We paid a visit to McShane’s Pub in Ypsi for its Tuesday trivia scene after a brief hiatus of 28 days. Which I HAD to make a joke about when it came time to pick a team name for the night! So I went with…

“28 Days Later.” Yes, this was a nod to the horror franchise involving 28 days, weeks and most recently, years.

What will be next for the franchise? Decades? Fortnights? Centuries? Millennia? Who wants to see space-age mutated survivors of the “Rage” virus?

Sounds like Doctor Who territory!

Before this recap gets TOO nerdy, I’ll get to the nitty gritty!

We finished first with a $30 prize on the strength of a rap/hip-hop music question. Yes, really, and I was the one who knew it! 😂 I’ll explain more about that later (it was pure luck and I have Facebook to thank for it).

This was a complete reversal of our most recent trivia outing at McShane’s October 28. Fewer than 50 points, no prizes…downright stinky indeed!

Just in case you thought that is getting a rap music final question correct was the weirdest thing to happen to us on this night? You’re wrong! We also saw salted caramel flavored Lays potato chips at a convenience store after the game! I know, I know, I should have taken a photo of that. No, I didn’t buy a bag (though I’ll bet they would have been tasty – mmm blend of savory and sweet)! I’ve sworn off potato chips and salty crackers over the past month (among other things), so I instead opted for skinny popcorn and a small bag of cashews for my snack attack.

Trivia is NOT one of my favorite things that I’ve decided to stop partaking of, so how about some abbreviated questions:

Round One

American History – What name was given to colonial militia members who were ready at a minute’s notice?

Actors – Robert Englund wore a glove of what character that he portrayed in film when accepting his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame?

Planets – What is Superman’s home planet?

Round Two

Games – Boardwalk and Park Place are what primary color in the game of Monopoly?

70s Music – What band released the song “Sweet Home Alabama” in 1974?

Basketball – How many feet above the ground is a regulation basketball hoop? Yay Dave for knowing this one!

Round Three

Quotes – What animated movie was the president of the National Peking Opera Company talking about when they said that the title character was a “national treasure” and that the movie was about all Chinese elements – adding “Why didn’t we make the movie?” A bit of a thinker at first, but we got it.

Literature – The title of what Alexandre Dumas novel about a prison escape has a title that contains the name of a French “croque monsieur?”

Under the Sea – Along with eight arms, how many tentacles does a squid have? Interesting question for a cephalopod-themed team such as ours to get, thankfully we didn’t miss it! 🦑

Halftime In the Box

Give the names of the following things that all have the word “box” in their descriptions.

H1 Third game published on the puzzles section of the New York Times

H2 Training exercise for combat sports

H3 2014 stop action animated film

H4 Slang term for rolling two sixes on a pair of dice

Missed #3.

Halftime scores:

Lab Rats, 19; Rather Be At/Spacecats, tied with 25; Three, 26; Dead Guys, 30; and tied for first with 31 were We Were Never Here, 28 Days Later (us) and Maddie Platters.

Round Four

Sports – In November, 2025, who became the first NHL player to score 900 goals in his career? Dave again for the he shoots…he scores moment!

Fictional Leaders – In “Transformers,” Optimus Prime is the leader of what shape-shifting robots? This time we leaned on Mike for this one (he’s such a fan of this)!

Wars – What war was ended by the 1763 Treaty of Paris?

No misses in this round. If you want to read about misses, keep reading (they’re a coming)!

Round Five

Notable Women – What American woman, in 2020, was Time’s last living recipient of their Women of the Year accolades and was also a recipient of the Soviet Union’s Lenin Peace Prize? We put in a guess for low and missed.

Business – What quick-service restaurant chain was founded in 1948 under the name “Open Kettle?” We used our “Answer of the Week” freebie offered by the trivia league to get the points and not have to give a correct answer…

Just when you thought the questions in this round couldn’t get any more difficult…

Primates – What primate consumes small snakes, lizards and insects and is considered the only purely carnivorous primate? Miss. And we thought we were so good at zoology questions 😢 🦧

Round Six

90s Movies – What Golden Girls actress co-starred with Sylvester Stallone in “Stop, or My Mom Will Shoot?” Ah my favorite of the Golden Girls!

Fashion – What fashion brand now based in Paris was founded in San Sebastian, Spain in 1919? When the answer was revealed, I think we were probably not the only team to think “Huh…never heard of it.” Was round five full? Could this question not wait for a round five in another game? 🤔  Did the question writer know that most teams will have used their answers of the week option by now? Be honest! 😂

Time – How many minutes are in three hours? Now THAT’s more like a round six question!

Scores heading into the final:

Lab Rats, 40; Spacecats, 45; Dead Guys, 52; Rather Be At, 53; Three, 54; 28 Days Later (us), 81; Maddie Platters, 63 and We Were Never Here, 65.

Final Category – Billboard Charts

I kind of nudged my buddy and longtime music trivia “pardner” Kim here. If I were a betting person, I’d bet on her being the one knowing this final question answer! Nine times out of 10, she’s the one knowing the answers in most of our music quiz outings (I’m mostly a supporting player). Then they asked the question and all of my assumptions would fly out the window. Here we go…

In October, 2025, Billboard magazine announced that for the first time since February 2, 1990, there were no rap songs in the top 40. Identify the song that was #41 on the charts February 2, 1990.

About a month ago I remembered seeing something about this in my Facebook news feed, so we were able to go all in, put in our slip immediately (usually we like to be cagey and pretend we’re pondering things even if we’re not –  though usually we really are pondering things or doing our best imitation of a deer in the headlights). Then we waited.

What what WHAT? We were the only team getting this correct? Wow…This was not on my bingo card!

Game winners: Maddie Platters, 60 (three point wager), We Were Never Here, 64 (one point wager) and 28 Days Later, 122 (all the points wagered). 

I’d like to end this by saying that this concludes our trivial pursuits for the week. But it doesn’t! Plans are to hit up a My Trivia Live music trivia game in the bustling mini-motor city town of Flint tonight with a visiting longtime friend from Vegas – and my trivia pardner Kim. Girls  night!

As always, Go Pods, and stay classy, Biz Markie!

Answers:

r1 minutemen, freddy krueger, krypton

r2 blue, lynyrd skynyrd, 10 feet

r3 kung fu panda, count of monte cristo, two

halftime

letter box, shadow boxing, box trolls, boxcars

r4 alexander ovetchkin, autobots, french and indian war or seven years war

r5 angela davis, dunkin donuts, tarsier

r6 estelle getty, blenciaga, 180

f just a friend