The My Trivia Live season wrapped up Sunday, March 31, so Monday’s game at Powell’s Pub was “off the books” (it was a “bye” week). Still, Monday was a good night for three of us to hit up the trivia scene, so we…hit up the trivia scene! No prizes, shout out to Ham Wallets for not only taking first for the night, but also being the qualifying team from Powell’s in the upcoming semifinals April 20.

We haven’t played to qualify for semis/finals in the MTL league for a couple of seasons now, and that trend is likely to continue when the new season begins April 8. We’ll continue with our “beer money or bust” game strategy, visiting our favorite trivia spots with hopes only to win some prize money. A couple of us managed to find spots on another MTL team last season as “hired guns,” when we played with the Canton-based MTL team “We Concur.” One of us will be helping out another MTL team – the Canton based “Squirrels” team –  in the April 20 semifinals! Now we’re trying to think of a clever team that involves squirrels – and cephalopods. “Squid and Squirrel” has been suggested (it’s an older “Bullwinkle” pop culture reference, but it still checks out, and older MTL players will likely get the reference). Still a work in progress, we have plenty of time to think!

Bullwinkle is more of my dad’s “thing,” but I’m at least familiar with it for its pop culture significance!

As for the game, it was kind of a rough question set for our “trio” of players, though the six players on Ham Wallets seemed to do well with the questions, even getting a tough French cooking terms question correct. “The guys” I played with (Mike and Brad) would’ve done quite well on most of these questions without me, but they did need my help with one of the round six questions (great to feel needed)! Though I did cost them a point by incorrectly guessing the bonus question answer (boo)!

Questions, questions….oh yes, how about the game questions? Most will be abbreviated.

Round One

1. Condiments – Mustard is derived from what kind of seed? 5

2. Minerals – What mineral do cubic zirconia producers hope to emulate?  Host Stacy pointed out that the answer players needed to write down is not necessarily a mineral after our slips were handed in…3

3. Circles – What is the name of the diagram denoting similarities and differences between two things that consists of circles? 1

Round Two

Yay, we had another Tasmanian devil question!

1. Continents – To which continent is the Tasmanian devil a native? 5

2. Cleaning – Which cleaning item shares its name with marine creatures under the name porifera? 3

3. Amusement Parks – Cedar Point is located in which U.S. state? For a three point bonus, in what decade was the Coney Island roller coaster The Cyclone officially open to the public? No teams got this correct, our guess was only off by one decade (we went a decade too early), miss for 1.

Round Three

1. Animal Terms – A tetrapod is an animal that has or has had how many feet? 5

2. In the Bedroom – According to 2017 research, what size mattress is the most popular in the U.S. for adult beds? When considering our answer, we mentioned hotels, motels, and…brothels. I asked, “Do they actually use beds in brothels, or do they just conduct business transactions while shoved up against a wall?” Got this for 3.

A “blog exclusive!” “Wall sex” scene from Basic Instinct, featuring an actor from “Wall” Street!

3. Novels – What character from a 1876 novel attends his own funeral while still alive? Missed this on a coin toss, though we were thinking of a character from the correct novel, miss for 1 (nice try, Mike).

Halftime – Identify the original language for the following pairs of terms.

H1 – Tornado/plaza

H2 – Democracy/acrobat

H3 – Detour/alphabet

H4 – Algebra/monsoon

I had the right answers for 2, 3 and 4 right away, and Mike had the correct answer for #1 right away. But we went with Mike’s answer for #2 instead of mine, so we only got six points instead of 10 on this round. Committee thinking – the bane of bar trivia!

Halftime scores: Six teams, scores 20 to 34, with Francis (aka Says Who) in first. We were in third with 31, just two points behind Ham Wallets, and one point ahead of two other teams.

Round Four

1. Football Firsts – What was the first professional football team to have a logo on its helmets, doing so in 1950? Newsletter answer, 6.

2. Fast Food – What two words follow “We have the meats” in TV ads for Arby’s? We were close in our guess but no horsey sauce, miss for 4.

3. British Slang – What word, which might be construed as an insult in the United States, is British slang for a pacifier? We put in an incorrect guess of “sucker,” unsure if any teams got this, miss for 4.

Round Five

1. TV Executives – What former NBC president/CEO recently became president of CNN? We don’t really keep up with the goings on of TV executives, so we put down the name of the only TV guy we could think of, which was Chuck Lorre, miss for 2.

2. Soft Drinks – This question was worded very, very strangely, so I’m going to offer up my “rewrite” on this one: What specific way has Mountain Dew been abbreviated on its containers since 2008? Again, close but no jerky – miss for 4.

3. Africa – What new country branched off from an existing African country and became the newest country in the world in 2011? Got this for a much needed six points. And we started brainstorming about the new “Mexican” countries we need to learn now, LOL…We suggested “French Mexico” as the new name for Haiti. Or should it be “zombie Mexico?”

Round Six

1. Companies – The Longaberger company’s seven-story headquarters resembles which one of its signature products? This was one of only a few questions in the game that “the guys” needed my help with, we got this for 6. If I had the money I’d buy this building (it was listed for sale in November, 2018). But then, I am kind of a… “basket” case (LOL)!

Now this is a bit more wholesome than that sex scene from Basic Instinct, isn’t it? Sadly, the Longaberger company has since folded. Apparently the market for overpriced baskets could not survive long term. My sister-in-law has a special basket that fits on her stairs (great for storing “stair clutter)”

2. Cooking – What French cooking term describes placing food inside a plastic pouch or glass jar and cooking slowly at lower temperatures? A whole lotta no clue, though we did guess “rotisserie” out of desperation, miss for 2.

3. Stadiums – “The Big House” is the second largest stadium in the world and is located at what university? Yes, this was really a question! We’ll take those six points, ma’am!

Scores heading into the final: Six teams, scores 32 to 65 with Ham Wallets in first, eight points ahead of us, who were in second with 57.

Final: What company based in California operates 50 restaurants in North America and is better known for its line of frozen foods currently owned by ConAgra Foods?

We put in a company which previously had restaurants (might still have some) and also has a frozen food line, but not the right one…we picked the company owned by Nestle, not ConAgra.

Final Standings: Says Who (low wager of 14), 38; Canadian, 56 (zero wager), and Ham Wallets, 130 (wagered it all and got it). Oh well, better luck next time?

When will our “next time” be? Thursday! We’ll be hitting Original Gravity for the first time in about a month, again with a “trio” of players, barring any last-minute call-offs or calamaties. For us, these days, that’s pretty much a “megateam!”  As always, Go Pods, and stay classy, Jeff Zucker!