Editor’s Note: Please see the comments for additional info about our conversation we had with the owner of this bar. I didn’t want to bog down this game recap with this…

For only the second time ever…we won a first place/$30 prize at Powell’s Pub on its My Trivia Live night! We’ve won a variety of prizes at this place, but have only managed to win the coveted $30 first place prize just once – and that was in 2016. We only began playing here weekly in January of this year, though we did play at Powell’s occasionally beginning in the spring of 2016. Despite flubbing a geography 101 question asking for the name of the longest river in the United States (d’oh), we managed to be in the lead at the half – and hold onto our lead at the end, thanks to a friendly “movies” final question. And being that we kind of dig the creepy stuff, we were very excited to get a “cults” category in round two – with a bonus question added to it! We might not be the most knowledgeable players when we get the doctor/cop/lawyer TV questions (curse you, Olivia Benson…curse you though it is kind of cool that Jayne Mansfield was your mama) and are hit or miss on Olympics questions, but we fare slightly better when we get questions about suicide cults! I remember when the “Heaven’s Gate” cult unsuccessfully tried riding the tail of Comet Hale-Bopp and boarding the spaceship to heaven in 1997…the Nike shoes, the jogging outfits, the purple blankets…I was working at a newspaper at the time and was able to read ALL of the AP wire stories about this! Quite riveting stuff! Our questions Monday had nothing to do with THIS particular cult, but we did just as well! Read on to see some of the bizarre questions we battled…
Round One
1. McDonald’s – What did McDonald’s install in the side of one of its restaurants in Sierra Vista, AZ in 1975, making it the first of its kind for the chain? 5
2. Symbols – What international symbol for peace symbolizes the letters “N” and “P” in semaphore code? Mike with right guess for 3.
3. Rivers – What is the longest river in the United States? Miss for 1. Yes, we missed this easy, easy question…never again! “As Cthulhu is my witness…we will never miss a U.S. geography question in trivia again!” LOL…Miss for 1.
Round Two
1. Baseball (ugh…sportsball…) – Who was the youngest person at 32 years and eight days to hit 500 home runs? And again, I had to step in to try answering this “sportsball” question without any of our “sports guys.” And OMG the name I wrote down turned out to be right! You think THIS was the most exciting “triviagasm” of the game? Nope! But I did exclaim loudly, “Oh my God I got a sportsball question right!” The team sitting next to us was very amused (you had to be there). Got this for 1. But considering which question will be next, we shoulda wagered more!
2. Food – What method for cooking a steak charred on the outside and rare on the inside shares its name with a U.S. city? Miss for 3. We were saving our 5 point slips for the next category which will be…
3. Cults – Believing himself to be its final prophet and establishing a cult in Waco, Texas; what was the name of the cult founded by David Koresh? For an extra three-point bonus, which Congressman was killed outside Jonestown right before the “People’s Temple” mass suicides in 1978? Got both…I remembered the congressman’s last name, but not his first (still got the points). And now I am obsessed with naming as many other famous people sharing that first name! Like the guy who did the 1970s song “You Make Me Feel Like Dancing…” I’m PRETTY sure my mom had that record…and I felt like dancing for knowing this answer, lol…

Actor Powers Boothe did a great job portraying People’s Temple cult leader Jim Jones. Absolutely haunting!

Round Three
1. Explorers – What Norse explorer was the first known European to explore North America? Mike almost wrote down the guy’s father, who settled Greenland, but I overruled him. IKR? Me overruling MIKE on a question like this? And an “explorers” question, at that? Me, who always thinks the answer is Magellan when it isn’t? And when it’s Magellan, I think it’s somebody else? Yes, I’m famous for f—ing up explorers questions…Seriously…what kind of madness is this? Pardon me while I try to escape this Bizarro Universe!  Got this for 5.
2. Novels – Who wrote the book “Contact,” on which the 1997 film adaptation was based? 3
3. Spokespeople – which veteran actor known for appearing in the films “Cocoon” and “The Firm also served as the spokesperson for Liberty Mutual and Quaker Oats? I read recently that this guy is also quite the singer…now go look for YouTube videos of the guy from “Our House” singing!
Halftime – Songs
Given the year and the artist, name the Billboard Hot 100 (top five) hits containing women’s names in the titles.
1. 1983 – Michael Jackson
2. 1995 – Deep Blue Something
3. 1965 – Beach Boys
4. 1989 – Aerosmith
Missed #2.
Scores at the half:
Says Who, 27; Ham Wallets, 24; Dan Smith, 26; Tigers, 28; One is the Loneliest Number, 29; ‘Pods, 32.
Round Four
1. Magazines – What was New York’s “Broadside” magazine concerned with? Newsletter clue, 6.
2. Entertainers – Fred Astaire received his only Academy Award nomination for performing in what film? I picked a movie from 1981, too late, miss for 2. Burn! Some of you might see what I did there…
3. World Leaders – Who became dictator of Uganda in 1971? 4
Round Five
1. Purple Heart – Who was the only U.S. president to receive a Purple Heart? 6
2. Awards – What was the first cartoon to receive a Pulitzer Prize, having done so in 1975? This was a Sporcle Live final question not too long ago, got this for 4. And this is one of many reasons I’m dedicating this game to my folks! 
3. Automobiles – Within one, how many years was Henry Ford’s Model T produced? I knew what year it began production on the dot, but we failed on what year it ended. Go ahead. Come at me in a Tin Lizzie at full speed and just run me over! What would the full speed be…like 30 miles per hour (hastily checks wikipedia)? Nope, 40-45 miles per hour. Miss for 2.
Round Six
1. Hall of Fame – In which U.S. state is the Hockey Hall of Fame located? Nope, miss for 2.
2. Currency – Beginning as far back as the early 12th Century, which country was the first in the world to issue paper currency? Mike with right guess for 4.
3. Toys – Celebrating her 60th birthday in 2009, which doll’s full name was Barbara Millicent Roberts? Easy finish for 6.
Scores – Dan Smith, 40; Ham Wallets, 42; Tigers, 48; Says Who, 52; One is the Loneliest Number, 59 and ‘Pods, 62. This is only the second game this season we’ve managed a score greater than 60, but then we’ve been mainly holding things down as just a duo here (though John has come out for a couple of games). With this score, we just managed to widen our lead, so we now are ahead of second place team Dan Smith by 29 points.
Final Category – Movies
Which 1979 movie, which won the Academy Award for best picture, also had Justin Henry nominated, making him the youngest actor nominated for an acting Oscar at that time? I started writing down the answer before George finished reading it (hey we’ve been kind of Slumpsville here and have been prizeless for the past three games). Photo tie in is from this movie. I was hard pressed to find “funny” photos from this one…
Special thanks to my parents for taking me and my brother to see this movie in theaters…as well as many, many other drama films. We had to graduate from “kiddie” films kind of quickly in my house! Yup – you’re too old for Disney, kids, so let’s go see “The Turning Point,” “Reds,” “Tess,” and (correct movie from final question). I can’t say the experiences were altogether bad (even if kind of boring, and not being able to understand some of the movies very well), they’ve certainly helped with some trivia questions!

This is the most “funny” picture I could find from this movie…actress JoBeth Williams and Dustin Hoffman (whose head is seen)

Final Standings: Dan Smith, One is the Loneliest Number, ‘Pods.
Until next time…which will be tonight, for a “special” engagement at McShane’s Pub. Gotta do it…or we do not live up to our team name Miskatonic University Fighting Cephalopods! See y’all in Wednesday’s recap! As always, Go Pods, and stay classy, Wilford Brimley!