Editor’s note – This recap was written with very, very minimal AI assistance (just for looking up random facts, not helping with any writing or image creation). Also, the answers are at the end!

Three of us played the penultimate Sporcle Events trivia game of the season on a recent balmy evening. We won two first place $20 prizes. It was a lighter than usual night for trivia competition, with a few other regular teams being elsewhere. Perhaps because of it being a holiday week?

Brad was our MVP for this game, although all of us played our respective “roles.” I knew “just enough” about musicals to answer the game two final question correctly. The two grown up Gen X “boys” I was playing with that night were able to quickly nail the game one final question that couldn’t have been more in their collective wheelhouse!

I always love it when they immediately start writing down answers that they know 😊

Now how about some trivia questions?

Game One/Round One

1 Traditions – A long-standing Philadelphia tradition involves leaving pennies on the grave of what Founding Father, who is buried alongside his wife, Deborah, at Christ Church Burial Ground?

2 Sounds – What sound effect is used to indicate that a word has been spelled incorrectly at the Scripps National Spelling Bee?

NERD POINT: What word from French meaning “the physical or social setting in which people live” was the winning word in 1985?

Miss and miss.

3 Flags – which of the four constituent countries of the United Kingdom has a flag consisting of a red dragon centered on a horizontal background of white and green?

NERD POINT: What is the capital of this constituent country?

Brad was all over the first part, took a bit longer coming up with the nerd point, but we got this! I remembered the nerd point answer from us recently watching that Doctor Who spinoff Torchwood. But even without having watched that series set in that city, I’m sure I would have remembered that city name eventually!

4 Reality TV – Audio clip of a reality show. Something involving marriage. Miss.

Mystery Round One – Visual

I don’t have the URL, not recreating this, didn’t get screen captures. All Denzel Washington movie images, we got one correct.

Round Two

5 Folk Songs – What folk song, which has a title that translates to mean “Farewell to Thee” in English, was written in the 1870s by Lili’uokalani and has become a cultural symbol for Hawaii?

FB host clue.

6 Board Games – What board game, named after a region in the Pacific Northwest, won the 2022 Spiel de Jahres for best board game?

NERD POINT: The Spiel de Jahres was first awarded in what decade?

Brad knew this for the main points, and also the nerd point. But we didn’t go with his nerd point answer! So miss.

7 Golf – In 1949, Sam Snead became the first person to be awarded what specific object as a result of winning the Masters Tournament?

NERD POINT: Who won the Masters Tournament in 2026?

Brad knew the first part, we missed the nerd point.

8 Particles – Also known as an antielectron, what is the term for the antiparticle of an electron, which has the same mass as that electron but the opposite electric charge?

Brad the hero here!

Mystery Round Two – Hamilton People

Name the real or fictional people described in the following clues, each of whom shares their first name with a character from the musical Hamilton. Give the first and last name of the person in the clue, not the Hamilton character, where applicable.

M1 New York Yankee right fielder holding the record for most home runs hit in a season with 62

M2 Former actress playing Faith on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Gymnast turned cheerleader in the film Bring it On

M3 Older relative of Tommy and Dil played as an antagonist in Rugrats

M4 Macedonian king whose lengthy military campaigns throughout Asia and Egypt helped im create one of the largest empires in history during his reign from 336-323 BCE

Got all of these correct.

We were in first going into the final with 48 points, in second were Are We Not Doing Phrasing Anymore, who had 39 points. Only three teams playing in this game.

Final Question Game One

Category – TV Openings

Footage from a real-life 1967 crash involving test pilot Bruce Peterson was later used during the opening to what TV series?

Mike and Brad started writing down the same correct answer right away. Good thing I wasn’t playing by myself, or I would have put down “Airwolf” or “The A-Team” or something like that…

We finished first with $20 and 53 points. Yay to my Gen X male teammates Mike and Brad, this question was all about their childhoods! I would have had no idea with this one. They had a good time reminiscing about playing with toys marketed for this series!

Yes, there were “some” gender neutral toys from that time, like Legos, Lincoln Logs, Tinker Toys, lawn darts, Playmobil, bicycles, Slip and Slide and matches and gas cans for starting fires (JK)! But toys like these were generally “boy toys” for sure!

Not to be confused with figurative “boy toys,” like Madonna’s former “boy toy”  and baby daddy Carlos Leon 😉

Game Two/Round Three

9 Dances – What repetitively named hip-hop dance move that was invented in 2013 involves placing one arm in the air and swaying from side to side?

NERD POINT: This dance was inspired by a character on what 1990s sitcom?

Miss and miss. We’re like that Phil Collins song where he says “I Can’t Dance.” We don’t know anything about such silly stuff, either!

10 1970s Movies – The 1979 film Rock ‘n Roll High School features Joey, Johnny, Dee Dee and Marky as themselves, members of what New York-based punk rock band? I think die-hard punk music fan Brad had a bit of a “triviagasm” with this one!

