So far this trivia season, we kind of feel like we’re having one of those dreams where you’re in high school again and you have a big test at the end of the semester that you haven’t studied for – at all. But you somehow con your teacher into letting you make up for lost time by doing some extra credit, re-taking some tests you missed and maybe even doing some babysitting jobs.

Well, maybe it hasn’t been like all of those things literally! But we did wait until two months into the season to finally try giving trivia “the old college try!” I mean, there was the Michigan Renaissance Festival, which one of our team members has season passes for. And weekend trips to visit the in-laws, busy work schedules, a cabin trip…all things that steered us away from Sunday trivia games at the beginning of the season (excuses, excuses, right?)

We still haven’t managed to crack the top three at the bar, but we have closed the gap a bit! We’ll see how things go in the final game of the season, which is…soon!

As for the game, we were shut out of prizes in game one, finishing right behind two teams tied for first – Street Smarts – and 24 Hour Brunch. Game two got off to a rocky start for us, but we rallied at the end and made a nice comeback by getting the final question about Paul Simon solo songs correct, winning a $10/second place prize. Yes, we’ve won quite a few “bridesmaid” trivia prizes this season, but we’re not ashamed of that!

Here were the questions:

Game One/Round One

1 Fashion – Infinity, triangle and muffler are all types of what fashion accessory?

2 Food – What type of oven- baked folded pizza, similar to stromboli, originated in Italy in the 18th century and has a name meaning “trouser leg?” Anyone else have these at Aubree’s in Depot Town (so yummy)!

3 US History – According to tradition, what woman born in 1752 made the first United States flag, a design that bears her name? A long, long time ago, a player on a rival team joked about easy trivia questions like this one, calling them “name of the person we needed to put in as our answer” questions!

4 Singles – What Scottish DJ, born Adam Richard Wiles in 1984, has released the singles “I Need Your Love,” featuring Ellie Goulding, “This Is What You Came For,” featuring Rihanna and “One Kiss,” featuring Dua Lipa? We might know about old Paul Simon songs, but we sure didn’t know anything about this guy, miss.

Mystery Round One – Visual

Strangely, we got all of these correct (usually we’re 50/50 or less on TV rounds).

Round 2

5 Viruses – What animal is the primary host of the West Nile virus, which is typically transmitted by mosquitoes? Miss, we mistakenly put “human” as our answer.

6 Directors – What director, known as the “Father of Zombie Film,” directed the films Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead?

NERD POINT – What 2009 film was the final film that he directed?

Missed the nerd bonus point.

7 Games – What appropriately titled Milton Bradley board game, first published in 1986, is set on a tropical island where players avoid fireballs in an attempt to retrieve a jewel from the top of a mountain? FB clue, BTW, this game is about actual fireballs, not the cinnamon flavored liqueur (which is one of a couple of alcoholic beverages with a restraining order against me). Bleah!

8 Language – What African language has dialects including Kimvita and Kipemba? Yay for being the only African language Brad knew about (we actually brainstormed a few African languages here).

Mystery Round 2 – DDD Words

The correct answer to each clue contains the letter D exactly three times.

M1 Common term for an animal that is an ectotherm

M2 Last name of the engineer who is credited with creating and building the first liquid fueled rocket

M2 An addition to a finished document, such as a contract

M3 Position in which the rider sits with both legs on one side of a horse

Got all of these correct.

Final Question Game One

20th Century – What year of the 20th century is the longest when written out in Roman numerals, with a total of 11 characters?

I left this one for Mike and Brad to figure out. Literally. I couldn’t help ’em with this one. They didn’t disappoint (yay for playing with nerdy guys)!

Smarts and Brunch were in ties for first with 67 points. They had to battle this tiebreaker question:

Tiebreaker game one – In feet, what is the vertical clearance of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge?

Game 2 /Round 3

9 US Geography – What canal was opened in 1825 to connect the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean via the Hudson River? Brad remembered me singing a song about this thing years ago in a trivia game (not loud enough for others to hear, duh)! Those silly songs you learn in school can really help on trivia nights!

10 2000s Movies – The Hoover family is central to what 2006 film that was nominated for multiple Academy Awards, including Best Picture? Well, good news is we put down a movie that featured a “family,” though it was a crime family, not an actual family. Wait, was there a crime family in this movie? Hmm? It was also released the same year, but WON the Oscar for best picture, wasn’t just nominated, so yup, we missed it.

11 NFL and TV – What quarterback, who was selected third overall in the 2014 NFL Draft, is a favorite of the character Jason Mendoza on the TV series The Good Place? Our second consecutive “close, but no cigar” trivia moment, we put down a guy drafted in 2012 as our guess, miss.

12 Books – What naturalist and painter, is known for his 19th century illustrated book The Birds of America? We didn’t spell his name right, but we got this…

Mystery Round 3 – This Day in History

Answer the questions about events that took place on this day in history (November 12)

M1 On this day in 1954, what immigration inspection and processing station closed after more than 60 years of operation?

M2 On this day in 1936, what bridge that connects San Francisco and Oakland opened to traffic?

M3 On this day in 1970, the Oregon Highway Division attempted to use explosives to destroy the carcass of what animal that had washed up on the beach?

M4 On this day in 1999, Akhito was enthroned as the emperor of what country?

Missed #2 (dammit, that tiebreaker question should’ve clued us in here).

Round 4

13 Planets – Which planet in the solar system rotates the slowest, and therefore has the longest day, which is equal to about 364 Earth days? Miss.

14 Commercials – What actress is heard in the following clip from a commercial?

15 #1 Hits – Singers Dionne Warwick, Stevie Wonder, Elton John and Gladys Knight contributed vocals to what single that reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1986? When we heard this was going to be #1 Hits, I said, “please be about 80s music!” Yes! Thank you whomever wrote this question! 🙂

16 History – Women’s History Month is officially celebrated in the United States during which month of the year?

NERD POINT – In what decade did Congress pass a resolution to designate Women’s History Month for the first time?

Got this and made right guess for the bonus.

Mystery Round 4 Mae Whitman – Pick ’em

Who dis? We had no idea who this person was, so we just…randomly picked four here (read on).

From the following list of seven fictional characters, choose the four that have been played by Mae Whitman, either in a live-action or a voice-over role.

Amity Bright, Ann Veal, Grumpy Cat, Ingrid Thorburn, Lulu Danger, Roxy Richter, Tinker Bell

We got two correct. We were in fourth going into the final with 38 points.

Final Question Game 2

As a solo artist, Paul Simon has had six top ten hits on the Billboard Hot 100. Name two of those six songs, the last of which was released in 1980.

A couple of us wanted to put that song he did that involved a video with an actor from Caddyshack, but the “before 1980” qualifier steered us away from that one (good thing)! I remember being in ninth grade when this song came out, so it was DEFINITELY after 1980. Anyone remember that scene from Better Off Dead where Lane gets pissed off about hearing nothing but breakup songs on his car radio so he yanks it out of the dash and throws it out the window? John Cusack looked like this during this scene (nobody did Gen X teen angst quite like Mr. Cusack)!

Yup, one of the annoying breakup songs from this scene was one I remembered. Then I remembered a song my mom used to play on the record player so we went with those guesses, though we didn’t know if they charted high enough.

So we moved up to second, but sadly, we weren’t smart enough to overtake Street Smarts (again, playing second fiddle to the top team at the bar ain’t too bad)!

We’ll be back at it Sunday As always, Go Pods, and stay classy, Neil Sedaka!