We were planning on having four players for our recent trivia adventures at Arbor Brewing Company (aka Corner Brewery) in Ypsilanti, MI, but…one of our players had a sick doggie who needed emergency surgery. There are some things more important and pressing than a trivia meetup with friends, aren’t there?

This just means we had more chairs to give away to other teams needing them! Seriously, if you don’t put a coat or jacket on a chair, it;’s going to get snatched up (usually people are polite enough to ask first).

We soldiered on a a trio this time, with fellow ‘Pods OG Dave K. joining the fun. He was eyeballing the two boxes of Raspberry Rally Girl Scout Cookies that my friend Kim dropped off earlier in the evening. Apparently they’re being scalped on eBay? People are crazy! Dave said he would not be above selling them at a markup, but me?

I just want to eat ’em!

Just like some life events are more pressing and important than trivia games, some things are more important than profiting from Girl Scout cookies! But hey, if people are crazy enough to blow wads of cash on cookies, who am I to judge?

Round One –

1 Grains – The grain known internationally as “maize” is known in the U.S by what name?

2 Reboots – What children’s TV series was rebooted in 2022 with Tituss Burgess serving as the narrator? We incorrectly guessed Blue’s Clues.

3 Brand Names – What food and beverage brand name whose logo consists of its name across a red ribbon originated with a chain in the Chicago area that was named for the daughter of one of its founders? Their pound bake is the absolute best!

4 City Names – What is the current name of the city known previously as Petrograd and Leningrad? Mike again for the points.

Mystery One – Three Characters

Identify the actors who played the following three characters on film.

M1 – Johnny Castle, Johnny Dalton and Sam Wheat

M2 Andy Sachs, Selina Kyle, Mia Thermopolis

M3 – Biggie Shorty, Rita Daniels, Dr. Kyle

M4 – Paris, Legolas, Will Turner

Missed #2 and #3.

Round Two –

5 Golf – Other than any constituent country or dependency of the United Kingdom, name one of the two European countries that have had a golfer win the U.S. Open at least once. Name two for a bonus point. We got one, not both.

6 Art – What mountain is visible in the background of an 1831 woodblock print titled “Great Wave off Kanagawa” by Hokusai?

7 Computers – What 19th century English mathematician is often referred to as the first computer programmer due to her work on the Alaytical Engine – a proposed general purpose computer? FB host clue.

8 Presidents – Which U.S. president was born in Yorba Linda, CA inm a home that stands on the site of his presidential library and museum?

Mystery Round Two – State Symbols

Identify the following U.S. states based on the state motto, flower, and bird

M1 – Excelsior, rose, eastern bluebird

M2 – North to the Future, alpine forget-me-not, willow ptarmigan

M3 – Live Free or Die, purple lilac, purple finch

M4 – Union Justice and Confidence, magnolia, brown pelican

Mised #1 and #4. We were thinking of the right state in #4, but ugh, committee thinking prevailed!

We were in eighth going into the final with 41 points. Eight points of mystery round misses bruised us a bit!

Final #1 – Ad Jingles

Other than cheese, two all-beef patties, lettuce and onions, name three other ingredients of a McDonald’s Big Mac as listed in a 1974 TV advertisement?

This was far, far easier than the “Dallas” final from the previous week! I think all teams ahead of us got it.

Round Three

9 Military – What U.S. military medal is presented to members who have been killed or wounded by enemy actions?

10 Gaming – Within one, in what year was the Sega Game Gear designed to directly compete with the Nintendo Game Boy? We picked a close year, but not close enough, miss.

11 TV Bands – What was the name of the fictional band that performed on the Nickelodeon TV series “Doug?” This was not our actual question, it was an audio clue of the band playing, had to ID the fictional band. No clue from any of us.

12 Food – What type of ball or patty-shaped deep-fried fritter is made from mashed chickpeas and is often served in a pita, in a salad, or as a street food?

Mystery Round Three – Visual

Missed #3.

Round Four –

13 Prehistory – The Mesozoic Era was made up of the Triassic, Jurassic and what third other period? Mike loves dinosaurs, so he was all over this.

14 Movie Pairs – The 1997 romantic comedy which has a title found in lyrics of the Elvis song “Can’t Help Falling In Love” starred Salma Hayek and Matthew Perry as a couple from very different backgrounds getting married very quickly? I actually knew this one right away, which prompted some lighthearted chiding from teammate Dave “I’ve lost all respect for you.” This was a joke, of course, since rom-coms aren’t usually in my wheelhouse! I responded, “Don’t worry, I didn’t actually watch the movie, I just remember reading about it.”

15 Landmarks – the River Walk, Tower of the Americas and Lackland Air Force Base are all landmarks in what major U.S. city?

16 Typing – What typewrite symbol most closely resembles ditto marks?

Mystery Round Four – Take the L

The answer to each clue is two words, spelled almost identically, except one of them has a letter L and the other does not – give both words

M1 – Follow a set of explicit regulations for conduct or feel bitter regret if you do not follow them

M2 – Self esteem made of toy bricks

M3 – A jury is selected to see if a sheet of glass is framed

M4 – Abilty to see things at a distance is really lacking in strength

We had to work at this a bit, but managed to get them all.

We were in tenth place going into the final with 45 points. We were not confident enough with the category of:

Author History

So we went “halfsies” on our wager. This time I actually paid attention to scores before doing so rather than just picking a random number from my brain! More about picking random numbers from the brain in a bit!

And here was the question:

The first black author the win the Pulitzer Prize did so in 1950 for a book of poetry about a young African American girl growing into adulthood. Name either the author, or the title of the book.

We put in a guess of Raisin the the Sun, specifically the author Lorraine Hansberry. Which we hoped was a really good guess (turns out it wasn’t). Maybe the host will chime in and correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think any teams got this correct. Which means our “halfsie” wager put us in a three-way tie for second.

Confession time – I absolutely LOVE tiebreakers! I would say that I get off on them, but since this is a “mostly” PG-rated joint, I’ll just say that I really, really enjoy them! The suspense, being put on the spot, having to conjure a random answer from the brain and be closer than your competitors. Oh that tiebreaker at the My Trivia Live finals in December, 2019! We had to give the list price of a new Harley Davidson street motorcyle (I do not remember the model name). The rules were strict – had to be closest without going over the correct amount. My only logic I pretended to use was “Well, it must be about the price of a used economy car.” So I put in a guess of $7,500. My husband (and ride) had already conceded that we weren’t going to win any money and wanted to get the car warmed up, so after we (surprise) won the tiebreaker for third place and $500, I had to go out to the car to grab him him so they could take a team picture of us!

“You’d better get back inside now, we won some money!”

But let’s stop digressing and get to the final we had to answer in this game!

“In what year was Joseph Pulitzer born?”

I summoned a year from “around” the middle of the 19th century, the other two teams went later in the 19th century (closer to the 20th century). And YES our guess was closest! And the first place team was not one of the teams that normally places in the top three (so they were really happy as I could see them celebrating). Go Free Willy, grats to you!

We finished in sixth overall for the night, which is our second best finish for the night at this bar. Our best finish for the night at this bar was fourth place on February 8.

Always an adventure playing at the Corner! Arrive early or else, and bring your very best playas because the competition here can be fierce! As always, Go Pods, and stay classy, William Randolph Hearst!