It was the most “last minute decision” imaginable on a recent Wednesday evening to go out for a live trivia game! My husband and I were finishing up some grocery errands, and I noticed it was getting close to 5 p.m., and we were physically close to a spot that we’d have to snag a table if we wanted to get a decent one for a game. So I had him drop me off at the trivia spot, and he went home to put away the groceries – and fetch his phone and loose leaf notebook paper! Yes, he came back out after he did these things!

I attempted to summon three other players for this game, but it was not to be! Understandable, not everyone is able to change their evening plans for a trivia game! Interesting that we used to be more of a predictable trivia team, playing the same places week after week after week (sorry I think I fell asleep from boredom from typing all of that). Kidding! These days, trivia games revolve almost entirely around when I have days off or work shorter shifts. Some weeks they might be Sunday games at the YpsiAlehouse, some weeks they might be at Sticks, some weeks – as in last week – they might be at the “Corner Brewery.” We’d kind of stopped playing there a few months ago since we seldom have enough players to compete – or to justify using one of the middle premium tables. This time, I was able to get an “outer perimeter” table in not too awful of a spot with no table behind us, neither of us like feeling crammed in the room. The pandemic made us all aware of our individual boundary issues, didn’t it?

So…about that game! Overall, it was pretty awful, with us finishing in sixteenth for the night out of 20 total teams. The night was not without its semi-bright moments though, we did move up from 15th to fifth overall in game one by being stupid! That’s right, we wagered zero on a final question that enough teams also manage to flub. This “strategy,” if you can call it that, is always a bit of a gamble. Had we not utterly failed on a mystery round about 2004 song titles, we might have finished with some prize money! Best not to dwell too much on those “what ifs!”

Here were our game questions, which may be abridged:

Round One

1 Holidays – After Christmas, name 1 of next 2 most popular holidays to send cards, for a bonus point, name both.

2 Sweets – What sweet confectionary is made by heating sugars and includes examples such 100 Grand Baby Ruth, and Nutrageous; among others. Picked the right gooey ingredient. Boy do I like this mixed with pretzel in ice cream!

3 Islands – The island of New Guinea is divided by Papua new Guinea and what other country?

4 Book Series – What is the title of first novel in series of same name by author Rochelle Mead, which includes the titles Frostbite, Blood Promise and Last Sacrifice? Miss, though we were in the right ballpark.

Yes, there is a plot point to this image (read on)!

Mystery Round One – Big 12 Quickfire

For this mystery round, your team can give four answers and can put them in any order you choose.

For the 2023-2024 school year, the Big 12 Conference has five full member schools located in Texas, including the University of Texas at Austin. Name the other four schools.

We managed to come up with two correct schools, one because I remembered that school that uses a logo that looks like Hypnotoad from Futurama – and one because my husband just wild guessed it. Whatever works?

Round Two

5 Subtitles – What is subtitle of the 2017 film that marked the first entry of Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe?

6 Animated TV – Princess Beautiful, Muscle Princess and Princess Princess Princess are all characters who have appeared on what animated series that aired on the Cartoon Network from 2010 to 2018? We were very excited to have this question, since we both love this series! Might be time for a rewatch…

7 Animals – What is the 9 letter term from Greek origin meaning “thick skin” and includes hippopotamuses, rhinoceroses and elephants?

8 Government – What is the nickname for a character created during the War of 1812 inspired by a meat packer from New York City?

Got all of these correct, now it’s time for a mystery round where the exact opposite thing happened! If you’re easily triggered, you might want to stop reading here!

Mystery Round Two – Twisted Titles, 2004 Songs Edition

The correct response to each part is the title of a hit song from 2004 with just ONE letter changed. Give the new song title based on the description.

M1 – Hoobastank sings about summer, or maybe spring, or winter

M2 – The members of Maroon 5 have a hit about relocating from one house to another

M3 – Snoop Dogg and Pharrell encourage a theater production’s stage manager to dress the set with objects

M4 – Ciara and Petey Pablo discuss the quality of her sweatshirts that also keep her head warm

We had some good guesses about what the right words would be, but didn’t know how they fit in with the correct answers – miss, miss, miss and miss!

