Wow. What other word could describe the events that took place at the Golden Eagle Ballroom on a chilly night at Cal State LA? Uh, how about, AWESOME? The weather was no match for the fire that filled the lungs of the elite King Trivia teams that turned up for the Season 8 Tournament of Champions.
King Trivia allowed me, your King, backed by Quizmaster Extraordinaire, David Gaelic (Gallic?) to lead the charge and award $10,000 in prizes to 6 lucky teams.
Registration and entry got off to a solid start, as we received more spectators than expected vying to assist their teams with all of the support and backup they could. Meanwhile, I was gracious enough to allow photos of myself to be taken. After all, an event like this only happens once a year. Hopefully all of my girlfriends were not jealous.
We began the evening by congratulating Team of Enchantment for their big win in Season 7 last year. Ignoring all the boo’s they received, the incumbent champions fought hard, but surprisingly did not place! Oh, what a cruel mistress King Trivia can be.
The game itself started with a bang, as 12 teams successfully doubled down in the first round. Our amped up team of scorekeepers, backed (literally) by their pit boss, performed like a well-oiled machine through all 7 rounds. Especially my favorite, the Guess Who round, where the subtle differences between the Mara sisters spelled doom for some of our intrepid teams. Rooney and Kate are frequent guests of the King’s table, but I digress…
Between rounds, I was honored to meet and greet so many wonderful and talented teams, all winners in their own right, and all proud and eager to take home a prize… Teams like Dan Mitchell A Team, with whom I had the honor of discussing the mysterious Dan Mitchell, how good they think they are, and how they thought they would finish. While shocked that they held the lead for so long, Dan Mitchell A Team remained confident that they were on the track to victory.
After the 5th Round, we had our Spirit Award Ceremony. While the table top air guitar (a la Highway Stars) and hand drawn images of me riding Babar the elephant (thank you Team Hubris) were amazing, there could only be one winner:
Spirit Award: Our Combined IQ is…!
They still don’t know their IQ, but they nevertheless donned custom vests fit for royalty, an enthusiasm for King Trivia karaoke, and an overall fun and inviting personality to take home the Spirit Award for the second year in a row. Congrats!
Before we got to the end, I, your King, recognized all of the wonderful teams, the King Trivia staff, our Quizmaster (David G-something?), and, of course, our King of Kings, Josh Lieberthal for making this whole event possible.
But all good things must come to an end, and after 7 tough rounds, it was time to announce our winners!
Of course with so many awesome teams, we were bound to have a tie. To resolve it, teams were asked one final question. How many flights did the 273rd busiest airport in the United States get? Well, I don’t remember, but whose guess was closest!?
25th Place: Westeros Baptist Church!
Westeros Baptist Church came out on top of the 5 way tie to take home the $200 prize for 25th place. Finally, some good news out of the 7 Kingdoms!
And now our top 5 teams:
5th Place: Hi (Yes, “Hi” is their name) won $300 for their efforts
4th Place: Mr. No Poster Shop, King Trivia veterans with multiple TOC wins (and a pretty awesome video) under their belts, took home the $500 prize!
3rd Place: Penis Riot!* won the tie breaker to earn that $1500 3rd place check
When it came time to announce our first and second placed teams, the competitive energy was palpable. But there could only be one ultimate Champion at King Trivia’s Tournament of Champions.
2nd Place: Dan Mitchell A Team got their hands on that $2,500 prize
In the grand tradition of the Oscars and Steve Harvey, a brief (but heartbreaking) miscommunication caused Dan Mitchell A Team to be incorrectly pronounced the first place winners! The matter was quickly resolved, however, and the true Champion was crowned:
1st Place: Secular Healing Raked in the massive $5000 first place prize!
And wow, with only a 1 point difference between our top teams, it was a nail-biter! As Queen’s “We Are the Champions” blasted in the background, our teams graciously accepted their prizes and will forever be cemented in King Trivia lore. As for this King, I could not be more thankful for those who came out to enjoy the festivities. We’ll see you next time for Season 9!
