We wound up ending our trivial pursuits for 2025 – and beginning our trivial pursuits for 2026 – at the exact same bar!

This is the first time we’ve done such a thing in the past 13-ish years of playing pub trivia competitively!

While we are on the subject of things we’ve done for the first time in trivia games, here goes…

We logged a “perfect” score in a My Trivia Live game (there is a reason the word “perfect” is in quotes).

Truth be told, we did not get the final question correct (though we came really, really close – which is a page from our team’s playbook). This was disappointing, of course, though not as disappointing as one might think!

We didn’t try to argue with the host Stacy about this (I think that she expected us to do that, we absolutely did not do this). Go ahead and ask her!

Still, not missing ANY regular round questions in any trivia game – MTL or Sporcle Events – is an extreme rarity for us!

We’re like characters in a sitcom! Who wants to see sitcom characters be “too” perfect?  Who wants to see characters become millionaires (with the exception of the Beverly Hillbillies), see characters be able to get away from their dead-end jobs or have perfect weddings, dinner parties, parent-teacher conferences or vacations?

It’s the imperfections of all of their lives that keep us watching their stories unfold every week!

Likewise, I’d like to think that my trivia team’s multiple fuck-ups – game after game after game –  are part of the reason some of you regularly check in with this pointless blog!

Also, it’s far more fun for me to write about my trivia team’s failures –  than its successes 😂

The last time that we won first place in a MTL tournament in July, 2017, the experience was so surreal to me that I felt like our entire trivia team had died in a car accident on the way to the tournament – and that the whole “winning” experience was just a dream. I had this whole “deer in the headlights” feeling rather than a celebratory feeling about it.

Diff’rent strokes for diff’rent folks I guess?

Here were our abbreviated questions:

Round One

Banned in the USA – Beginning January 1, 1971, what products were banned in radio and television advertisements?

Landmarks – What landmark immigration station opened in New York Harbor in 1892?

Fashion – Which fashion brand is known for its intertwined double G logo? Maybe Megan Trainor helped you get a question correct about this fashion brand in a trivia tournament in 2024!

Round Two

Presidential Actions – What famous action did President Abraham Lincoln take in 1863 declaring that all slaves held in rebellious states shall henceforth be free?

Movie Franchises – Released in December, 2025, what film franchise’s latest installment is called “Fire and Ash?”

Around the House – What “T” word is used to describe a partially enclosed structure for growing and displaying plants?

Round Three

Astrology – Which sign of the Western zodiac is typically represented by a crab ♋ 🦀?

Children’s Books – In what Dr. Seuss story is the character “Sam I Am” introduced?

Modern Terms – What word is represented by the abbreviation “pop” in the phrase “pop  culture?

Halftime –

Category – The Human Body

Give the scientific name for the common names of the following bones:

Collarbone, wrist bone, tailbone, shin bone

We got all of these correct.

Halfime scores: Team four, 10; Keeping up withe the Joneses/Dead Guys, 28; Average, 33; with Pods (us), Spacecats and YpsiStarlingsRugby tied with 37 in first.

Round Four

Board Games – Charles S. Darrow acquired the rights to what board game in 1935 before selling it to Parker Brothers?

The Simpsons – What is the name of the rival town to Springfield in the animated series The Simpsons?

National Flowers – Though not an official flower, what defacto flower of Japan grows on a tree?

Round Five

Science! – What is the name of the area directly above an earthquake’s focal point?

The Government – Who held the record as the longest serving person in Congress, doing so as a Democrat for more than 59 years representing Michigan?

Classic Comedy – Which classic comedy series with a four-word title was known for its comedy bits including “We interrupt this program to irritate you and to make things generally more annoying?” My “triviagasm” moment in the game 😂

Round Six

World Cities – Gorky Park is located in which world city?

The Law – An arrested person’s right to not speak to police officers after being arrested is named for what person?

Four-Man Bands – What four-person band was rejected by Deca Records in 1962? We used our freebie answer here even though we thought we knew this (at this point in the game we did not want to risk any mistakes)! We’ll save our mistakes for the final round in true ‘Pods fashion!

Scores heading into the final:

Joneses, 60; Average, 61; Dead guys, 62, Spacecats/YpsiStarlingsRugby, 71 and Pods, 73.

First using Marie and Mildred Mayer in 1939 radio ads, Jane and Joan Boyd in TV ads in 1959 and the Sagal sisters in 1980s TV ads…what company did all of these things?

We put the correct product, not the correct company. I think at this point in the  game, we decided we were done with being too thinky! It was Mike’s birthday, we’d just watched the “Stranger Things” finale on a big screen, and we were thinking more about where we wanted to go for last call than we were about pesky game questions!

No apologies. Life is too short to waste it by getting all uptight about correct trivia answers and beating yourselves up when you get them wrong.

When we found out that we didn’t get it correct, we peacefully and quietly left so that we could have a couple of more drinks to ring in 2026. No storming off in a huff turning over tables, nothing like that (really)!

We’ll continue trying to chase the futile and pointless goal of a truly “perfect” trivia game in 2026.  When we feel like doing that! 😄

As always, Go Pods, and stay classy, Eric Idle!

Answers

R1 cigarettes/tobacco; Ellis island, Gucci

R2 emancipation proclamation, terrarium

R3 cancer, Green eggs and ham, popular

HT clavicle, carpals, coccyx, tibia

R4 monopoly, Shelbyville, Cherry blossom

R5 epicenter, dingell, Monty Pythons flying circus

R6 Moscow, Miranda, Beatles

F wrigley