We really think there should be more seating options for teams not needing a minimum of 10 players at Corner Brewery! We did notice a solo player shunted off to the side near one of the entrances playing at what looked like a “bistro” style table. When we arrived, we picked what we thought would have been a “safe” spot to play in a corner near the barrels where they either presumably age beer – or keep the barrels for storage! Since it was a folding banquet style table, we abided by the previous host Tim’s “rule” that smaller teams not occupy the “premium” permanent tables in the middle of the room. We even arrived 45 minutes before game time. We also moved away every chair that we wouldn’t need so that other teams needing chairs wouldn’t have to ask us for our extra chairs. Just when we’d thought we’d checked off all of the “boxes” and then…and then…

Host Seth approaches us five minutes before game time, and asks for a “favor” from us…It seemed that a very large group requiring two tables arrived and wanted to be sitting close to each other and could we move over to another table right by the screen? You know – kind of like the front row at a movie theater? Funny, that – we wound up setting up the table so that it was parallel with the screen, since there was just two of us – so that we wouldn’t be craning our necks sideways to see the questions.

Yes, we were both quite grumpy about the situation at first, understandably! Arrive early, try to occupy a subprime table only to be asked to give it up five minutes before the game anyway? Who WOULD be happy about that? Especially after having to hear holiday music all day at work (that’s another blog topic entirely)?

Well, as it turned out, the new seating area was much better for me getting photos of questions so that I could just look at those when doing a recap of the game as opposed to (groan) writing down the questions! No, it wasn’t nice having people bringing beer and food to the tables walking behind us constantly, but by the time we got to game two, our moods improved. Maybe because of the consumption of some beer – and also because we had a really rockin’ game two! Up until that pesky final question about parades, anyway!

We finished seventh overall for the night out of nineteen total teams with 100 points. While we wouldn’t call that a “W,” we’ll spin it as a “We held our own in a highly competitive pool of players while battling some tough questions and playing in a very outnumbered capacity under some mildly trying conditions”

We do wonder though – had we showed up five minutes before game time looking for a table – would WE have been accommodated? We probably would have been given the table that he asked us to move to!

Seriously, though – PLEASE put at least a couple of smaller tables in the mix on trivia nights so that hosts don’t have ask smaller groups to move after they’ve picked out their spots! We do know that a solo player does like to come out occasionally, and we don’t need a table meant for eight people!

Maybe we’ll have to talk to bar staff about that? Give them a heads up when we’re coming out to play to give them a chance to move one of the smaller round tables to the trivia area with just a couple of chairs?

Now how about some game questions?

Game One/Round One

1 Pardons – Although it was previously done unofficially, which U.S. president was the first to pardon a turkey on the record – doing so to deflect questions about whether or not he would consider pardoning Oliver North?

2 Squash – What type of squash, typically green with longitudinal ridges on orange flesh on the inside, is named for its resemblance to a certain type of nut?

NERD POINT: Another name for this type of squash references which U.S. state capital?

Miss and miss. We were still really grumpy about having been asked to move, which would end up throwing us off our game for the entire game – beginning with this question! One team got the bonus question correct (yay for Whitmore Lake Wizards)!

3 Bowling – In bowling, a “golden turkey” is a streak of throwing strikes that is three times longer than a regular “turkey.” How many strikes constitute a “golden turkey?” Yay middle school bowling league – where I not only learned words like this, but also perfected my cursing (which usually occurred following every gutter ball)!

4 Aviation – What is the four-letter term for the rotation of an aircraft around an axis that runs from its nose to its tail? Miss.

Mystery Round One – Thanksgiving Quotes

Name the Thanksgiving-related word that completes each given quote, based on the number of letters and the first letter.

M1 “BLANK (eight letters, F) is unconditional love, Tom Brady.

M2 “All our words are but crumbs that fall down from the BLANK (5 letters, F) of the mind,” Kahlil Gibran.

M3 “to other countries I may go as a tourist, but to Indian I come as a BLANK (7 letters, P), Martin Luther King, Jr.

M4 “I come from a family where BLANK (five letters, G) is served as a beverage,” Erma Bombeck.

Missed #1 and #2. Apparently we didn’t think of #1 as a “Thanksgiving” word.

Round Two

5 Amino Acids – What amino acid, which is used in the biosynthesis of proteins, and is associated with healthy sleep, is the subject of a Thanksgiving myth that eating too much turkey will make a person drowsy?

6 Instruments – 5A, 5B and 2B are among the most commonly used types of what item associated with musical instruments?

This is where we finally realized that since all of these questions up until now had a Thanksgiving theme, that we should not have missed this! Allow me to take a break in writing about this so I can slap myself silly! Miss.

