We wrapped up our 2025 trivial pursuits by visiting McShane’s Pub on a snowy, windy December night that Robert Frost would probably love writing about. Or Jack London. Or perhaps Emily Dickinson (boy she was a goth before her time, wasn’t she 😍 )?

So we stopped by the pub on a snowy evening, fought a white-fanged wolf-like battery of second half trivia questions in the virtual Klondike and pondered the pointlessness of our existence over beer, cocktails and near-beers while we debated whether or not that  one statue guy rested his chin on his left – or right hand.

Now that I’ve summarized these three writers, how about some game details? 

We somehow managed to finish in first with an “acceptable” 59 points going into the final. We probably would have had maybe at least 10 more points had we been joined by my husband Mike in this game (he opted to stay home for the evening since he was kind of in an Emily Dickinson like mood which would almost magically subside once our game was over – funny that)! 

Representing my team on this snowy evening was myself, along with Kim and Brent, who normally play with the team Sparty On. Both of them were a huge help in this game!

Here were our extremely abbreviated game questions:

Round One

Cities – The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is located in which U.S. state? Lots of confusion about this question, since the category was “cities.” I saw lots of players approaching the host Stacy about this asking for clarification 😂

Animal – Tuxedo cats typically have predominately what two colors in their coats? they always dress to impress! 😺 💕

Words – What three-letter word can describe a home for plants or a place for a snooze?

Round Two

Mascots – Geoffrey the giraffe appeared in ads for what store chain beginning in 1973?

Same Name – What frozen treat shares part of its name with a regional gold rush that began in Canada in 1896?

Engineering – In a mechanical engine, the crankshaft converts reciprocal motion of what into rotational motion? Brent was the hero here!

Round Three

Athletes – What tennis player’s autiobiography titled “You Cannot Be Serious” was published in 2002?

Currency – In November, 2025, what city’s mint produced the last pennies? When I got my change for the night, they rounded up to the nearest dollar (it’s all happening)! RIP, the one-cent piece! 😔

Latin – In Harry Potter, Dumbledore’s first name Albus is derived from the Latin for what color? We discussed this quite a bit, thankfully we thought of the right one.

Halftime – Presidents

List four of the six presidents with first names of James alphabetically by their surnames.

Halftime Scores:

Maddy Platters, 25; Discovery Channel, 30; Lab Geeks, 31; Rather Be At/Random Answers (tied), 33; Dead Guys, 36 and tied four ways with 37 points were We Were Never Here, Pods (us), Three Minus Two and Spacecats.

Round Four

Statues – Rodin’s statue “The Thinker” shows a figure resting his chin on which hand – the left or the right hand? Everyone loves “either or” trivia questions (said no trivia player ever)! 😂 Miss.

Textiles – Traditionally made with wool, what fabric was trademarked by Thomas Burberry in 1888? Second consecutive miss. Will we get any questions correct in this round? 🤔

1970s Songs – In 1974, singer Carl Douglas sang that it was a “little bit frightening” that people were doing  what as fast as lightning? Kim came up with this quickly.

Round Five

Rivers – The Murray River is the longest river in what country? Miss. Had Mike been playing with us, he would have known this one (I quizzed him right after the game).

Automobiles – Typically only produced in Japan, what company’s only “Century” model, which featured a V12 engine, was produced between 1997 and 2017? Miss.

Familiar Faces – What actress , who played a witch on “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” appeared on “Penn and Teller Fool Us” from 2015-2023? This is a tough one since there are multiple people who played witches on the series, thankfully we picked the right one 🧙‍♀️ !

Round Six

Mottos – “Live Free or Die” is the motto of which New England state? This is yet another question Mike would have helped us get correct immediately. As for us? We only knew that it was one of three possible states, but we weren’t sure which one, so we used our “word of the week” freebie option here.

Geography – Of the two countries in South America that are landlocked, which one comes last alphabetically? Our third question of the night that we needed Mike’s help for! See? Maybe you shouldn’t skip trivia nights 😂

Instruments – Kick, tom and bongo are all types of what musical instrument?

Scores heading into the final:

Rather Be At/ Maddy Platters (tied), 53; Lab Geeks, 55; Discovery Channel, 56; Pods, Random Answers and Three Minus Two (tied), 59; Spacecats, 63; Dead Guys, 66 and We Were Never Here, 67.

Final Category – Trademarks

First trademarked in 1936 for a “moveable container,” what term for that container is now a genericized trademark for all containers of those types?

Doesn’t appear too many teams got this correct. After asking the host Stacy, she said that our team and Rather Be At were the only two teams getting it correct.

Final scores – Dead Guys, 13; Rather Be At, 106, Pods, 118.

Answers:

r1 Ohio, black and white, bed

r2 toys r us, klondike, pistons

halftime

buchanan, carter, garfield, madison

r4 right, gabardine, kung fu fighting

r5 australia, toyota, alyson hannigan

r6 new hampshire, paraguay, drums

f – dumpster