We made our third attempt at not embarrassing ourselves in a Sporcle Event Globe Game on a recent mild Sunday afternoon – and with a combination of a lot of help from a new player – and a little bit of luck – we didn’t do TOO badly! We wound up finishing second overall and winning a $250 prize!

We’re not exactly old hats at winning trivia tournament prize money by any means! This was the sixth time over a period of going on 13 years that we’ve managed to do that! Well, one of those times we had to sub out our entire team and the other players won the prize money, but it all counts, doesn’t it?

Playing a trivia game at Sticks was definitely familiar territory for us! Years ago we played here fairly regularly on Thursday nights, and a good number of other players and teams in the room were ones we have played against in the past. Teams including More Beer Less Pants, members of One is the Loneliest Number (who played under a different moniker for the Globe Game), and Cheesy Like Vermont Chedda were in the mix. A member of that last team, Elizabeth, graciously came over to us to tell us that she hoped we’d kick some ass in the game! Aww, shucks – that was nice of you!

We also heard a “Go Pods” from the general area where MBLP was sitting when they read the scores, so thanks to whomever was responsible for that!  😀🐙

All of that said, our expectations were still pretty low going into this – and during the game! Blowing eight points on a question about Oscars – well we thought we had zero chance of being able to walk the red carpet after THAT flub!

Maybe misery loves company? A good number of teams were laid low by the questions vexing us!

Special shout out to our game MVP Andrew – who joined us for the very first time at this game! He was especially helpful on the mystery rounds, the Grammy Awards question and a question about kids’ TV (he was a kid when the show they asked about originally aired).

Rounding out our “quartet” for the game were myself, my husband and longtime trivia “pardner” Mike, and our longtime trivia compadre and dear friend Brad.

The place we played is called Sticks, and for those of you not in the know, it’s the upstairs portion of Aubree’s, which has been a fixture in the historic “Depot Town” section of Ypsilanti, MI for at least a few decades or so. Sticks was offering bar service on this afternoon, which meant that players had to get in line to get their drinks and place food orders. I heard a rumor that the only bartender working behind the bar was a newbie, so she definitely had her hands full!

The trivia host Seth had to actually put a “hard cap” on the beer line at one point, stating that after “X” time, people in line would NOT be able to go back to their tables to help out their teams. At one point, when one of our players strayed off to get a beer, we had to holler for him to come back because we didn’t want that to happen to us!

Ah, what’s a trivia tournament day without at least a little bit of chaos, right? It was still better than that time we played at The Riv for a finals game in East Lansing!

Round One

1 Companies – The two highest-ranking companies on the 2023 Fortune Global 500 have headquarters in three different states. Name two of those three states. No teams got this.

2 Art – Among the notable works by artist Faith Ringgold are The French Collection and the American Collection, which are a series of paintings on what specific type of textile? And no teams got this one either!

3 South America – The largest state by area in Brazil, the largest department by area in Colombia, and the second largest state by area in Venezuela all border each other and share a name directly referencing what geographic landmark? Yay we finally got to register some points here!

4 2010s Hits – Four songs that reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2019 have one-word titles beginning with “S.” Name two of those four songs. Miss.

Mystery Round One

The correct answer to each clue is a three- or four-letter word that is spelled using a U.S. state abbreviation and a symbol on the periodic table. Give the word that is spelled, not the state/element.

M1 Soft, velvety radioactive metal with atomic number 89 + state where the Salmon River provides part of a time zone boundary = a substance having a pH of less than 7

M2 Element named for a historical region that now emcompasses modern-day France + state named for a 17th and 18th century king of France = one of the most grown apple varieties in the U.S.

M3 State home to the Oregon Trail landmarks Chimney Rock and Scotts Bluff + the third-most element in the universe = the alias of a character first introduced in a 1999 film

M4 Element discovered by the Curies in 1898 + a state that was home to the original five nations of the Iroquois Confederacy = a small glass for liqueurs, usually holding one ounce

We got all of these. My teammates handled this one completely, yay!

Round Two

5 Olympics – What decade saw a total of four Olympic games – two each for the summer and winter – collectively hosted by only two countries? Nope.

6 Oscars – What is the most Academy Award-nominated film released in the decade of the 2020s, with 13 nominations, seven of which it won? A painful nope here for eight points…we were SURE our chances were f—ed by now!

7 Animals – What type of animal has an English name that is derived from an Algonquin word meaning “one who scratches with hands?” In Dutch and German, the name translates to mean “wash bear.”

8 Utensils – In 2017, what fast-food restaurant chain introduced a utensil called a “frork,” descrived as “usefully useful,” to promote its Signature Crafted Recipe burgers and chicken sandwiches? Another miss by nearly all teams if not all.

