When you’re on the ‘Pods trivia team, you can’t help but love trivia games that happen around Halloween! In this game in particular, we particularly loved a mystery round all about horror films (in anagram form)! Not to mention the mystery round about candy bars! We actually enjoyed some “fun sized” candy bars midway through the game (yum)!

We may not be able to spot 50 Cents’ voice in a lineup, be able to name any of the Queer Eye guys and we may not know much about late-night talk show hosts. Hey, I haven’t watched too many late-night talk shows since I was a kid and had a portable TV in my room and I stayed up watching Lettermen and Johnny Carson (I am old)!

We had yet another second place overall finish (fifth second place finish in the past five games) and won a $10/second place prize in game one. Did that many teams really not know about that rocky thing Captain Kirk climbed in Star Trek V? I would assume most teams knew about the famous landmark in Yellowstone National Park (which of course is a giant statue of Yogi Bear and Boo Boo (JK)!

We were one of only two teams getting that first final question correct (that doesn’t happen to us very often)! Hey, we’ll take any prize money we can get for questions we get correct instead of ones we have to wager zero on and enough teams get wrong!

Here were our questions:

Game 1/Round1

1 TV Characters – From 2017 to 2022, actress Jodie Whittaker portrayed the 13th incarnation of what long-running TV character? My husband is a huge fan of this series…

2 Song Lyrics – What song, released by Tom Petty in 1989, opens with the lyrics, “She’s a good girl, loves her mama, loves Jesus and America too?” My husband always refers to this song by its off-color counterpart, which refers to…men not wearing any underpants (we are so mature)!

3 Roles – What character is played by Laurence Fishburne in The Matrix film series? Nerd point, what character did he play in Pee Wee’s Playhouse? Got both parts correct.

4 World Leaders – Who was the president of the Soviet Union at the time of its dissolution in 1991? And through our brainstorming, we came up with the ultimate Halloween mashup costume! This soviet leader wearing the #9 Detroit Red Wings jersey! Some of you may figure this out! And even fewer of you might actually get the reference if someone tried dressing like this for Halloween (it’s an older pop culture reference but it still checks out)! Or more likely this…

Mystery Round 1

Decipher the anagram to reveal the name the title of a horror film series.

M1 Top Caravan Military

M2 Inject Hog Run

M3 Chilly Pads

M4 Linda Infestation

We had the roughest time with #1 and #1, but Mike and I worked separately on both and came up with them in time (whew, it was kind of like a scene in a horror movie where you’re either fiddling with your keys while a chainsaw wielding maniac is chasing you or your car won’t start while the zombies are on top of your car and trying to claw their way in). OK, maybe it wasn’t THAT dramatic!

Round Two

5 Commissioners – Who served as the commissioner of the NBA from 1975-1984 and has the league’s championship trophy named after him? We leaned on our sports guy Brad for this one, but nope, we didn’t get this (nice try, buddy)!

6 U.S. Cities – Four of the six most populous U.S. cities that begin with the letter “Q” have what six letter name?

7 Formations – What type of rock formation rises from the floor of a cave due to the accumulation of material deposited from ceiling drippings?

8 Milestones – In Latin American culture, a quinceanera celebrates what number birthday in a young woman’s life? “Yup, that’s when she’s the age to start whoring her out,” quipped my husband!

Mystery Round 2 – All About Leo

Answer the following question about various Leos

M1 In 2017, Leo Varadkar became the first openly gay leader of what European island country’s government?

M2 In what century did Leo Tolstoy write the literary work War and Peace?

M3 Melissa Leo won a best supporting actress Oscar for her work in what 2010 boxing film?

M4 Which month of the year contains the earliest date belonging to the zodiac sign Leo?

Missed #1 and #2 (that name in #1 really threw us).

Final Category – Landmarks

What two natural landmarks are featured on the quarters for Yellowstone National Park and Yosemite National Park that are part of the America the Beautiful quarters series, which ran from 2010-2021?

We finished in second with 63 points, just two points shy of Working Title (always love when non-regular teams sweep in for victories like these)!

Round 3/Game 2

9 Novels – London and Paris are the title locations in what 1859 novel by Charles Dickens? And OMG did we actually get a question right about Charles f—ing Dickens? YES! YES! Sorry, I’ll stop with the triviagasm already!

10 1970s Movies – The title of what 1974 neo-noir film completes the following quote by the character Lawrence Walsh – “Forget it Jake, it’s (blank)?” I tried watching this movie recently because I heard it was really good. Sorry, I just couldn’t get into it. Not that I mind a movie with a young Jack Nicholson – maybe I just wasn’t in the right mood for this movie (I could give it a try again sometime).

11 Diseases – The infection sometimes called German measles is also known by what seven-letter name, after the virus that causes it? Brad and I decided that this sounds like a name that someone in the Addams Family would have!

12 Cards – What card game is most closely associated with the phrase “shoot the moon?” Nope, we guessed bridge.

Mystery Round 3 – Visual

Got all of these correct.

Round 4

13 Advertising – Kristen Bell, Jennifer Garner, Julie Bowen and Hayden Panettiere have all been spokespersons for what skin care, hair care and cosmetics brand that is owned by Johnson & Johnson? Strangely, Brad was the point man on this one (he said he has a crush on Jennifer Garner)! Does this mean he buys these products? Probably not!

14 Stadiums – When it opened in 1998, the home field of which MLB team became the first stadium in the United States to have a natural grass playing surface and a retractable roof? We thought we had a really good guess on this one, but nope, we didn’t even get the right state! Thankfully we didn’t go too high on this…

15 Birthplaces – Audio clue of Enrique Iglesias song, had to ID the country he was born. Now…had we known it was an Enrique Iglesias song, we might have made the right guess! We’ve been doing poorly on these audio rounds lately! Clearly 2000s music isn’t a strong category for this trio of ‘Pods (had our other ‘Pod Dave been there he may have known this).

16 Schools – Name one of the two universities attended by Joe Biden – one for undergrad and the other for law school, both of which he is the first U.S. president to have attended. Nerd point, name both. We got one, not both, missed the nerd point.

Mystery Round 4

Asian Airport Codes

Given the following three-letter airport codes, identify the Western Asian country served by the airports.

M1 AUH

M2 DIA

M3 MCT

M4 RUH

We got two of these correct (don’t remember which two)

We were in third with 42 points, decided to wager just five points on the category of:

Final Category – Plays

What 2007 play by Tracy Letts that won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award for best play is named for the time and place it is set?

Only two teams got this, 24 Hour Brunch and Isla’s College Fund. We finished in fourth for this round.

We’ll most likely be back at it again Sunday, as always, Go Pods, and stay classy, Gorby Howe!