Answers are at the end.

Because of a teammate’s feverish dog, we managed to have five players at the most recent Sporcle Events Globe Game at Sticks in Ypsilanti, MI! Usually we consider ourselves lucky to just have four!

One of our players had to come home earlier than he expected to during a weekend visit with his mother because of his dog running a fever (last I heard his dog is doing OK)! Thanks Brad for changing your plans and being able to play with us.

But for a brief couple of hours, I thought I was only going to have three players at this game, so I made an attempt to hustle at least one more. Thankfully someone said “yes.” Special thanks to Cathy F. from our “friendly rival” team Sparty On, who stepped in to help us out at this game!

Also special thanks to My Trivia Live TJ/host Stacy L. for also helping us out on this lovely Summer Solstice afternoon.

Other than those helpers, it was me (Heb), Mike and Brad.

We did not get the final correct (only two teams did get it right at our bar), we finished eighth overall out of 13 teams. So…

Taking first was We Do Moose Stuff for Food (which I hear is a team formerly known as Keerok, they also had an MTL host playing with them), We The People, in order to form a more perfect union establish trivia (yes that was their whole name and they even had emojis at the end – and one of their players did a victory lap during the game) and Pinky and the Brains finished first, second and third respectively.

Five Leaf Clover took the “Booby Prize” (that is a nod to our trivia compadre Scott’s suggestion for renaming the “wild card” random $100 prize). 

Aren’t inside jokes among trivia players the spice of life? Even if they originated from a final question in a trivia tournament in 2012?  More about those if you read on! 

It was good to see our longtime former rivals You’re Resume Sucks in the house, they normally only play Globe Games in Ann Arbor, they play their regular games at Corner Brewery on Wednesdays (Arbor Brewing Company Ypsi). It’s always great to see how we measure up against you guys!

Ditto for More Beer Less Pants, it’s always fun to be beaten by them almost every time! Hey if ya gotta be beaten by someone, it might as well be someone you have pounded beers with in past lives, right? We all have to have “that” team to beat, don’t we?

I’ll bet this team doesn’t even remember that Sticks was the first place that we started competing against each other way, way back in 2012. Who else remembers that year?

Here were our game questions:

Round One

1 Candy – “Taste the Explosion” is the slogan featured on packs of multiple flavors of what candy, often associated with an urban legend?

2 Vice Presidents – The last two times the office of vice president of the United States was vacant were the periods of time directly before and after what president assumed the office?

3 Borders – At just more than 2,100 miles, what two countries share the longest border between nations whose short-form English names start with the same letter? We brainstormed the right country combo among others written on our papers, but sadly our question submitter picked the wrong one, so we missed this.

4 Acting Oscars – Name two of the three performers to win an Academy Award for acting in a movie directed by Steven Spielberg. All three won their awards in the 2010s or 2020s. Miss.

Mystery Round 1 – Living to X-Cess

The answer to each of the questions in this round will contain at least two xs.

M1 What company serves as the largest successor to John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil?

M2 What Persian ruler is the antagonist in the comic book 300 and its film adaptation?

M3 What Florida-based rapper scored a posthumous #1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Sad!” In 2018? Miss (nice try Stacy).

M4 What basic cable channel has been the home of new episodes of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia since its 2013 launch?

Round Two

5 Baby Names – In 2025, what palindromic name failed to reach the top ten of names given to baby girls in the United States for the first time since 2004? This name notably belongs to the first black woman to be nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Director. Good guess from Brad, who was backed up by teacher Cathy, who said she did indeed have a lot of students with this name name.

6 Baseball Stadiums – What Major League Baseball stadium has the longest distance between home plate and center field? Despite the distance, this team’s park has been a haven for home runs since its 1995 opening. Nice hit, Brad.

7 Comic Strips – What rhyming name was given to two separate comics that debuted on March 12, 1961 in the United Kingdom? Both comics are named for their title character. Miss.

8 Solar System – Which planet’s surface features include craters named for famous historic women, including Susan B. Anthony, Judy Garland and Helen Keller – and notably, no major features named for men?

Mystery Round Two

TV to Movie Analogies

Name the performer who fills the blank in each analogy-style clue about the cast members of TV shows and their movie adaptations. The year of the film’s release is also given.

M1 The Addams Family: John Astin is to Raul Julia as Carolyn Jones is to BLANK, 1991

M2 Star Trek: William Shatner is to Chris Pine as Nichelle Nichols is to BLANK, 2009

M3 Get Smart: Don Adams is to Steve Carell is Barbara Feldon is to BLANK, 2008

M4 The Dukes of Hazzard: Tom Wopat is to Johnny Knoxville as Catherine Bach is to BLANK, 2005

Got all of these.

Round Three

9 Board Games – Of all the state names featured on a standard Monopoly board, which state is located the furthest south on Earth?

10 Billboard Hits – What group has the most songs to debut at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with six? Its most recent song to achieve this feat    debuted on the charts earlier this year. Miss.

