It’s a good thing that our trivia focus as of late is to have fun and see friends (and their families) – and not dwell on those little details about trivia games that used to vex us back in the “long, long ago!”

Speaking of back in the “long, long ago?” Who remembers going out to bars/restaurants and playing pub trivia games? For those who remember doing that, who remembers seeing other teams have perfect games on a nightly basis? Do a lot of you honestly remember it being a really, really common thing for a team to post a perfect score in a trivia game? I’ve been playing pub trivia for several years, and I can honestly say that no, it’s not THAT common. It happens, but maybe I’d see it every couple of weeks or once a month, but no, not every time I went out to play. It was always a nice “feather in the cap” when it happened!

All of that has changed since the trivia games have gone “virtual.” Now it’s fairly common to have teams playing against us logging absolutely perfect scores. Sure, maybe the teams we’re playing against are just “that” good. Fair enough. But consider how it was in a pub trivia setting where a trivia host could keep an eye on the room and occasionally, even bust people who weren’t exactly on the up and up with their “smarts.” Can’t do that in a virtual game.

Again, all of this is fine and good if you’re just playing for fun like me and my friends have been doing for the past several months. But the more competitive trivia players have told me that they don’t want to play against players who might be getting “lifelines” during the game in the way of successful Internet searches that help them arrive at correct answers (which I think everyone will agree is just not fair – nobody likes cheaters in a trivia game). It’s going to be tough to win over that caliber of a trivia player and convince them to make the switch to virtual trivia.

I’d love to believe that nobody out there is cheating in a virtual trivia game, but it’s hard to ignore the elephant in the room (even if the elephant isn’t in the same room you are, and could be in another room thousands of miles away). But when you’ve seen so many perfect games, it kind of makes it hard to believe that some of these games (maybe not every single one) – might only be perfect because of a player’s savvy Internet skills – and not because of their smarts.

But enough about all of that! We all had a great time catching up – we even brought a new player into the “virtual” fold, and had a fun time reminiscing about the best decade of all – the 1980s! The theme was ’80s pop culture trivia. And what could be better than tying one on after a game when you don’t have to drive home? So how did our game go? It was “close” to perfect! We only missed one question all night – and wound up finishing in third, behind (you guessed it) two teams who tied for first with (you guessed it) – perfect scores! On to the questions:

1. Film Characters – What 1984 film, set during the holiday season, includes human characters named Billy, Kate, and Randall, and non-human characters named Gizmo and Stripe? Social!

2. Shoes – What brand of sneaker, named after an animal, is notable for having a small, zippered pocket on the side of the shoe? What was that pocket for? Storing a baggie of cocaine? Locker key? Maybe some loose change? A quarter for an Aldi shopping cart?

3. Holiday Music – What band released the 1989 album Merry, Merry Christmas, which spawned the singles “This One’s for the Children” and “Funky, Funky Xmas?” Kim the hero here…

4. Muppets – Who is the only “baby” character from the 1984 TV series Muppet Babies who has never appeared as a live-action Muppet? Again, this was all Kim…

5. Olympics – What American Olympic diver won gold medals in both events at both the 1984 and 1988 Summer Olympic Games? Good thing we couldn’t name too many other Olympic divers…

6. Quotes – Who is the title character in a 1985 film that features the line, “Be sure and tell ‘em Large Marge sent ya”? MY FAVORITE MOVIE OF ALL TIME!

7. Politicians – From 1981-1989, Dan Quayle served as a U.S. Senator from which state? Dang, we were hoping this question would be about Gary Hart!

8. TV Jobs – Nicholas Colasanto and Woody Harrelson both portrayed characters with the same job, though at different times, on what TV series?

9. Slang – What word that rhymes with “geek” was used to describe a geek who has undeniable sex appeal? This was our only miss of the night. Two teams wound up getting it correct. Even when we attempted to google the answer after we handed in our answer, it seemed pretty…obscure! Almost too obscure. I’m fluent in Valley Girl slang and passable at surfer slang, but I’d NEVER heard of this word before. Never heard it in a movie, never heard anyone ever say it…

10. Number One Songs – What 1986 single was the only #1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart by Robert Palmer?

Mystery – Anagrams Decipher the anagram to reveal the name of an actor or actress that was a member of the Brat Pack.

1. “Elite Size Move”

2. “Moodier Me”

3. “Handcart Cry Mew”

4. “Lowland Grimly”Got all of these…

Final Category – TV Awards

What TV series had its performers receive more nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series during the 1980s than any other series?

Got this, wound up in third behind two teams tied for first.

Tiebreaker question for the two teams that finished first: What was the list price, in dollars, of the Motorola DynaTAC 8000X, which became the first commercially available cell phone in the U.S. in 1984?

Next trivia game may be a ’90s music game next week. As always, Go Pods, and stay classy, Dan Quayle!