We were in fifteenth going into the final with 38 points. When we heard that the category was Olympics, we did our best imitation of Wayne from Letterkenny and said this about wagering it all:

The modern pentathlon features five disciplines inspired by the event’s origins in showcasing skills considered essential for a soldier. In addition to swimming and running, name the other three events.

We put in guesses of stunt driving, pole dancing and singing Gilbert and Sullivan songs. Who wouldn’t want to watch an Olympics with those events? 🙂

We moved up to fifth. Sadly, this will be the high point of our game, so if you only want to read recaps of games where the team had at least a semi-awesome game, you can stop reading here!

Round Three

9 Alphabet – The Greek letter chi most closely resembles what English letter? Miss, but in our defense, neither of us were in any Greek organizations in college!

10 Advertising – Audio clue of sound byte in candy bar commercial, got it.

11 Roads – The Walk of Style, which commemorates people whom have made important contributions fashion design and costume is located on what what street in Beverly Hills? This made me think of a tearjerker scene in Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion where the duo is watching Pretty Woman (you had to be there)! It also made me think of a scene in UHF when a big time hustler tells his wife that she doesn’t complain when his ill gotten money allows her to shop on this street (the way he pronounces it is hilarious)! Wow, two pop culture references in my brain for one question!

12 Actresses – Name one of the two films released in 2008 for which actress Kate Winslet a Golden Globe award for best actress, both for a bonus point. Nope and nope, double miss.

Mystery Round Three – “On Top”

The correct responses will all include the words TOP in that order.

M1 – A small, portable personal computer

M2 – Team name of Springfield’s minor league baseball team on “The Simpsons”

M3 – Term for an ideal society that comes from the title of a 1516 book by Sir Thomas More

M4 – U.S. Secretary of State during Bill Clinton’s first term in offrice

My trivia pardner handled the first three of these easily without my help, but he needed me for #4.
“He was that guy who looked a bit like a Keebler elf. They always complained about him making a mess with cookie crumbs at cabinet meetings.”

Round Four

13 Stage Names – The Puerto Rican rapper, singer and songwriter (and occasional professional wrestler) born Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio in 1994 is better known by what stage name? Thank you Sporcle for giving this as a FB clue (we would not have known this answer otherwise). Mike joked about this name also being an admonishment by Hugh Hefner when one of the playmates was naughty! If you know, you know…

14 Athletes – Old Tom Morris and Young Tom Morris are considered to be among the pioneers of what sport? Miss, we guessed baseball.

15 Bones – What is the only bone in the human body to begin with the letter U?

16 Awards – At the Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards, the carpet that celebrities walk upon is notably what color? Mike was hemming and hawing between two guesses, one which would have been right and he missed (that happens)!

Mystery Round Four – Visual (my apologies the photo isn’t the greatest, and I didn’t have the URL for this mystery round):

We put “Florida” as all four of our guesses, it was correct for one of them!

Unsure what place we were in going into this final, at this point, we didn’t really care! But we had 38 points (again).

We bit it all on the category of “Music Firsts.” It’s not the first time we’ve made bad decisions in trivia games!

Who was the first woman to be inducted into the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame twice – first in 1998 as part of a group, and again in 2019 as a solo artist?

Yeah, I know I should follow this category better, but…yeah, we missed this. I remember getting the free week trial of HBO Max in 2020 so I could watch the induction ceremony because a couple of acts I really like were inducted (Depeche Mode and nine inch nails). I’ll never forget seeing a shirtless under a leather jacket clad Iggy Pop talking about the funk elements of nine inch nails’ song Closer while he was standing outside in his yard (the ceremony was virtual because of the pandemic). Maybe I should have followed the awards ceremony better the year before? Coulda, woulda, shoulda!

We’ll be doing trivia battle again this afternoon! As always, Go Pods, and stay classy, Stevie Nicks! What’s not to admire about a woman who made her ex play backup guitar while she sang about what an asshole he was? 🙂 #badass