For the first time in probably about a year (give or take), we managed to assemble an actual “team” for a virtual trivia meetup. We had two players from Southeast Michigan, two players from Virginia, and one player from “Vegas, Baby.” Thanks to some nice teamwork on the questions, we managed to finish in second place. We even got a modern music final question correct, which is quite a feat for our team! Sometimes when you’re just brainstorming names of contemporary music artist, the right other player says “Yeah, that could be it.” Which is exactly what happened. Kind of made up for our five-point flub about states with lots of nuclear power plants. Sigh, just because you’ve seen one nuclear power plant and know about a couple of famous nuclear power plant disasters in New York – that doesn’t mean your trivia question answer will be correct!

We had a very nice time catching up with friends we hadn’t seen in person since 2017, 2021, and…when was the last time I saw Michelle? Maybe 2019? The Zoom-based games kind of make it fun to “see” friends you’re not able to see in person. Good times! Weather was nice enough to set up our “conference” on the deck:

Here were our game questions:

Round One

1) Stocks – What home furnishings company is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol LZB?

2) Ingredients – In order for a dish to be “Florentine,” it traditionally must include what ingredient?

 3) What animated show that debuted in 2011 on Fox features a family with children named Tina, Gene, and Louise?

4) Power Name one of the two U.S. states, both of which border the Great Lakes, that are home to at least nine nuclear power plants.

NERD POINT: Name both.

Miss for five. And no bonus point. Ouch!

Mystery Round One:

We got all of these correct – Sam helped us with #3, and Michelle had the right guess for #4. Go you guys!

Round Two

5) Poets – One of the few published Micronesian poets, Emelihter Kihlengwas born and lives in what unincorporated territory of the United States? Facebook host clue (thanks for that)!

6 Animals – A farrier works with what type of animal?

7) Ballet – What movement in ballet is a smooth and continuous bending of the knees outward with the back held straight? Thank goodness for that whole nine months or so I actually took ballet classes! Compulsory for any Gen X middle class girl. It was all a huge “girliness” test. And it was a test that I…flunked! Special thanks to Angela for knowing how to spell this word correctly!

8) Video Games – In the original video game Pong, the ball was actually what shape? A bit of discussion, but got this.

Mystery Two –

Missed #3.

We were in ninth going into the final with 45 points.

Final Category – 2020s Music

Normally we’re zero on categories like this one. But Michelle inspired us to wager – “My husband listens to current music!” That was enough for us…

The song that ranked #1 on the Billboard Year-End Hot 100 for 2020 also ranked #3 on the list for 2021. Name EITHER the artist OR give the title of the song, which spent a record 90 weeks on the Hot 100.

When one of us mentioned the correct artist, another player confirmed “Yeah, they had that hit song.” So we knew the artist – and title.

Moved up to second place. Aren’t comebacks sweet?

We’ll be back at it again tonight, but this time with our regular “duo.” As always, Go Pods, and stay classy H. Jon Benjamin!