A few of us “gathered” virtually recently for a Sporcle Events trivia battle. Though we do love getting out for “live” trivia games, the virtual ones definitely have their place! Where’s that place? Why, it’s wherever you want it to be! My husband and I did our virtual meetup/game in his home office, which has an iMac, a comfy spinny office chair (sure beats those hard metal chairs at the Corner Brewery, amirite?) and a futon, which is a great guest bed if you’re not too picky – and are just one average sized adult or maybe a couple of kids (perish THAT thought)! His home office also has a private adjacent bathroom.

Our “teammates” Dave and his wife Susan were hanging outside their home in Dearborn for part of the game. Speaking of Susan, special shout out to her for helping with questions about game shows, gooey treats and Disney movies!

On trivia teams, opposites definitely attract! That one wheel-spinning game show you’ve described as “Jeopardy for idiots” just might be something another player on your team knows all about! You don’t have to like all of the same things if you play together on a trivia team, in fact, it’s almost better if you don’t. What’s the fun in all of your players knowing all of the same stuff?

I’m just going to leave this image of a roguish cartoon cat and Paula Abdul right here…(it’s an older pop culture reference but it still checks out):

As for the trivia game, it looks as though quite a lot of teams – even those usually known for being pretty heavy-hitting – were roughed up a bit by Wednesday’s questions. We actually did better than usual with an overall score of 110 points! Any time we end up with more than 100 points in a Sporcle Events is pretty great for our little ‘old team! We’ll take that!

We wagered zero on the NBA playoffs question in game one and had a nearly perfect game one in the regular rounds, only missing the nerd point on the DC movies question. Game Two was rougher for us, but we did manage to get th final about measurements correct.

Here were our questions:

1 In the CMYK color model of printing, the “M” stands for what color?

2 El Yunque National Forest, the only tropical rain Forest that is part of the US national forest system, is located in what territory?

3 Of the 15 films in the DC Extended Universe, three have two-word names in which both words begin with the same letter. Name two of those three films.

NERD POINT: Name all three.

Missed the nerd point

4 On Wheel of Fortune, during the bonus round, in addition to the six letters each contestant gets automatically, they can choose how many additional letters? Thanks Susan!

Mystery Round One

From the following list of seven bands and artists, choose the four whose debut studio albums were released in the 1990s.

A Tribe Called Quest, Fiona Apple, Good Charlotte, Jeff Buckley, NWA, nine inch nails, Sheryl Crow

How about Jeff Buckley’s odd death? He was found dead in the Mississippi River in 1997.

We got all of these.

Round Two

5 Lokum is a family of confections based on a gel of starch and sugar that is also known by what two-word name, which reflects its possible place of origin? I remembered a bit on the British comedy series “The Young Ones” involving this treat, and Susan confirmed that she’s eaten it before, describing it as being like a “ball of sugar.” Teamwork!

6 What game, first published by MindWare in 2006, is similar to Scrabble but has tiles containing six different shapes in six different colors? FB hosts clue.

7 The Cedar Revolution was a series of demonstrations in 2005 triggered by the assassination of former prime Minister Rafic Hariri in what West Asian country? A bit of debate between two possible countries, picked the right one.

8 Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead is a 1966 absurdist play that follows the two title characters, who were first introduced in what Shakespeare tragedy?

Mystery Round Two

The correct answer to each clue includes the letters “THE,” in that order.

M1 Greek goddess of wisdom, warfare and handicrafts

M2 Produced artificially, especially to imitate a natural product

M3 Word that fills in the blank in the title of a large statue in Volgograd, Russia – The (blank) Calls

M4 Team Name of the 2024 Stanley Cup champions

We were not at all confident to wager a damn thing in the final category of NBA Playoffs

Seven current NBA franchises have made fewer than 20 playoff appearances in their histories, including the New Orleans Pelicans and Charlotte Hornets. Name three of the other five franchises, all of which have made the playoffs at least 12 times.

Round Three

9 What General Mills cereal has used the slogan “Made for little hands” on the back of its boxes?

10 The 20th Century painter Jacob Lawrence, known for his Migration Series, was heavily inspired by what New York City neighborhood where he lived and studied?

11 Since 2019, Billy Bush has been the anchor for what newsmagazine program that also features Mona Kosar Abdi, Michael Corbett and Terri Seymour as correspondents? Miss, though our guess of Access Hollywood was close!

12 What series of young adult books by Meg Cabot primarily takes place in Manhattan, but is partially set in the fictional European country of Genovia? Miss.

Mystery Round Three

Name the film based on the scientist character, the performer, and the release year

M1 Stephen Hawking, Eddie Redmayne, 2014

M2 Thomas Edison, Benedict Cumberbatch, 2017

M3 Dr. Ellie Satler, Laura Dern, 1993

M4 Adrian Helmsley, Chiwetel Ejiofor, 2009

Missed 2 and 4.

Round Four

13 Of the five living species of the genus Panthera, name one of the two species whose natural habitats include the continent of Africa.

NERD POINT: Name both.

Discussion got as fierce as these big animals themselves, but we picked the right puddy tats!

14 The US Customs and Border Patrol is an agency of what Cabinet department?

15 What Disney Channel Original Movie released in 2006 includes songs titled “Get’cha Head in the Game” and “Stick to the Status Quo?” Susan again for the win!

16 What Hawaiian island is indirectly named for a mythological hero who snared the sun and discovered the secret of fire? This was all Mike…good job!

Boy was this rough! We are apparently not hip to current Olympic sports! Missed 1 and 3.

Not sure what place we were in but…43 points? Meh…

Final Question Game Two

Four of the seven SI base units have one-letter symbols. What is the only four-letter word in English that can be spelled using those letters one time each?

Thank the gods that my trivia compadres actually knew what SI base unit meant! Honestly I had no f—ing idea!

Mike and Dave both worked hard on this and got it (nice work guys)!

Did not move us to the top 3. Oh well, virtual games are just “practice” games for us.

Unsure when/where we’ll play next, no real plans. As always, Go Pods and stay classy, Blue Beetle (whomever you are).