Mystery Round Two

Fall 2024 TV

Name the TV series that aired on a major network as part of its Fall 2024 schedule based on the list of cast members.

M1 ABC – Katilyn Olson, Daniel Sunjata and Javicia Leslie

M2 NBC – Reba McEntire, Belissa Escobedo and Rex Linn

M3 CBS – Kathy Bates, Skye P. Marshall and Jason Ritter

M4 Fox – Robbie Magasiva, Arielle Kebbel and Kekoa Kekumano

Missed #4.

Round Three

9 Evacuations – Operation Frequent Wind was the final phase in the evacuation of American civilians and select others from what city in April, 1975?

10 Animated Films – Of the ten films that were the highest-grossing at the domestic box office during a given year in the 1990s, two were animated. Name one of those two films. We missed this. But we heard that another trivia spot allowed the answer we put down as our answer after an e-mail was sent to the game host. After these two weekend trivia games, I think I’m just gonna give up on trying to remember anything about movies!

11 Acronyms – UNESCO is a specialized agency of the United Nations. The “E” stands for “educational,” while the “S” and “C” stand for what two words? Miss.

12 Grammy Awards – In 2008, the nominees for the Grammy Award for best New Artist were Amy Winehouse, Feist, Ledisi, Taylor Swift and what band, which is also led by a woman? Our new guy Andrew stepped up for this one.

Mystery Round Three

Give the athletic nickname used by all of the schools in each group, which they also share with a pro team.

M1 Boston College, Eastern Michigan University, Georgia Southern University and a NFC East Division team

M2 East Carolina University, Hampton University and a National League Central Division Team

M3 University of Louisville, University of the Incarnate Word, Lamar University and an NFC West Division team

M4 University at Buffalo, University of South Florida and a NBA Central Division team

Brad and Andrew were all over these, nice work, guys!

Round Four

13 Math – What trigonometric function, which is described as ratio of the length of the hypotenuse to that of the opposing side, is a right angle in a right angle triangle, is the reciprocal of the sine function? A math teacher friend of mine playing at another spot the same time we were said she hung her head in shame for this miss! We missed it too…

14 Kids’ TV – “Get Lost in Space,” “Gets Eaten,” and “Gets Charged” are among the 52 episodes of what animated kids’ TV series that aired from 1994-1997? Andrew was all over this one, hit.

15 Bodies of Water – The Spratly Islands, which are variously occupied by the militaries of several different nations as part of an ongoing territorial dispute, are located in what sea? Miss, again, lots of teams missed this one, too.

16 Shakespeare – What Julius Caesar character also appears in the title of another Shakespeare play?

Mystery Round Four

The correct answer to each clue can be spelled using the letters in “Globe Games.” each letter can only be used as many times as it appears in the phrase.

M1 A genus of flowering succulent plants cultivated for a number of pharmaceutical purposes

M2 SUrname of the Lord of the Rings character who is married to Rosie Cotton

M3 Word game first published by Parker Brothers in 1972

M4 Former name of the wizard character class in Dungeons and Dragons

Got all of these, love that a couple of them were kind of “nerdy!” For the fourth one, I nudged my husband and said “Take it away, nerd boy!” 🙂

The top ten scores going into the final were Dander Muffins, 53; Fanny Pack Guild, 57; More Beer Less Pants and Escaped Parents, both tied with 59; Old EGS, 60; PJ Rules, 61; Miskatonic University Fighting Cephalopods, 62; Rhythm and Weep, 64; Quiz in my Jorts, 57 and TRAF, 71.

Final Category – Emmy Awards

Among the shows that have been nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series since 2000 name two of the three with the shortest titles.

No, we don’t “like” wagering zero on questions in money games, yet there we were…we knew that our collective chances at success on a question in this category were pretty piss poor! So we wagered zero and hoped some dominos would fall…

And what a shocker – we wound up in the top three! Hell we wouldn’t have bet on an outrageous thing like this to happen! I don’t know what the line on us was among the trivia bookies out there, but…well, maybe someone lost their shirts over this one? We sincerely hope that nobody is lying dead in a ditch because they lost big betting on some other team to take it all?

Congrats to Dander Muffins for moving up from 10th to first and being the only team to get this correct! PJ Rules also stuck to a zero wager and finished third.

As the Sporcle Events off season winds down with a My Trivia Live season already underway, we don’t know what our trivia “plans” are at this point. We can’t commit to “same place, same time” games every week, but we will be getting out to play when we can.

Don’t know what our trivia plans are for this week. As always, Go Pods, and stay classy, Oppenheimer!