Final Scores
| Rank | Team # | Team Name | Score |
| 1 | 10348 | Secular Healing | 90 |
| 2 | 10355 | Dan Mitchell A Team | 89 |
| 3 | 10435 | Penis Riot!* | 87 |
| 4 | 10028 | Mr. No Poster Shop | 87 |
| 5 | 10808 | Hi | 82 |
| 6 | 10187 | DaNile | 72 |
| 7 | 10919 | Zach Attack | 71 |
| 8 | 10021 | Benjamin Quizraeli | 70 |
| 9 | 10481 | Our Combined IQ is… | 69 |
| 10 | 11138 | Short Handed | 69 |
| 11 | 10777 | Multiple Scorgasms | 67 |
| 12 | 10249 | Pharrell and Elphaba | 67 |
| 13 | 10033 | Team of Enchantment | 67 |
| 14 | 10032 | Jury of Your Beers | 65 |
| 15 | 10086 | We Got Nothing | 65 |
| 16 | 10325 | The Wallets of El Segundo | 62 |
| 17 | 10454 | Kitten Mittens | 61 |
| 18 | 10908 | Like Winter, I’m Coming | 60 |
| 19 | 10445 | A Team Has No Name | 59 |
| 20 | 10643 | Because Jeopardy Won’t Let us Drink | 59 |
| 21 | 10213 | Dick City: Population Weiners | 59 |
| 22 | 10015 | Quiztopher Walken | 59 |
| 23 | 10695 | Spare Parts | 59 |
| 24 | 10395 | Hail Hydra! | 58 |
| 25 | 10016 | Westeros Baptist Church* | 57 |
| 26 | 10073 | Crippling Autism | 57 |
| 27 | 10011 | Eat Me, I’m a Danish | 57 |
| 28 | 10794 | Moose and Squirrel | 57 |
| 29 | 10839 | The Donner Party Train | 57 |
| 30 | 10904 | Bad Juju | 56 |
| 31 | 10418 | Bakshi Boys | 56 |
| 32 | 10600 | Better Late | 56 |
| 33 | 10787 | Schultilanos | 54 |
| 34 | 11501 | Ace Tomato Company | 53 |
| 35 | 10074 | Carpe Trivium | 53 |
| 36 | 10773 | Fartin’ Van Buren | 53 |
| 37 | 10065 | Gazpacho | 53 |
| 38 | 10209 | Good to Be a King | 51 |
| 39 | 10554 | The Fighting Mongooses, that’s a good team name… | 51 |
| 40 | 10781 | The Pen-Ultimates | 51 |
| 41 | 10206 | Black Dragon Society | 50 |
| 42 | 10655 | Murder | 49 |
| 43 | 10775 | Here For the Beer | 48 |
| 44 | 10770 | Order of Chaos | 48 |
| 45 | 10645 | The Bad Explainers | 47 |
| 46 | 11764 | Shave My Back | 46 |
| 47 | 11696 | Indifferent Penguins | 44 |
| 48 | 10077 | Team Porkchop | 44 |
| 49 | 10064 | Streets of Rage | 43 |
| 50 | 10340 | Beer Me, Bitch | 42 |
| 51 | 11288 | Ancient Geezers | 40 |
| 52 | 10826 | Sick Boyz | 40 |
| 53 | 11102 | Grace Under Fire | 39 |
| 54 | 10879 | survivors | 37 |
| 55 | 10299 | The Skeptics | 37 |
| 56 | 10051 | Tapped Out | 36 |
| 57 | 10641 | The Knights Who Say Ni | 31 |
| 58 | 10785 | They’re All Twix! | 30 |
| 59 | 12107 | Highway Stars | 29 |
| 60 | 10752 | Never Been Brissed | 29 |
| 61 | 10155 | Tequila Mockingbirds | 28 |
| 62 | 10325 | Pasadena Peeps | 26 |
| 63 | 11023 | The Four Eyes Quartet | 26 |
| 64 | 10608 | Trashley Wards | 26 |
| 65 | 10774 | ABC 123 | 24 |
| 66 | 11769 | Awesome Sauced | 23 |
| 67 | 10747 | Nuns with Scissors | 18 |
| 68 | 10265 | Double Dat Doodie! | 16 |
