I made an attempt to get some of the members of the “old trivia gang” back together Wednesday night – though only one of the members of the “old gang” actually said yes – and one other player from our long list of “helpers” showed up to play, too (thank you David C. for joining us)!

It was actually a big event in our house Wednesday night, as we had our very first house guest since before the plague! Yes, other than that random garage door repairman who briefly came into the house to use the john a couple of months ago, we haven’t had any guests in our house since 2019! Our special “guest” this time was none other than Brad N., whom has played with our team since the very beginning. I think it was probably good for my husband to have someone else to talk to and joke around with besides me!

Some “Red Dragon Inn” characters

After our virtual trivia game, we played a round of “Red Dragon Inn,” which I actually won – which was surprising, because the bard character I was playing isn’t considered a very strong character! In the end, all it took was Brad’s half-ogre character Gog having to take a huge drink that he couldn’t avoid to knock his huge drunken ass under the table. My attempts to take him out monetarily through excessive gambling proved to be unsuccessful (that bastard has a lot of cards that help avoid gambling). Fleck having a good stash of coins helped keep Gog from forcing me to drink the “Gambler’s Grog,” which players can pay to pass to other players and force them to drink.

But back to trivia, shall we? Was this a “baby step” toward possibly venturing into a bar and playing a live hosted trivia game? Possibly! That is still something we’ve only begun to talk about. We played one live hosted game last summer, and a couple of our players have ventured out for live trivia games in bars recently. So that time is coming very, very soon!

In the meantime, the virtual games have been a nice evening diversion – and a means of playing with players who have moved out of state. In Wednesday’s game, we did quite well – missing only a one-point question and finishing in second overall.

1. Proverbs – According to an old proverb, what does a rolling stone not gather?

2. Reality TV – Which Jersey Shore cast member was adopted from Chile when she was six months old and raised in New York? Quote from Brad: “I can’t believe we got a reality TV question correct!” True dat…

3. Film Roles – In film roles during the 1990s, what Academy Award-nominated actor played a real-life German businessman, a real-life Scottish folk hero, and a real-life Irish revolutionary?

4. Safety – What Swedish automaker introduced the three-point seat belt as standard equipment in 1959? And the trivia host Jill was playing a song by a Swedish supergroup when we got back into the main session (I see what you did there)!

5. French – What two-word French phrase meaning “deadly woman” is also the title of a song on the Velvet Underground’s debut album?

6. Advertising – In an advertising jingle, what brand of deodorant encouraged users to “raise your hand” if they were free of underarm perspiration? Brad was a little amazed at how well I remembered this commercial jingle – what can I say – those Madison Avenue folks really knew how to get into my brain! Now would you like me to sing the Tato Skins jingle, too? 🙂

7. Presidents – Which of the following U.S. money denominations features the president who served earliest—dime, $5 bill, $20 bill, or $50 bill?

NERD POINT: Name that president.

8. Math – What is the 11-letter term for the numerical constant that is a multiplier in front of a variable in an expression or equation? When Mike and I play by ourselves, we are very hit or miss on math questions (usually miss). Thankfully Brad knew this one right away!

Anatomy – The Eustachian tube is located in which part of the human body?

Candy – What chocolate-flavored, chewy candy was named by Leo Hirshfield after his five-year-old daughter? Our only miss of the game for 1…

Mystery – Elements

Identify the Periodic Table element names based on the second letter in their names:

M1 – X (one element)

M2 – S (one of two)

M3 – N – (one of two)

M4 – Y (one of two)

Got all of these. We were tied with one other team with 63 points in second going into the final.

Final Category – World Leaders

Final: From 1957-1986, what Western Hemisphere country was ruled by the Duvalier dynasty, including a president nicknamed “Papa Doc” and later his son, nicknamed “Baby Doc”?

I’m unsure whether any of the other teams missed this one…

Well, that was fun, though I don’t know when we’ll be playing next. As always, Go Pods, and stay classy, all of you Haitian zombiemasters!