We had set out to play an “out of county” trivia game on a recent Wednesday.

But it was a game time decision as to which county we’d flee like true crime show fugitives for the game!

We had originally planned on making a beeline north to Genesee County, but a couple of the people were either not up for the longer drive on a weeknight, or were operating on fumes from a previous sleepless night.

So…Livingston County for trivia, I presume? 🤔

We went to Zukey Lake Tavern in Lakeland, which is south of Brighton, east of Pinckney, and north of Ann Arbor. We managed to finish just shy of any hope of prizes.

This may be a cultural reference that goes over way too many heads, but does anyone remember that story where some 1800s explorer named Livingstone went missing in the wilds of Africa looking for the source of the Nile – and when someone allegedly found him, they said “Doctor Livingstone, I presume?”

If you want more information about this obscure cultural reference, you could, of course, Google the information – or ask your friendly AI bot.

That is exactly what another guy sitting near us did when he didn’t know a trivia question answer that was asked during the trivia game. He looked it up on his phone. 😲

“The answer is this,” he proudly said to his two teammates, while holding up his phone, which magically had the answer that he obviously didn’t use his brain to figure out.

Hold…the phone! 😲

Immediately after this happened (which I did not witness because my back was to the guy and the room was very loud), my husband went to the host stand, without saying anything to me and came back.

That’s when he talked to that guy who was cheating in the game.

The guy had the search request in his history ON HIS PHONE that my husband could clearly see when he walked by – and yet he totally denied having looked up the answer with his phone.

Some angry words were exchanged between my husband and the other guy. My husband got called a “piece of sh–.” Which was thrown back at the other guy “Well you’re also a “piece of sh–” (standard “I know you are but what am I” fighting words trope). 

The other guy’s wife gets offended by it all and tells her husband “Are you for real?” Then she said “I’m leaving if you don’t shut up.”

Ouch. Eventually he did quiet down. Behold the power of his wife using her words instead of her phone! 😂

Since they were sitting close enough for us to watch him, the phone shenanigans involving LOOKING UP CORRECT ANSWERS instead of… coming up with them (successfully or unsuccessfully) by his own brainpower – did seem to stop.

But seriously – what are trivia hosts and other teams to do in a trivia place that is quite large?

How large you ask? If the AI engine I just asked is correct? Fourteen thousand square feet! Which is about the size of a high-end specialty grocery store.

Like a Trader Joe’s maybe?

If you think this sounds big, you should see the parking lot! You’ll get your steps in if you’re not lucky enough to get a “reasonably close” parking spot. Someone was leaving when we arrived, so we “yoinked” his spot.

I don’t know if the square footage also includes Zukey Lake’s locally famous rooftop bar, which overlooks (you guessed it) Zukey Lake. It’s a very popular regional spot, not only with the immediate locals, but is also kind of a destination for the not-so-locals, too. We watched a World Cup final match here in 2014. The manager almost didn’t want to switch a screen to the match, but after he did, other people out on the deck began to watch the match, too. 

There is nothing quite like the rooftop bar at Zukey Lake Tavern on a nice summer day! Order some of their signature tropical cocktails or other cold adult beverages, watch the boats, watch people walking around in swimsuits and flip-flops…it’s pretty nice! There really is no other place quite like this place in the immediate area.

It would be a fantastic place to bring a date!

Interesting note, the other place we were considering playing a trivia game on this very night had a patio overlooking a lake in Fenton, MI, which is in Genesee County. Maybe we’ll be able to come here on another week.

Unlike most MTL places we regularly play, this place not only displayed the questions on one screen, but several. The drawback was that you could only really be heard if you were in the immediate vicinity of where the host was on her mic. We really didn’t hear any of the game at all in the bar area, but we were able to monitor the action with the screens. Not exactly ideal, but we know we won’t be playing here as regulars, so OK…

Were some of you visiting this blog site to read actual game questions and not read commentary about signature tropical cocktails, trivia cheaters and obscure cultural references involving Scottish explorers?

My bad, here are the questions! 😂

Round One

Icons – In Microsoft Office, a floppy disc icon has long represented what function?

Definitions – One definition Merriam-Webster has for the word “pyrotechnics” is simply “A display of” what?

Video Games – I didn’t get this question written down or get a picture. It was about Tony Hawk.

Round Two

Great Lakes – The St. Clair River helps the southern end of what other Great Lake discharge into Lake Erie?

The Revolution – In December, 1773, what “sons” dumped 542 chests of tea into boston Harbor to protest taxation?

Harry Potter – Which Harry Potter character has a name that can be attributed to French parts meaning “flight from death?”

Round Three

Politics – What former star of MTV’s The Hills did not advance in the 2026 primary for mayor of Los Angeles? Nope.