11 Spin-Offs – Rhoda, Phyllis and Lou Grant are all spin-offs of what 1970s series? Yay we’re old!

12 Organs – The duodenum, jejunum and ilium are the three structural sections of what body part, which measures at about 20 feet long in most adults?

Mystery Round Three

Combine the three clues to form a single answer. Answers may share a word, part of a word or a syllable.

M1 Blue bird known for its colorful tail feathers and insect hypothesized to survive an apocalypse and lizard known for blending in

M2 North American wildcat that serves as a mascot for Texas State and larval stage of a butterfly and mammal known for rolling into balls

M3 Marsupial on the Australian coat of arms and male bird in the Chinese zodiac and insect that is an enemy to carpenters

M4 Canid represented by the Egyptian god Anubis and reptile associated with Florida sports and competitor in a famous fable

Got all of these.

When the answers were revealed on the screen, we were shown AI generated versions of these hybrid animals. Now we have nightmare fodder for the next several weeks!

Speaking of nightmares, just wait til you get to the very last question of the regular rounds. They showed a pretty scary image of that answer, too! But depending upon your sensibilities, you might think it’s kinda cool, and might even want one in your front yard! I know I do! But what would our condo association say?

Round Four

13 World Cup – What country was the first to win consecutive FIFA Men’s World Cups, doing so in 1934 and 1938? Notably it did not qualify for this year’s tournament. Yay Brad for stepping into my knowledge area and knowing this! Doesn’t matter who knows an answer, as long as someone knows it!

14 Plays – A total of two plays have won the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play multiple times. Both were written by what American author? Of COURSE we brainstormed the right guy, but we thought another guy seemed more correct. Miss.

15 Old Country Names – From 1971 to 1997, the Democratic Republic of the Congo was known what five-letter name what was located near the end of country lists while sorted alphabetically?

16 Sculptures – Maman, a 1999 piece by Louise Bourgeois, depicts a 30-foot tall version of what animal that also includes a sac of 32 marble eggs?

Yes I want this sculpture for my front yard! It would be perfect for the Addams Family mansion!

Yup, this where they showed us another creepy image on screen. Though depending upon your comfort zones, you might actually think it’s kinda cool!

Mystery Round Four – Swapped Bios –  Presidents

For each question, we will provide mini-biographies of two notable people. Name the U.S. president who shares their first name with the first person being described and their last name with the second person.

When they gave an example question for this round, which involved Chester Arthur, a player at a nearby table shot me a look, along with a gesture with his fist. Some old trivia flubs just stick with ya until the end of days, don’t they? Hashtag wallaby! When this guy is on his deathbed, he’ll probably weakly utter the words “F— Chester Arthur!”

M1 Pen name of the author of Adam Bede and Silas Mariner and actress known for playing Olivia Pope

M2 Rock and Roll Hall of Famer whose last Billboard Hot 100 top ten hit was “Living in America” and actress for who an Oscar for playing a Russian-speaking exotic dancer

M3 Businessman called the “Oracle of Omaha” and subject of the first movie for which Margot Robbie received an Oscar nomination

M4 Director of Gandhi who also starred in Jurassic Park and two-time Emmy winner who ran for governor of New York in 2018

Got all of these, though #3 was a squeaker…

Final Question – State Capitals

There are seven U.S. state capitals which have names that can be spelled entirely with chemical symbols in the periodic table. Other than Austin, Albany, Boise, Honolulu and…some other city I didn’t write down (someone who was there help me out) was it…Atlanta? For some reason I have this city in my brain right now.

Name two capital cities that can be spelled entirely with chemical symbols and border each other.

Moose Stuff and We the People were the only teams getting this correct. Pinky and the Brains finished third. Five Leaf Clovers took the wild card prize.

Our trivial pursuits are currently TBD because of transportation issues. We’re hoping that we can make it out to our music quiz game tonight. Maybe I’ll walk out there if Kim can give me a ride home!

As always, Go Pods, and stay classy Chester Arthur! Did you all know that he was kind of a “clothes horse?” He was considered to be kind of a “dandy” and had lots and lots of pairs of pants in particular. Take that information however you will. 

Another fun presidential fact is that Andrew Johnson was actually a tailor by trade before he became president by accident. He even made clothing for himself! 

If any of you actually bothered to read this deeply into this pointless blog, I really, really do appreciate you! Fingers crossed our car repair does not mean we have to raid retirement accounts to get another car should they not be able to repair it…

Answers:

R1 pop rocks, Ford, bolivia/brazil, Daniel day lewis/debose, rylance

R2 ava, rockies, dennis the menace, venus

M1 exxon, xerxes, xxx temptation, FXX

M2 angelica huston, zoe saldana, Anne hathaway, Jessica simpson

R3 NC, BTS, Mary Tyler Moore Show, small intestine,

R4  Italy, Arthur Miller, Zaire, spider

M3 peacockroachameleon, bobcaterpillarmadillo, kangaroostermite, jackalligatortoise

M4 George Washington, james madison, Warren Harding, Richard nixon

F: bismarck/pierre