Scroll way down for the answers…

Plan A, Plan B, Plan…C? Yes, that is pretty much how a recent trivia night shook out in terms of “planning!”

We had planned to do an “away” game at a spot a bit north of us, but a variety of factors (not limited to February Michigan weather) came into play making us choose to play at a familiar spot close to home. Mainly because we wanted to play a My Trivia Live game for a change! And no, not JUST because I had some prize money from a January game to spend!

Four of us gathered for a trivia game close to home – McShane’s Pub in Ypsilanti, as it were – to celebrate Burt Reynolds’ birthday. Wait, you didn’t know February 11 was Burt Reynolds’ birthday? Well, surely you MUST know that he appeared in at least a couple of episodes of “Archer,” right?

For me, the triumph of being able to successfully plan a trivia night on my own birthday for the first time since 2020 was more rewarding than winning actual trivia prizes! Let’s see… technology fail when I attempted a trivia game on my birthday in 2023 (game was Sporcle Events, so it required the use of a working smart phone); Super Bowl on my birthday in 2024, so no local places had trivia going on…

Third time’s the charm?

Special thanks to Dave and Kim for joining Mike and I on this night! We did pretty poorly in the first half, made a semi-comeback in the second half, though we couldn’t quite pull off getting that pesky final question correct. MTL final questions can be pretty challenging!

Here were our very, very abbreviated questions:

Round One

Words – Five letter word describing a dance or a dot.

Food – What tomato-based condiment under 1981 USDA guidelines could have been classified as a “vegetable?”

Voting – The 26th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution allowed voters of what age or older to vote?

Got all of these.

Round Two

Fictional Characters – Frodo, Gimli and Gandalf are all characters in books by what author?

Same Name – What is the last name of a neighbor family in Home Improvement, or the main family in Dennis the Menace? Good on Mike for remembering that!

We’ve Got the Power – What “dying” skill does the National Archives consider a “super power” because of its use in transcribing documents? Discussed a couple of possibilities, put the wrong one down of course (thanks Kim for thinking of the right one). Reading my handwriting is a super power too, apparently!

Round Three

Billionaires – Who became the world’s first “centibillionaire” in 2018 according to Forbes magazine? Again, we discussed the right guy, didn’t put his name down, miss.

From the French – What two-word French phrase describes a philosophy involving limited government interference?

Musicians – In 1985, what musician, who had a song banned from radio air play because of alleged drug references, testified before Congress that the people banning the song had never actually seen the Rocky Mountains or had been to Colorado? I was really hoping Dee Snider would be the answer to this one, but we still got it right!

Halftime – Intelligence

Describe the types of intelligence based on the following words:

Sagient, humint, ogint, imint

Kim and I took this as an opportunity to chat while Mike and Dave did the work on this one. They did fairly well too – we wound up getting two of these correct!

Halftime scores: Fourteen teams, scores ranging from 20 to 37 with the team formerly known as Team Pants (whom we played against countless times at the Wurst Bar in the long long ago) in first with 37. We were in ninth with 29 points, but crossed our fingers that the second half would go better. In MTL games that is usually not what happens, but…

Round Four

Classic Literature (I heard a “boo” from the vicinity of team More Beer Less Drama (formerly known as More Beer Less Pants maybe playing under a one time alias) when this category was read!

Anyway, here was the question:

Published in 1985 by Thomas Mallory, his work about what title character is considered among the best known works involving folklore from that era?

Mike and I took a mythology/literature class together when we were both attending Central Michigan University. He had to read the Mallory work and summarize it, I had to read Ovid’s The Metamorphosis and do the same. To this day I still couldn’t tell you about anything that happened in that plodding work. I had to go to the library to try getting through it to get as much quiet as I could. It was fun sitting next to him in class while we both took notes from the professor, but it was even more fun when we went to a study session involving other students from the class!

He totally trolled them by jokingly describing things that happened in the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail. While he was holding court, other students – who obviously didn’t read the required book, or, even worse, knew anything about Monty Python (shame on them) – were taking copious notes based on what he was saying. Imagine the hilarity when someone said “So what happened after they reached the Bridge of Death?”

One of many ways he’s a chip off the old block (his dad used to do similar stuff with other people too, RIP…)

Awards – In 1984, who was the first woman to win a Golden Globe for best director? Here’s where Dave stepped into what “should” be my trivia territory with success! Teamwork makes the dream work!

Rivers – The Isar River is a tributary of what river running through Bavaria, featuring 40 hydroelectric plants? Good guess from Mike.

Round Five

Musicians – In 2025 what Beach Boys co-founder and lead vocalist was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame? I thought of Dennis Wilson – nope, he’s been dead a while…Brian Wilson? Uh, I think he’s dead (actually upon checking Google he is not)…Carl Wilson? Yeah he’s probably dead, too. Who was that other guy who wasn’t a Wilson (think think think)…So happy when my brain actually cooperates with me during trivia games!

TV Fans – Apologies, I didn’t take very good notes on this one, and we used our “word of the day” option to avoid having to answer this. Something about what series – ending in 2010, complained about being pre-empted by a State of the Union address by Barack Obama.

Naval History – Who led the Mutiny on the Bounty? Kind of like Dave stepping into my movie awards territory earlier, I stepped into Mike’s territory here and by some strange magicks I can’t quite explain, remembered this guy’s first AND last name. Don’t ask me how that happened – I really don’t know!

Round Six

Slogans – What company used the slogan “Press the button and we’ll do the rest” in 1885? Miss.

The News – What is the most circulated daily newspaper in the U.S.? Not the “McPaper?” Darn it, miss. They wanted the publishing company of the paper we put down as our guess, so we missed this.

Boxing – Whose ear did boxer Mike Tyson bite in a controversial fight?

We improved a bit in the second half, and were in fourth going into the final with 55 points behind More Beer Less Drama, who had 57 points, a team described as “Random Guessers” (or something) with 58 points and Team Three, who had 59 points.

Final Category – Amendments

In 2020, what was the final and 38th state to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment?

Kudos to team Dead Guys for coming back from ninth, wagering it all and getting first! Team MBLP finished in third after winning a tiebreaker, unsure who finished second.

In a rarity for us, we’ll be back at McShane’s Thursday! We’ll be back at Corner Brewery next week. Unsure when we’ll be at McShane’s after that, it will continue to be an “occasional” place for us to wage trivia battles depending upon my work schedule, of course.

As always, Go Pods, and stay classy, King Arthur!

R 1

dot, ketchup, 18

r2

tolkien, wilson, reading cursive

r3

bezos, laissez-faire, john denver

halftime – signals, human, open source, imagery

r4

king arthur, babs, danube

r5

mike love, lost, fletcher christian

r6

kodak, gannett, holyfield

f virginia