Shapes – Something described as “lacrimiform” is shaped like one of what things the body produces?

This was the question that the guy sitting near us used his phone to look up the answer. We knew this without having to cheat! But we honestly turned in answer slips for a few questions we were “nope” on, like that last one!

TV Characters – Over the last 25 years, what character has developed a longstanding beef with a rock named Rocco?

Miss.

Halftime –

Per the FCC, identify which nationally assigned phone number may offer each of the following services or resources:

H1 Request emergency services

H2 Identify busted utility lines

H3 Report non-emergency issues

H4 Help find community services or resources

Missed two of these (sorry don’t know which two).

We were tied in fifth with 27 points at the half out of 13 teams with The Miz Squad, Big Zukey  and J’s Demise were tied for fourth with 28, The Troubling Trojans were in third with 29, Tequila Mockingbird, The Coumpound on Zuk and and Jordyn’s Angels were tied for second with 30 and Suck it Trebek was in first with 36. 

Round Four

Book Ends – Resignation letters from principal Graybee and Miss Desjardin are highlighted at the end of what Stephen King work? 

I couldn’t think of the most obvious work that this could be (of course), so I put in a guess for the only Stephen King book I read long, long ago that involved a school, which was the now banned book Rage. King has all but regretted writing this controversial 1977 novel about a school shooting, which is why he allowed it to go out of print. He wrote this under his Richard Bachman pseudonym. I read this in high school. I was into some dark stuff at the time (uh I still am now)! 

Card Games – Jokers and Twos are always wild in what meld-making game whose name means “basket” in Spanish?

New Albums – Madonna’s 2026 record “Confessions II” is a sequel to her 2005 hit record titled “Confessions” on what appropriate place to get your groove on? I was hoping that “New Albums” would be about this album because I downloaded it the day it came out!

I wouldn’t blame any of you if you didn’t believe me. Yeah me downloading music recorded after 1997! It’s actually a pretty good album, even Mike likes it! Madge has still got it! 💯 

Round Five

Advertising – What luggage company featured advertisements with their products being abused by a gorilla to show its durability? Miss, we picked the “other” major luggage manufacturer.

Basketball Stars – Winning three titles professional with the Phoenix Mercury, what decorated Olympian in basketball was nicknamed “White Mamba” by Kobe Bryant?” Is there any better trivia game killer than a WNBA question? We used our “Answer of the Week” freebie for free point here.

Movie Flops – After the release of Madame Web, what star of the film has revealed that she was not overly pleased with the creative process of the film?

Damn, we must’ve used up our luck by having the “New Albums” question be about an album I actually downloaded last month. This one was a “nope” for us. When they revealed her name, I said “Oh yeah Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith’s daughter who was in the ’50 Shades’ movies.”

Why couldn’t this have been about Heaven’s Gate or Ishtar? 😩 Leave me alone for a second to whine! I actually even tried watching Heaven’s Gate a few years ago. I just couldn’t get through the whole thing, especially after the hour long marching band opening scene (I’m getting exhausted just thinking about it). I don’t think I even made it to the scene where an actual horse was killed onscreen (yes that really happened look it up, it was actually quite horrific).

Round Six

Clothing – What kind of person is most likely to need a layette?

TV Titles – The name of Bravo’s “Real Housewives” franchise was directly influenced by what drama series released two years earlier?

Products – In 1997, Purell hit the market as the first gel-based what? Anyone else fantasize about investing in this product’s parent company if you had a time machine and could go back to 2019 before the pandemic? Just me?

I’m not even going to bother going over the scores heading into the final, because they wound up getting revised completely because of some technical difficulties, and we could not even hear the new scores when they were read. New scores were not posted on the screen until after the final question.  

Final Question – From the original notion that it was particular to women and caused by disturbances in their body, what emotional condition is derived from the Greek word for “uterus?” 

There was a three-way tie for second, and we were the next team on the list, so we were just barely out of the prize zone (curse those Elmo and Madame Web questions anyway 😂).

Maybe we should have cheated better? 🤔

JK! 

Suck it Trebek finished first, I do not know how the tiebreaker shook out. 

This may or may not conclude our trivial pursuits for the week. Isn’t this suspense killing you? 

As always, Go Pods, and stay classy, that guy using his phone to cheat in a trivia game for thirty freaking fun bucks! You do you, man.👎

Answers:

R1 save, fireworks, tony hawk

R2 lake huron, liberty, voldemort

R3 spencer pratt, tear drop, Elmo

HT 911, 811, 311, 211

R4 carrie, canasta, dance floor

R5 American tourister, Diana taurasi, Dakota johnson

F hysteria