We managed to round up a whopping four of us (no ropes were even required) – for a trivia meetup at a trivia spot of auld on a recent Wednesday evening. Special thanks to Terry R. From You’re Resume Sucks for the thoughtful and much appreciated early Christmas present! You guys are awesome, and definitely fellow trivia OGs! You’re always the team to beat at this place (in addition to countless other teams on any given week lol)!

Only one “premium” table for six players or more was still available after game time started. It happened to be right next to ours – now be honest – we weren’t stinky ir anything, were we? 😃

We weren’t TOO stinky when it came to answering questions! We did our former dearly departed “guest” teammate Archie – whom was a big fan of “the beautiful game”- proud by getting the World Cup question with the nerd point correct (we still miss you so much, Archie, RIP 😔). We got the first final question correct, missed the second one. Guess we couldn’t get ALL of the holiday music questions we had in the game correct!

Round One

1 Ships – The RMS Carpathia is best known for its role in the rescue of survivors from what other ship?

2 Oscars – The only Academy Award nominations received by director M. night Shyamalan are for his work on what 1999 film?

3 Logos – The logo for the sportswear brand Fila is what two colors? Miss.

4 1990s TV – what 1990s sitcom starring Marc Curry as the title character alongside Holly Robinson Peete follows a former pro basketball player turned high school PE teacher? FB clue.

Mystery Round One – State Nicknames

Name the U.S. State based on the official nickname

M1 The First State

M2 The Show-Me State

M3 – The Gem State

M4 The Hawkeye State

Missed #3. Me: “Brad, you shoulda known this, you went to college here!” Brad: “I thought the state was better known for potatoes!”

Round Two

5 Football – The vast majority of Australians who have appeared in at least one NFL game – more than a dozen in total - have played what position? Brad and Dave were all over this.

6 Governors – Two Western U.S. states have had a Democrat win their gubernatorial elections at least ten consecutive times dating back to the 1980s. name either of those two states.

NERD POINT – Name both.

Got one correct, missed the nerd point.

7 Energy – What polysaccharide with a “G” name is the primary stored form of glucose in the body and is used as an energy reserve? Yay for science guy Dave!

8 Vehicles – Since 1985, what Japanese automaker has produced the Pathfinder range of SUVs?

Mystery Round Two – Twelve Days of Christmas

Name the gift from the song The Twelve Days of Christmas that has the same initials as the person described in each clue

M1 – Actor known for his roles on Taxi and Who’s the Boss?

M2 – Director of the 2013 film The Butler and the 2021 film The United States vs. Billie Holiday

M3 – Did not get this question recorded so heres an alternative…a actress who appeared on Saturday Night Live and played characters including Rosanne Roseannadanna and “BabaWawa,” a parody of Barbara Walters

M4 Country Singer who has released albums Take Me As I Am, Breathe and Cry

We missed # 3 as it was presented to us but would have known the answer to my “alternative” version! RIP Gilda, you probably would have had a role on 30 Rock had you lived long enough! We gor # 2 right on a wild guess. 

We had 44 points going into the final and were in ninth place.

Final Question One – US Capitals

Three pairs of US state capitals have names that include least six of the same letters consecutively. One of those pairs is Jefferson City and Carson City, which both have the consecutive letters “RSONCITY.” Name the other two pairs.

We got this and moved up to sixth.

Game Two

Round Three –

9 2000s Movies – Thr 2006 film Flags of Our Fathers, directed by Clint Eastwood, tells the story of a major battle in what war?

10 Actresses – Actress Julia Garner won three Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a drama series for playing Ruth Langmore on what Netflix series that aired from 2017- 2022? Oh BOY did that series have the body count! It did make me fall in love with that Radiohead song “The Daily Mail.” OK, the cinematography was pretty awesome, too!

11 Biomes – What type of biome characterized by limited tree growth and short growing seasons has a name derived from a word that means “uplands?” We talked ourselves out of the correct guess (committee thinking can be a killer).

13 Europe – Which cardinal direction (north, South, east or west) would a person have to travel in order to go directly from Berlin to Prague?

Mystery Round Three – Visual

Missed # 4.

13 Soccer – Name two of the three countries with a primarily red, white and blue flag that have LOST the FIFA World (men’s) World Cup final since 2010.

NERD POINT – Name all three.

We almost missed this, but I stuck to my guns and we got all three. Brad said to me, “How did you know THAT country was in a World Cup final?” I said, “How would you NOT know? They were serious underdogs, that country probably lost their minds to have them be in a final. Also I drank cheap vodka drinks on special at McShane’s while we watched them play.” Day drinking adventures, oy…

14 Holiday Songs – This was an audio clue, had to ID original artist recording Wonderful Christmas Time. Terrible song, IMHO (sorry to any fans reading this).

15 Journalists – In addition to providing political analysis for CNN, Maggie Haberman is a senior political correspondent for what newspaper? Miss.

16 Games – Name either of the letters in the standard English-language version of Scrabble that have a value of eight points.

Mystery Round Four - Book Quotes

Name the book based on the year of publication, a quote, and the name of the character who said it

M1 – 1967 – “Stay gold, Ponyboy. Stay gold,” Johnny Cade.

M2 – 1847 “Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same,” Catherine Earnshaw Linton.

M3 – 1973 “As you wish,” Westley.

M4 – 1850 – “And my child must seek a heavenly father; she shall never know an earthly one,” Hester Prynne.

Missed #2, the name Catherine should have been a clue for me. Behold (above) the Semaphore code version of this book as shown on Monty Python’s Flying Circus.

We were in eighth place going into the final with 46 points. You’re Resume Sucks was in first with 54 points.

Final Question Two – Holiday Music

Prior to 2019, only one Christmas song had ever reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Name the artist of that song, which was released in 1958 and went on to win Grammy Awards for Best Comedy Performance and Best Children’s Recording, among others. 

We wagered cautiously and missed this, we incorrectly guessed Burl Ives. We wound up finishing in sixth (not bad for being this place and missing the final).

I told myself that I wouldn’t use another Simpsons image with a trivia recap, but I’m going to risk being on Santa’s naughty list and do it anyway (this will also give a clue to the answer, so merry xmas?)

The last time I remember having a trivia question with this as an answer we got it correct, moved up from almost dead last – at a tournament – and won fourth place! Clearly we expended our luck when we had that question ten years ago! Maybe if we had our former Pods teammate Alex – who knew that answer in the 2013 tournament – we would’ve gotten it (alas he now lives in Seattle).

Unsure if we’ll squeeze in any more trivia games before 2024. As always, Go Pods, and stay classy, Wendy from Ozark! You OKd a hit on your own brother!