We visited a completely “new to us” trivia spot last weekend for a Sporcle Events Globe Game, which are how their cash tournaments are now “branded.”

Instead of placing as many as 80 teams in one spot like they did for tournaments in the long, long ago days pre-pandemic, cash games are now more “intimate” affairs. Smaller trivia spots, more choices for players. Here’s a 2015 shot of a Sporcle Events tournament at 59 West:

I think I prefer having a choice in where – and when – we play!

The “when” part of the equation was particularly important this time! The earlier start time of 11:30 a.m.worked out better for one of our players, so we decided…

Aubree’s in Howell then? After all, Aubree’s is part of a chain of bars/restaurants we’re familiar with, right?

We assembled a five-person team for the first time since…I can’t remember when! Before the pandemic? Isn’t that a default time reference now? Before and after pandemic?

We had myself and my husband Mike, Kim S. and her 14-year-old daughter Molly – and Stacy L., whom is a trivia host for another league.

We didn’t win any prizes, but we were in second heading into the final question! Lots of great fist bumpy moments all around!

The game winner was team Farm Fresh Eggs.

Here were our questions:

1 2000s Hits – Name either of Usher’s Billboard Hot 100 singles in 2001. Both start with the letter “U.”

2 Title Fivesomes – Actors appearing in  Onward,  Dune, Star Trek Into Darkness, Pitch Black and Wet Hot American Summer all feature actors who make up a fivesome appearing in what 2010s movie?

They did not specify which Dune movie we needed to think about, we just assumed that it was the most recent one, which when the answers were revealed, proved to be correct.

3 Historical Terms – The Velvet Revolution and Velvet Divorce are both terms associated with the dissolution and democratization of what European nation?

4 Borders – Three different letters of the alphabet appear at the beginning of three different countries which means no other countries start with those letters. All of those countries share a border with what country?

Mystery Round One

Name the following things that share names with names in the official NATO alphabet.

M1 Network home to the original Queer Eye and the Real Housewives franchise.

M2 Best-selling car made by Volkswagen orignally designed as a replacement for the Beetle

M3 Shakespearean character whose final line is “thus with a kiss I die.”

M4 Partner dance that orignated on the Argentina-Uruguay border in the 1880s

Round Two

5 World Cup – What European country’s national soccer team is the most recent to win the FIFA World Cup while it was hosting the tournament?

6 TV Catchphrases – Added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2001, what three-letter word that orignated in a short called “Punching Bag” has been written as “(annoyed grunt)” hundreds of times in scripts since 1987?

7 Cocktails – Bourbon, Aperol, Amaro and lemon juice mixed in equal parts compose what cocktail that was named as a reference to an aviation-themed single from the 2000s by a woman born in England to Sri Lankan parents?

8 Artists – Associated with the pop art movement, what painter and scupltor is known for his works evoking comic strip panels, such as Whaam! and Drowning Girl?

Mystery Round Two

Twisted Titles: 2020s #1 Movies

The correct response to each clue is the title of a movie that spent at least one weekend at the top of the U.S. box office in the 2020s with just one letter changed. Give the new movie title based on the description.

M1 Indiana Jones puts on his fedora for a last time in search of a bargain

M2 We return to Pandora and the Na’vi so that our blue skinned heroes can find some thin biscuits

M3 Identical twins played by Michael B. Jordan attempt to cook evening meals while fending off vampires

M4 Trio of musicians want to catch some citrus

Round Three

9 Board Games – A standard Risk board’s territories include the exact names of multiple countries on a current world map. Which of these countries comes last alphabetically?

10 Fantasy Novels – The 1990 Novel The Eye of the World was the first of fourteen books in what series, adapted into an Amazon Prime series in the 2020s?

11 Bones – The human vertebral column is typically divided into multiple regions, which of these is the largest in terms of the number of bones, with 12 total in most humans?

12 Baby Names – According to the Social Security Administration, the #1 most popular name for baby girls and the #3 most popular name for baby boys born in the U.S. stayed the same from 2019-2024. Give either of those names, which each consist of six letters, have the same first four letters in common and refer to a symbol of peace.

Mystery Round Three

Latin-Agrams

Answer each question with the contextually appropriate two-word Latin phrase. Each phrase can be found anagrammed as two words in its matching clue.

M1 Paul came by yesterday to apologize and take ownership of his actions

M2 After directing Raiders of the Lost Ark, Steven Spielberg went on to help create E.T., Jurassic Park, Schindler’s List, and so on

M3 I impressed Leif with my knowledge of the U.S. Marine Corps in trivia last night

M4 I read this Monet memoir the other day; learning he died almost 100 years ago reminded me of my mortality

Round Four

Videos – The most liked video in YouTube history, MrBeast’s “Would You Fly to Paris for a Baguette?” took the record from the music video for what 2017 song? This song was also the most viewed video on the platform until 2020, when “Baby Shark Dance” overtook it.

14 Symbols – The geometric symbol that indicates perpendicult lines closely resembles what uppercase letter, except that is has been rotated 180 degrees?

15 Musicals – The 2025 winner of the Tony Award for Best Musical, Maybe Happy Ending, is an adaption of a show originally written in what language?

16 Advertisements – The commercial that debuted Apple’s Macintosh, first broadcast locally on December 31, 1983, and then nationally during Super Bowl XVIII (18), was designed to evoke a work by what author? We had to put the first and last name, though the slide did not indicate that.

Mystery Round Four

Combine the first name of the first person described with the last name of the second person being described to form the name of a different famous person.

M1 WNBA player with six Olympic gold medals AND public televised icon once called “the godfather of ASMR.”

M2 1990s-born star who is the second-youngest Oscar lead actress winner AND Access Hollywood anchor since 2019, when he left Extra

M3 Former world leader rumored to be dating Katy Perry AND 2020 American League Cy Young  winner

M4 Attorney general for the 42nd president AND multi-sport athlete who “knows” as per a famous ad campaign

We were in second going into the final with 99 points behind Farm Fresh Eggs. Rounding out the top ten were No Talent Ass Clowns, 95; Joker Squad, 94; Slick Rock Rumble, 92; The Little Engine that Can’t Even, 88; The Squints, 85; The Iron Curtain, 81; Kardiac Kids, 81; Hugh Jass, 81.

Final Category – MVP Names

Since 2000, six different players have won a Most Valuable Player award in the National Basketball Association or Major League ABaseball whose first and last initials are a  two-letter state abbreviation. Those initals correspond to five different states. Provide the capitals of any two of those states.

Answers:

r1 u remind me/u got it bad, guardians of the galaxy, czechoslovakia, saudi arabia

r2 france, d’oh, paper planes, lichtenstein

r3 venezuela, wheel of time, thoracic, olivia/oliver

r4 despacito, T, korean, george orwell

m1 bravo, golf, romeo, tango

m2 indiana jones and the deal of destiny, avatar the way of wafer, dinners, pop lemon hunter

m3 mea culpa, et cetera, semper fidelis, memento mori

m4 diana ross, jennifer lopen, justin bieber, janet jackson

f atlanta, columbia, helena, little rock, trenton