This past Wednesday night marked the first time our trivia team played a “live” trivia game in Sporcleverse! Which of course means a live hosted Stump! trivia game, in this case hosted by Tim. We carefully planned our first live game “out” this time around – we wanted to pick a place close to home (check), a place very familiar to us (check) and a place that has, how shall I put it – “history” for us (double check)! Also a place where our teammate Brad could come out to play without us having to drive him to the game!

As it was, Arbor Brewing Company Microbrewery – known to locals as “Corner Brewery” checked off all of our boxes, so we were off to the trivia races! Turns out trivia nights are not as much of a “race” anymore, no thanks to the ongoing global pandemic. In the “before times,” players would have to arrive about an hour before game time to get a table. In the “now times,” there were still a couple of empty tables before the game started.

Boy do I remember how precious of a commodity it was to have extra chairs at your table in those old days (we joked about putting dummies in them to keep people from stealing the ones we were saving for our players)! No chair stealing shenanigans seemed to evident on this night… We picked a corner table and only had other tables on two sides of us. We had beer barrels right behind us – it was strangely comforting in a way (you had to be there)!

Special shout out to our longtime friendly trivia rivals Your Resume Sucks – who sent their team captain Terry R. (masked up, thanks for that) to talk to us – tell us how much they’ve missed having us to beat up on in games (I’m paraphrasing, he was actually very nice), and very generously give us their first place gift card they’d won in game one! Sniffle – I told myself I wasn’t going to cry – but yeah, getting someone else’s hard earned trivia booty? Yeah, that was touching! Same back at you guys! We’ve missed quite a few of our “friendly rivals,” and hope to meet more of them in trivia battles soon! Maybe before the end of the year? We do have one other place we shall try to visit in the near future (wink-wink)!

We finished in fourth for the night with 84 points, and the first half of the game was pretty disastrous – we missed an entire current events mystery round, and the final question about giant Macy’s balloons.

All of that commentary aside that most of you probably skipped – commence the questions!

Round One

1) Holidays – What is the latest date on which Thanksgiving can fall in the U.S.? Not a good way to start, miss for two. This whole round would not go well for us (SPOILER).

2) Albums – What singer-songwriter released the 1972 album “Harvest” which produced the singles “Old Man” and “Heart of Gold?” We plan to drink a mead named for this album on Thanksgiving, which is made from alfalfa blossoms and was lovingly made by our former (and sometimes current virtual teammate Sam)! Can’t wait to try it…Yes, we got this one right, though our team was mixed on whether this was a good album or not (I like the album, Brad and Mike not so much). Pfft…what do THEY know?

3) Football – What offensive formation that was popular in college football during the 1970s and 1980s utilizes a triple option attack and was given its most common name by former University of Texas coach Darrell Royal? Thank you Brad for your lovely sportsball knowledge…

4) Geography – What body of water forms much of the northern border of Turkey? Thanks Brad for this one too.

Mystery One – Visual

Round Two

1) What member of the Patuxet tribe is known for providing guidance to the Mayflower pilgrims and acting as a translator between them and local Native populations? He had previously been kidnapped and sold in Europe, where he received Western education, later returning to the New World to find that his tribe had been wiped out by an epidemic. We put his well known nickname rather than his full name, but still got credit (whew)!

2) Dessert – Which Midwestern state is the only one with pumpkin pie as its official state pie? We discussed a few options, but nope, missed this.

3) Symbols – What is the ten-letter term for the horn-shaped container filled with produce and flowers that has become associated with Thanksgiving and is a symbol of abundance?

4) TV Specials – In the TV special “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving,” Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Woodstock, Linus and three other characers share Thanksgiving dinner. Name two of those three other characters. I think this was a bonus question with an extra point if you got all three. We got two correct.

Mystery Two

M1 – Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade traditionally ends near the flagship store on what street, which itself is loosely associated with the holidays? D’oh, we missed this.

M2) Which two NFL teams have played more times on Thanksgiving Day than any others, by far? We got one, but not both, miss.

M3) According to Ocean Spray, as of 2017, Americans consume 400 million pounds of cranberries each year. Within five percent, how much of that total is consumed during Thanksgiving week? Nope, we went way too high on this (I think all teams missed this one).

M4) Which U.S. president was the first to proclaim a national day of Thanksgiving?

Final Category – Characters

In addition to Eevee from the Pokemon franchise, two characters will appear in giant balloon form at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade for the first time in 2021.

Name either of those characters, both of whom appear on series available on major streaming services.

We picked a character we would love to see in giant balloon form, but will probably never, ever be greenlighted by the parade planning powers that be – Rick from “Rick and Morty.” Anyone else want to see a giant Rick balloon?

So yeah, we missed this – which prompted me to say “This was our warm-up” game to my team (we will do better in the next questions)!

Round Three

1) Nicknames – Noted Wild West figure “Doc” Holliday got his nickname because he held a degree in what field?

2) Politicians – Kay Orr, Barbara Roberts and Nikki Haley were the first women in their respective states to hold what position in government?

3) Construction – What natural building material, common to the American Southwest, is a Spanish word meaning “mud brick?”

4) ’90s TV – What TV series that aired from 1993 to 2001 stars Dick Van Dyke as a physician who also works as a consultant for the local police department?

Mystery Three

M1) On Thursday, a rare copy of what document sold for more than $43 million with a crowd-funded effort of more than 17,000 donors coming up short in their effort to purchase the item?

M2) What Michigan city became the first in the U.S. to require that free menstrual products be available in all public restrooms in the city?

M3) On Friday, Natalie Morales signed off for the final time after 22 years with what network, which she is leaving to join “The Talk” on CBS?

M4) What item fills the blank in a quote from a video posted by Britney Spears on Instagram last week?

“I’m just gratefuly honestly for each day…owning an ATM card, seeing cash for the first time, being able to buy (blank)?

Round Four

1) Team Colors – Which NHL franchise has team colors including deep sea blue, boundless blue, ice blue, shadow blue and red alert?

2) Elements – Name one of the first two elements on the periodic table that have the letter “O” twice in their full names? Nerd point, name both.

3) Academy Awards – This was audio – we had to listen to someone giving an acceptance speech in which he talked about his gay drama teacher or something (sorry this is all I have). Had to ID the year within two.

4) Computers – What operating system released in 1991 uses a penguin named Tux as its mascot?

Mystery Four

Name the words that have three alphabetically consecutive letters, based on the clue.

M1) A place to record music or a small apartment

M2) To win victory over

M3) A blanket that is knitted or crocheted in strips or squares

M4) Fictional family in a trilogy by William Faulkner that includes The Hamlet, The Town and The Mansion

We were in a three way tie for first going into the final with 45 points.

Final Category – Actors

The Batman film series directed by Tim Burton and Joel Schumacher features four movies released from 1989 to 1997.

Name the three actors who play Batman in those films AND place them in order according to when they played the role, beginning with the earliest.

We remained in a three-way tie for first after this final question, and had to answer this tiebreaker question –

How many gallons of jellied cranberries are consumed by Americans between Thanksgiving and Christmas?

All of the competing teams were way off in their guesses on this one, but we were close enough to the correct answer to land in second and win a $10 gift card.

Well, that was fun! We’ll still be primarily a virtual trivia team for a while, but may occasionally venture out for “real” trivia battles! As always, Go Pods, and stay classy, Britney Spears! Candles? Really? Candles? That’s what you’re thankful to be able to buy? Sorry, but that is just so…basic!