11 Anatomy – Also known as the windpipe, what tube with a name from Greek connects the larynx to the bronchi of the lungs?

12 Authors – Published in October, 2025, the legal thriller The Widow is the latest book to to reach #1 on the New York Times Best Sellers list by what author, who has topped the list more than 40 times?

NERD POINT: What 1989 novel marked the debut of this author?

Made right guess for the author, missed the nerd point.

Mystery Round Three – Audio

They played audio clips of different stringed instruments here, we had to put the instruments in order according to the lowest number of strings to the highest number of strings. I guess I COULD ask an AI to help me recreate this mystery round for all y’all, but meh…I can’t be f—ed. But I will tell you the instruments were the following instruments:

M1 Instrument primarily played in its standard version (not expanded version) by Eric Clapton, Carlos Santana and Jimmy Page, among others.

M2 Instrument used frequently in folk, bluegrass and country music for which Steve Martin is considered a virtuoso in its performance. The 1972 film Deliverance featured a “dueling” song featuring this instrument and a guitar.

M3 Instrument commonly used in folk music used as an accompaniment on songs including Battle of Evermore by Led Zeppelin, Maggie May by Rod Stewart and an 80s hit song bearing its name by Bruce Hornsby and the Range.

M4 Instrument played by Wednesday Addams in the Netflix series Wednesday, and played by real life people Yo Yo Ma and Jacqueline Pre

Wow. I guess I really COULD be f—ed to recreate this mystery round for you all! I do love all five or so of my blog followers! 💝

Round Four

13 Mountains – Which continent is permanently connected via ice to Ross Island, which is ome to Mount Erebus, that continent’s second-highest mountain above sea level?

NERD POINT: Ross Island is the sixth highest island in the world based on its highest point, What is the world’s highest island?

If the answer meant high from marijuana, it might be Vancouver Island or one of the Caribbean or Hawaii islands. Lest it was not any of these islands…we missed the nerd point. Good fact to know, though!

14 First Ladies – Elizabeth Anne Bloomer was the full birth name of what First Lady of the US who was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1991. Yay we named one of three First Ladies who an AI bot told me had the given names Elizabeth (in this case, the Elizabeth was better known by one of the umpteen nicknames for Elizabeth, which I didn’t ask the AI to list).

15 MLB Players – Name one of the two New York Yankees – one a catcher and one an outfielder – who have won at least nine World Series as a player.

NERD POINT: Name both players.

Yay Brad for knowing this for both parts!

16 Comedy – What former “Weekend Update” co-anchor on SNL had a stand-up show on Netflix in 2021 called “Shame the Devil?” “Weekend Update Co-Anchor” does not really narrow things down, does it? How many of those were there? Pardon me while I ask an AI engine to tell me!

What did my ‘bot tell me? Sixteen! But that doesn’t include the 35 people who have sat in the chair in a solo capacity over the thousand years that this show has been on the air.

Not that I’m makin’ excuses for getting this wrong, jussayn…

Mystery Round Four –

Initials to U.S. States

Name the U.S. state that is represented when reading the initials of the following people or things as a two-letter postal abbreviation. Give the full state name, not the person’s or thing’s name or initials.

M2 Actress from the Apple TV series Severance who earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her role as a single mother in the 2014 film Boyhood

M2 Science fiction author who wrote the Robot series, as well as the short story collection, I Robot

M3 Real first and last name of the rapper Jay-Z

M4 Chain of athletic apparel stores where the employees wear shirts resembling those of referees

Missed #2, we put Kyra Sedgewick. Never saw the movie, though one of our teammates, Dave, loves making fun of how dumb he thinks it is!

Final Question Category Game Two

Musicals

In the Sound of Music, name two of the five Von Trapp daughters.

Damn we wagered nothing on this and I knew at least two of these girls!

We still manage to finish first again. Seriously, things are way too easy for us at this bar! Where was the team Dangerous Nights Crew to keep us on our toes? Our only competition was “Phrasing” and I think they must’ve wagered it all and missed this.

We may or may not be finished with trivial pursuits for the week. We plan on playing in two bar championships next week – one for music quiz – the other for general trivia.

As always, Go Pods and stay classy, Martin Lawrence!

answers

r1 ben franklin, ding/ring, wales/cardiff, 90 day fiancee

r2 aloha ae, cascadia/70s, green jacket/rory mcelroy, positronic

m1 visual no answers denzel movies one was training day

m2 aaron judge, eliza dushku, angelica pickles, alexander the great

f six million dollar man

r3 nay nay/martin, the ramones, trachea, john grisham/a time to kill,

r4 antactica/new guina, betty ford, joe dimaggio/berra, michael che

m3 cello, banjo, guitar, mandolin

m4 PA, IA, SC, FL

f liesel, gretl, louisa, brigita, marta