Trivia Recap: 2/23

The Players: Hannah (English teacher), Mary (English teacher), Phil (Adobe something-or-other), Alex (communications expert), Ashley (works for Geisinger), Danielle (bartender), Zizi (child)

Hint of the Day: Barbershop

Opening Category: Fahrenheit 451 (the book)

Round 1:

We obviously aced the first category, seeing as we chose it. The answer was "Guy Montag." Easy-peasy. Pro Sports wasn't terrible, but we didn't get the bonus, and Actors and Their Roles was awful because we didn't get the points OR the bonus. The Name's the Same ("Iron Fist") was fine, and so was US History... though we didn't get the bonus. Overall, not a great round. My favorite part was when I spotted this good-looking guy with a beard and thought he looked as though he belonged in a band (dark-haired, bearded... cute), so when I was coming back from getting a new beer, I stopped and asked him if he's in a band. He said, "I could be!" His (I assume-to-be) girlfriend said, "He's not." I asked him, "Do you play an instrument?" and he told me he took a few piano lessons back in the day. I said, "Well, you look like you should be in a band. This may be a grab-a-harmonica-and-teach-yourself moment so you can get on that." But, you know, that really has nothing to do with trivia.

Round 2:

This was better than the first round, but it was still just really weird. Like, the questions were obscure and it just wasn't as much fun as usual. Oscar-Winning Music should have been great for us, and it was pretty great, but we missed the bonus. Mary did a cool thing in telling us to put down "Slumdog Millionaire" because she thought the third song had a "Bollywood vibe" and she ended up being right... which saved us 14 points. So good on ya, Mary! Phil knows more about the Stock Market than I do, and Five-Letter Words was the name of the Crocodile Hunter's daughter, Bindi... which is, like, not even a five-letter word that would be allowed in Wordle. So I don't know how I feel about that. Animal Kingdom was fine ("Galapagos Penguins") and Sci Fi TV was impossible because none of us has ever watched The Fringe.

Halftime:

This was great and we only missed one. Jimmy Dugan is in A League of Their Own and NOT That Thing You Do. Oh well. Danielle got us Philadelphia, which was helpful. If you haven't figured it out, we had to list Tom Hanks movies on the bottom. There was a map on the top and we got all of the countries right (because at the very last second I pointed out to my group that the directions required them to list the countries in alphabetical order and they hadn't done that... but they did know all the countries and I knew none of them). Overall, we scored 19/20. Not bad.

Round 3:

We were in fourth place going into this round, I believe, and we right away lost a point on Directors and Their Films. Ad Slogans was also a bust, and Change A Letter was just insanely obscure. I forget the clue, but it involved a coach's name and a type of food and it was just kind of a poor question. I believe this was (one of the many) questions that earned groans throughout the night. Car Parts was good; Phil and Danielle both knew it. Time for Your "Bar" Exam was fine: "Barbershop, baritone, and Barbasol." We got the bonus.

6 - 4 - 2:

Fortunately, we didn't say "Sweden" and waited for the second clue because, as it turns out, "Finland" is the country that has an annual wife-carrying tournament. Now you know.

Round 4:

World History was a no-go, Can I Have Some Ice Cream? ("Yes, you can!" -Zizi) was fine, US City Geography worked out because it was a multiple-choice question (Danielle hated this question, though, because the locations, Long Beach and Huntington, were, as she equated it, like asking about the difference between Gettysburg and Bonneauville), and Phrases of Science was alright. By the last category, 3 Clues, 1 Word, we were all sort of over the game that I don't remember was the question was at all. I just know we got it wrong.

Final:

Who was the last music group to perform at the Super Bowl, you ask? Maroon 5. Mary knew this right away, so we got the 12 points and came in fourth (I think) for the evening.