We’ve been “mostly” holding down the fort at Sticks Monday nights with just three players – which I like to refer to as our “Three Amigos” – myself, Mike and Brad. For Monday’s game, I had a potential “helper” message me before the game asking if I’d mind if he joined us for part of the game. But of COURSE you can! Our “guest star” for this game was Scott C., whom is no stranger to sitting in with our team from time to time – and even sat in FOR our team a few years ago when we had to miss a game at the YpsiAlehouse because we were “Up North!” Monday, he showed up just in time to help us get all of the visual round questions correct in game two and help us get the final correct (timing is everything). Sadly, the Cincinnati Bengals didn’t manage to win the sportsball contest with the Steelers Monday (Bengals fan Brad didn’t seem too bummed).

As for the game, we finished first for the night with 124 points – missed final 1 but wagered low on it (finished one spot out of the money in game one), and won a $15/first place gift card in game two (also wagered low on it but were one of only a couple of teams to get correct). We were only one point off a perfect score in game one heading into the final – the second game was a bit…rougher.

And here are the questions…assume they will be reasonable facsimiles of/abbreviated versions of the questions that were asked during the game, assume they may not have all been written down word for word, and assume that there may be additional qualifiers for some of the questions that were not written down. Audio questions will not be written down. Now let’s go to last night’s trivia game!

Game One

1. Slogans – “What can brown do for you” was the slogan for what company beginning in the 2000s? 10

2. Voices – What is the highest grossing movie at the U.S. box office featuring Dwayne Johnson in a voice role? We were sure of the movie that we wanted to put down, but not so sure it was his highest grossing “voice” role – we were like – “Was he in The Secret Life of Pets, was he in any other animated movie, yada yada…” So we got this, but for only 5.

Dwayne Johnson in Central Intelligence. My husband has a bit of a “man crush” on Dwayne Johnson! Note – a “man crush” does not mean gay – it just means an inner desire to want to “hang out” with a certain guy. Also Dax Shepard…  Who do I have a “girl crush” on? It might be fun to hang out with Amy Poehler! More about her in a bit…

3. NBA Stars – Who set a NBA record by scoring 100 points in one game March 2, 1062 against the New York Knicks? Yay Brad was all over this – (he’s normally not great with NBA but this was “old school” stuff that fell in his wheelhouse), got this for 6.

4. Stars – Seven stars with names referring to several different parts of bear anatomy (that I didn’t write down in their entirety) belong to a constellation also known by what Latin name? 9

5. Literary Characters – What daughter of Judge Thatcher is Tom Sawyer’s love interest in various works by Mark Twain? 8

6. Candy – What Hershey bar is described on its packaging as a milk chocolate English toffee bar? Can’t help but wonder if whichever question writer came up with this question after eating one of these! Got this correct for 7.

7. Actors – What actor who received multiple Golden Globe nominations in the 1980s for his TV roles starred in the Left Behind film series and other faith’based movies? Got this for 1 – my rationale was, “This guy got really churchy later on.”

8. Tourism – The town of Churchill, Manitoba has a thriving tourism sector centered around visitors coming to see what animal? Facebook clue, 4.

9. ’60s Albums – What British rock band featuring Eric Clapton released the 1967 album Disraeli Gears which includes their highest-charting song on the Billboard Hot 100? Brad and I discussed two possible bands that Clapton was in – and two possible hit songs. Because of some… “sexy” knowledge pertaining to Eric Clapton and George Harrison’s wife Pattie Boyd (whom Clapton pursued aggressively while Harrison and Boyd were married), we were able to rule out the “other” band…(there was some lewd hand gesturing by me involved in this brainstorming), got this for 3.

10. Labor – International Workers Day is also known by what rhyming name based on the month in which it falls? 2

For the “nerd” point, we had to figure out what the common theme was for all of these questions. We failed…(so did all of the other teams, apparently).

Mystery – Audio

Clips of four different movies that won the Academy Award for best picture were played, had to ID the movie. Got all of these (nice teamwork – Mike wisely talked me out of one of my guesses which would have been incorrect). I did NOT write down the quotes that were presented to us word for word, but I did go to imdb and found quotes from the movie (don’t say I never do anything nice for you readers)!

1. We don’t have a choice, Robby. If we don’t rush to print, somebody else is going to find these letters and butcher this story. Joe Quimby from the Herald was at the freaking courthouse!

2. Three weeks from now, I will be harvesting my crops. Imagine where you will be, and it will be so. Hold the line! Stay with me! If you find yourself alone, riding in the green fields with the sun on your face, do not be troubled. For you are in Elysium, and you’re already dead! (I actually think this was the exact quote that was played).

3.  I’m only very sorry to leave you at this great time of crisis. I’m very much afraid, sir, that your greatest test is yet to come.

4. Mornin’, Miss Daisy. I think it’s gettin’ ready to clear up out there! Oh, ‘scuse me, Mr. Werthan! (I know this CAN’T be the quote that was played because it pretty much gives it away, but maybe I wanted to make this easy).

Got all of these…we almost went with the 1995 Academy Award winner, but Mike knew that one of the words was more associated with the 2000 best picture winner. Teamwork!

Scores – Eight teams, scores 47 to 66, with us in first. Stop the Bus was right behind us in second with 65, and Peas Above Stick were in third with 63.

Final Category – National Parks

We had a BRUTAL national parks question at The Owl a couple of weeks ago but didn’t want to wager zero, so we wagered…six points (it made sense to us at the time and no we didn’t roll a d20 to figure out our wager).

Which U.S. state is not home to any of the 61 U.S. National Parks, but is located within close vicinity of the two newest National Parks? These parks were established within the last 2 years and are both located a short distance from this state’s border.

We were NOT even close in our guess. What’s funny is Mike and I actually visited this “new” national park back in August! An overly “perky” parks worker in the visitor center actually helped map a driving tour for us after seeing us eyeballing the map of the park…I would describe her as a real life Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler’s character from Parks and Recreation). I mean…sometimes you have to BEG to be helped – if you’re say, in a “big box” store selling everything from duct tape to… actual ducts – and here we were getting such “personal” service from this parks employee (you really had to be there)!

Nobody got this correct…We finished with 60, Spartans finished with 61 and Stop the Bus finished first with 65 (zero bets were a good idea).

Game Two

1. Jobs – What is the seven-letter word for a person who mends shoes for a living? We had a similar question in the My Trivia Live semifinals in April, which asked what a leprechaun’s typical occupation was. Which happens to be…this occupation! 10

2. Bands – Brittany Howard is the lead singer for what blues band whose song “I Don’t Wanna Fight” won two Grammy Awards in 2016? Nope….

3. Words – The word “pixel” was coined in the late 1960s as a combination of what two words? Miss.

4. Coffee – What diet trend combines coffee, oil and butter as a substitute for breakfast and claims to prevent hunger and provide lasting energy and better mental focus? Nope, trendy diets are NOT in our wheelhouse…

5. City Nicknames – Which U.S. state’s capital city has been called the “Berkeley of the Midwest?” Brad came up with right guess right away, but we discussed every single possible Midwest capital city just to be sure that – say the answer couldn’t be – Des Moines (nope), Bismarck (nope), Indianapolis (definitely no) – so and and so forth…got this for 9.