I’ll explain more about this photo later on! There is a bit of a story there…

Scroll to the bottom of the answers.

Through a series of unfortunate events, it came to pass that I was only able to summon a duo of players for our first trivia night in the month of May, in 2025. My trusty husband slash trivia pardner was home recovering from some recent back pain issues (he is doing much, much better and demonstrated that by bending to pick up something from the floor just now), and another player simply couldn’t make it out, either. So it was just Kim and I battling it out on this warm rainy, rainy night at McShane’s Pub in Ypsilanti.

Boy oh boy…what a trivia battle it was! No teams managed to score above 50 points, with the highest scoring team managing 49 points going into the final category.

We managed to win a second place/$20 prize after a tiebreaker, we had 46 points going into the final.

Here were our abbreviated questions:

Round One

Beverages – What beverage’s main ingredients are barley, yeast, hops and water?

U.S. States – The only place in the world where one can see both alligators and crocodiles is in what U.S. state?

In the Kitchen – What valuable food product is harvested from salmon, sturgeon and whitefish?

Round Two

Based on a True Story – What neurosurgeon and former HUD secretary is the subject of the TV documentary “Gifted Hands?” Miss.

Be Positive – Who wrote the book The Power of Positive Thinking? Big miss for 5, I was thinking of the “How to Win Friends and Influence People” guy…

Puppets – What is the name of the puppet character created by and performed by Shari Lewis?

Round Three

Phobias – Gamophobia is the fear of what? Miss for 1.

TV Franchises – What series in the “Yellowstone” franchise stars Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren?

Food Products – Albumen is a food product derived from what?

Halftime – Producers

Given the list of products, identify the countries that produce the most of them. We were not given any sources or qualifiers for this…no “According to (blank).”

Timber, Coffee, Lentils, Sugar

Nearly all of the teams playing put down all of the same countries. But no teams put them in the proper order! We managed two points out of this round, which in this trivia night, was the MOST points that any teams managed to get from this round.

Ouch! 😳

Halftime scores:  Ypsilanti Starlings, 9 (solo player who arrived late), 16, All; 20, Beethoven’s Fifth; 22, Nope and GDX (us) tied; and tied for first were Pursuit of O Snappiness, Spacecats and Titanic Swim Team with 23.

Round Four

Studies – What is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as “The systematic observation of the physical and natural world through structured behavior and observation?” Miss for 2, we got too specific with our guess.

Fashion – What fashion company was founded by William H. Stacy and Henry L. Adams in 1875? I guess I was the only person in the room getting this one correct? Must be some perks to working in “Retailville!”

Athletes – What Olympic gymnast was the first to be featured on a Wheaties box?

Round Five

McDonald’s – Which U.S. state capital is the only one to not have a McDonald’s restaurant? We brainstormed several low populated state capitals including the correct one. Sadly the correct one was not the one we wrote down as our answer!

Comedy – What Bill Cosby-hosted show from the 1990s was based on an Art Linkletter segment called House Party? Miss.

Islands – What unincorporated territory in the Minor U.S. Outlying Islands has been described as the place where “America’s day really begins” and also features a location called Peacock Point? Did any other teams besides us use our freebie “Answer of the Day” option to avoid having to really answer this? 🤔

Round Six

Novels – What 1895 novel was the first to be published by author HG Wells?  I read this one to my nerdy sci-fi aficionado husband after the game and he said he wouldn’t have known this. Thankfully I lucked out and got it right (where)! He was proud of me for stepping into his trivia wheelhouse with success!

Modern Rock – What band released the song “Look Ma, No Brains” on their 2024 studio album Savior? There were more qualifiers than this given to us involving Grammies and things (don’t correct me that’s how it SHOULD be spelled just like Emmies should be spelled 😂)! Miss.

Sweet Treats – What common fall treat on a stick was first introduced in 1908 by a veteran confectionery company? Swing and hit for Kim!

Scores going into final: Starlings, 21; All, 30; Titanic Swim Team, 43; Beethoven’s Fifth, 44; Pursuit of O Snappiness, 45; Nope/GDX (us), tied with 46; and Spacecats, 49.

Final Category: Men of The West

What Wild West lawman and frequent gambler turned journalist was befriended by and made a U.S. Marshal by Teddy Roosevelt under the condition that he stay away from gambling?

Side note, very interesting that we had a final question with a gambling element in it the same night the lottery/Keno machine was acting up! If I were working in the bar I’d just put an “Out of Order” sign on it because I’m 🦥 that way!

This question was very, very frustrating to me because I remembered that there was an episode of “Murdoch Mysteries” featuring this person (pictured above). I tried prying his name out of my head, but (of course) I only thought of his name AFTER we’d given up and handed in our answer. But as luck would have it, no other teams got this correct. Sure, winning  first place WOULD have been nice – especially an answer that I actually KNEW for a change 😂

Yet there we were in a tiebreaker for first and had to answer a question about… Boxing 😩 Not 1970s singers like that one game in September, 2024 where I won a tiebreaker for first? 🥺

“Nope,” I guess it wasn’t my turn to win a trivia tiebreaker on this night!

I didn’t write the q down since I was busy, you know – trying  to answer it, but it was something about the number of things Joe Louis won or something like that. My guess was too low, Nope’s was closer, so they won first, we won second. Not a terrible end for a rough night of trivia!

Now if only the correct person would have been mentioned in that Netflix Wyatt Earp miniseries I watched just two days ago! Then it would be fresh in my brain. Oh well… can’t win ’em all!

I may be coming out for the semis Saturday at McShane’s as a spectator, that is TBD. Our next trivia night after that is also TBD.

As always, Go Pods, and stay classy, Bat Masterson!

R1

Beer, FL, caviar

R2 Ben Carson, Norman Peale, lambchop

R3

Marriage/commitment, 1923, eggs

Us, Brazil, Canada, India

R4

Science, Stacy Adams, retton

R5 Montpelier, kids say darndest things, wake

R6

Time machine, green day, candied/ caramel apple

F bat masterson