We decided we’d taken enough of a “break” from trivia games and signed on for a (you guessed it) virtual Stump! trivia game on Groundhog Day Eve. Yes, Groundhog Day Eve is a thing! What? You don’t celebrate Groundhog Day Eve? Well, if you can think of a better excuse to drink Woodchuck hard cider!

We actually tried Woodchuck’s blueberry hard cider over the Christmas holidays, which as far as holidays go, are almost as important as Groundhog Day! It’s good stuff! Too bad we don’t have any on hand right now while we get pummeled by Thor the Snowstorm, or whatever this storm’s name is – did anyone catch its name?

If you’re not into celebrating groundhogs and their iffy weather prognosticating abilities, then maybe you were celebrating Chinese New Year on February 1! If nothing else, it’s an excuse to look into what your “sign” is in the Chinese Zodiac! My husband are both rats, which aren’t exactly “power signs,” like tigers and dragons. I have a friend living in the Boston area who is a tiger – and Chinese – and recently cooked up a huge Chinese New Year feast that looked like it belonged on a menu – and it had a huge cooked lobster in the middle of the whole spread. There was also broccoli, what appeared to be tofu, some yummy looking fried goodies (chicken I presume). Oh Hell, I’ll just share the pic:

In this Chinese New Year/Groundhog Day Eve trivia game, we missed questions about hip-hop music (no surprise there), NHL teams that lost out on the Stanley Cup (also no big surprise) and missed a couple of mystery round answers about 2021 movies. One of the movies we missed was one that my parents-in-law has been pestering us to watch – but we haven’t, because it looks too much like a “downer.” Curses!

We were close to the bottom going into the final question, but managed to move up to fifth when we got it right (woot)! Little virtual trivia victories!

Read on to see the questions:

Round One
1) Games – With its origin dating back to at least the early 17th century, what game is characterized by hitting wooden balls with mallets through hoops? Another team asked if the host would accept “polo” as the answer, unsure how that shook out.

2) TV Characters – Mimi, as portrayed by Kathy Kinney, is the nemesis of what TV title character on a sitcom that originally aired from 1995-2004? Never watched a single episode of that show, but the name “Mimi” and the time frame struck enough of a bell for us to get it right.

3) Songs – In the first verse of the 2007 song “Crank That (Soulja Boy)” by Soulja Boy Tell’em, after telling the listener to “watch me lean,” he then tells the listener to “watch me” what? Off our radar. Whatever music we were listening to in 2007, it certainly wasn’t this! Miss.

4) Mascots – Sunny the Sun, introduced in 1966, is the mascot for what Kellogg’s cereal?

Mystery One

Answer the questions about events that took place on this day in history (2/1).

M1) On this day in 1978, what woman, known for her antislavery work and service in the U.S. Civil War, became the first Black woman to appear on a U.S. postage stamp?

M2) On this day in 1790, the first meeting of what U.S. government branch?

M3) On this day in 2003, fatal accident involving what space shuttle?

M4) On this day in 1943, Japanese forces began their withdrawal from which island in the Solomon Islands, having been defeated by U.S. Marines in a series of battles that began in August the previous year?

Got all of these.

Round Two

1) NHL Teams – Name one of the three most recent NHL teams to have LOST the Stanley Cup Finals.
NERD POINT: Name two of three.

Nope and nope.

2) Fairy Tales – What title character in a German fairy tale agrees to spin straw into gold for a girl in exchange for her firstborn, unless she is able to guess his name? Mike said, “I even spelled his name correctly!” I didn’t spell it right when I jotted it down in my notes.

3) Mountains – Yucca Mountain, home to a large nuclear waste repository, is located in which U.S. state? Miss. We incorrectly guessed its neighbor.

4) Animals – Ribbon, harp, elephant, and leopard are species of what family of animals?

Visual Mystery –

We were in ninth going into the final with 42 points. Competitive game.

Final Category – Geography and Politics

Name EITHER the most densely populated U.S. state that awarded its electoral votes to Donald Trump in the 2020 U.S. presidential election OR the least densely populated U.S. state that awarded its electoral votes to Joe Biden in the 2020 U.S. presidential election.

We would have been able to name both correct states. Moved up to fifth at the end.

Happy Groundhog Day everyone! As always, Go Pods, and stay classy, Gal Gadot – even when you’re playing someone who isn’t Wonder Woman!