEITHER ONE WERE CORRECT! Heard no cheering from the other teams, I’m guessing this was a stumper. The knife has already been shoved in, now give it a twist!
Round Five
The “You Pick” choices were poems. comics and dog breeds. The You Pick winner Francis picked dog breeds. Which, after hearing what the other two questions were liked, he picked the easiest one!
1. Dog Breeds – The Azawakh is a dog breed named for a valley in what desert? Overthought this, should’ve gone with our first guess! Miss for 2. Where’s our dog breeder Brad when we need him? On that note…where was he when we had this next question? 🙂 Yes, it’s going to be a rough go for some of our early games at Powell’s when we can’t get much of a gang together!

Here’s an Azwakh, which is a sighthound.  This means they hunt by sight, not smell – “See bunny, eat bunny…”

1. Athletes – What former MLB player, who has hit 500 home runs and has had 3000 hits, announced in January, 2018 that he wants to come back out of retirement, after having retired in 2005? No sports experts, so I just named a sportsball player whom I know had a lot of field goals. Or something…slam dunks? International caps? JK…I’m not THAT dumb! Though I am pretty dumb when it comes to sports stuff!
3. Historical Women – What does the letter “B” stand for in Susan B. Anthony? We knew it wasn’t a woman’s name, like Barbara, or Buffy. And we were very, very close in our guess, just didn’t have quite enough letters! Miss for 6. Hey…why are you still reading? You can pretend this round ended with us getting the six-point newsletter answer correct!
Round Six
1. Birds – What bird species’ larger species are called “greater” and the smaller species called “lesser?” Yes, this question really was this vague. Mike grumbled…”We have to waste our two pointer on a birds question?”
2. Novels – What 1963 novel by Charles Webb revolves around a character named Benjamin Braddock? And whatta ya know? A question I knew the answer to! I was so excited I started singing a bit of melody from a Simon and Garfunkel song! Yes, really…”Here’s to you….Mrs.(blank). I said to Mike, “Technically, I am Mrs. (blank).” Though legally I am not! Yes, getting this right was SO exciting…If I hadn’t been coming down with a cold, maybe I would have done a victory lap! Only one person from our team has ever done such a thing in a trivia game before, and that is David!
3. Song Lyrics – What Madonna song begins with the lyrics “Life is a Mystery?” Two question right in a row? Such a thing had not occurred since round one! Woot?
Scores – Six teams, scores 39 to 55, with Ham Wallets in first. We were in fifth with 41 points.
Final Category – Children’s Literature
Jill Murphy wrote a children’s book in 1974 and another in 2013, and these books have been adapted into TV series more than once. The most recent of which aired on Netflix in 2017.
Gotta know when you’re licked…we wagered zero.
Final scores: ‘Pods, 41 2525, 45; Ham Wallets, 55.
Until next time, which will be our Sporcle Live game Wednesday at Arbor Brewing Company. We’re in the midst of trying to dominate two different Ypsilanti bars this trivia season. We love a challenge! Also…we played an “afternoon delight” game Monday at the Canton Bistro, so I’ll have a recap of that game posted later on! As always, Go Pods, and stay classy, Mrs. Robinson!