7 Dance – Which breakdancing move, in which the dancer’s weight is supported on their elbows as they turn in a circle, is named for how the dancer appears to be hovering above the floor? MIss.

8 Symbols – What symbol of abundance and fruitfulness is also called “the horn of plenty?”

Missed #1.

We were in (now don’t be shocked) last place going into the final with 32 points. We used the alias “Moana 3 – Godzilla’s Revenge.”

Final Category – Thanksgiving TV

In 2024, USA Today published its list of the “Ten Best Thanksgiving TV Episodes Ever.” The top four of which are titled “Turkeys Away,” “The One with All the Thanksgivings,” “A Deep Fried Korean Thanksgiving” and “Pangs.” Name two of those four TV series that produced those episodes.

Funny, we watched “Pangs” just a couple of days ago because I said I was in “Spike kind of a mood.” And since all we needed was one more, we got this correct, moving up to thirteenth. Hey – even Godzilla has to wake up a bit and have some coffee before he reaches his full destructiveness!

Warm-up game?

Game Two/Round Three

9 Mascots – What P&G mascot is bald and wears one earring? I didn’t get a photo of this question, so it’s very, very abbreviated…

10 Competitions – What trophy has been won by the New York Yacht Club a record 25 times?

11 Europe – Flanders and Walllonia are among the regions that make up what European country?

12 War History – What name was given by Allied forces to the English speaking women who broadcasted Japanese propaganda during World War II?

Mystery Round Three – Thanksgiving Countries, Pick ‘Em

Choose the four countries from the list of seven that currently have some kind of national Thanksgiving holiday:

Canada, Spain, Liberia, New Zealand, Poland, Spain, St. Lucia

Got all of these.

Round Four

13 Clothing – What undergarment company was founded by Sara Blakely in 2000?

14 Parodies – What musician is parodied in the following clip from the TV series Family Guy?

Well, I can’t provide an audio clip, so here’s an image:

15 Actresses – What actress has won Academy Award nominations for playing real-life women June Carter Cash and Cheryl Strayed on screen? When I told my trivia pardner slash husband Mike that I knew this 100 percent, he wanted to know how…”Remember that one movie we watched about that woman who was a recovering junkie but wound up backpacking the whole Pacific Crest Trail by herself?” Oh yeah…

16 Rap Albums – And here’s where we saved our one point wager (which we were wise to do, since we didn’t have any of our players with us who would be more knowledgeable in this area): Name one of the three studio albums by Dr. Dre, released in 1992, 1999 and 2015.

Miss and miss.

Crossword

Answer based on the crossword style clue given. The LAST letter of each answer is the first letter of the following answer.

M1 6 letters – Domed Indigenous dwelling primarily found in the Northeastern U.S. and Canada

M2 11 letters – Minnesota city home to Bde Maka Ska, the largest lake in the city

M3 5 letters – Plant with smooth and staghorn species used as food by Indigenous Americans

M4 7 letters – Tribe originally from what is now Mississippi and Alabama for which Pushmataha and George W. Harkins were chiefs

Got all of these.

We were tied for second with YRS with 53 points going into the final, but we wisely didn’t get too excited about that because we knew that with the way our luck was going, we’d miss the final question. You know how sometimes you think something is going to go a certain way and you want to be wrong? Yeah, kind of like that! That didn’t happen 😦

We wagered zero in the category of Parades:

At the 2024 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, six new character balloons will be featured, including one featuring Extraordinary Noorah and the Elf on the Shelf, another featuring Minnie Mouse, and a third featuring Gabby from “Gabby’s Dollhouse.” Name one of the other three characters – one from the Dragon Ball franchise, one from PAW Patrol and one a Marvel superhero introduced in 1962,

We were just smart enough not to lose the points we had, but not smart enough to know the answer! I actually have kind of a phobia of parades, I absolutely hate, hate watching them (too many years of marching band and having to be IN them, me thinks). So you know how they say “Everybody loves a parade?” No…they don’t!

I do like reading the parade commentary by one of my friends who provides it on Facebook!

Thus ends our two-week dipping of our toes into Corner Brewery’s trivia scene. No, we can’t make it out for Seth’s last game next week (that’s OK, we’re not super keen on being in silly group photos anyway). Best of luck to you in your move to Grand Rapids! We’ll try to check in on a show with the new host Leif at some point.

We’ll most likely take a break from Sporcle and play a My Trivia Live show sometime next week. As always, Go Pods, and stay classy, Oliver North!