King Trivia’s Season 7 Tournament of Champions Recap

With over 400 people flooding Cal State Los Angeles’ Golden Eagle Ballroom, the crowd was electric for King Trivia’s $10,000 Tournament of Champions!  In the moments leading up to the Buzzer Battle, teams were chanting, dancing, drinking, and thinking in preparation to establish trivia dominance and take home some cash.

When the Buzzer Battle began, we lined up a rep from each team (starting with the lowest ranked) and pit them face-to-face to see who could buzz in with the correct answer first.  The action was back-and-forth for a while, with the audience on the edges of their seats as teams traded control of the stage.  At the halfway point, we saw our first “double-failure” resulting in two teams taking a seat.

The climax of the Battle got intense, as it was up to the 5th ranked “Team of Enchantment” to run the table and defeat ALL four teams that ended the regular season in a 1st place tie.  One, by one, by one, by one they fell and it was Team of Enchantment that won the Buzzer Battle.  After a royal procession, they were seated at the illustrious KINGS TABLE.

In Round 1, Team of Enchantment scored 5 points, along with 36 other teams.  A total of 8 teams outscored our champs with three successfully utilizing the Double or Nothing:  Westeros Baptist Church, Tequila Mockingbirds and Heavy Lumber.

In Round 2, nearly half the pack successfully Doubled Down leaving our champs tied with 16 other teams for 6th place.

In Round 3 the field began to narrow.  Four teams successfully doubled down: 9/8 central, Eat Me, I’m  Danish!, and past TOC champs, Mr. No Poster shop.

And of course Team of Enchantment.

While Westeros Baptist Church chose not  to double down, they maintained their lease from Round 1 and were “In the Money” by one point.

Round 4 saw four teams get perfect scores, guessing Harriet Beecher Stowe on the 10 point clue and another 7 teams getting her on the 8 point clue.  Clearly not an easy round as 15 teams lost a point.  Westeros Baptist Church lost the lead getting the answer correct on the 6 point clue and yielding 1st place to the team of the night, Team of Enchantment.

Going into Round 5, the big question was, would Team of Enchantment Double or Nothing and would they be successful?  A failed Double or Nothing could have launched as many as 36 teams into “The Money”.  At Round’s end only one team successfully doubled down and that was Kill Em All For One while Eat Me I’m a Danish scored ten and Team of Enchantment earned 9 points and wisely did not double.  At the end of the round, Kill Em All For One was in 5th place while  Team of Enchantment was in 1st, but by only 3 points.

Round 6 saw three successful Double or Nothings with one team scoring 10.  Clearly not an easy round with the most common score being 3 points.  At the end of Round 6, while holding a comfortable lead, Team of Enchantment was not yet in the clear.  With a 12 point round coming up the top two teams had 72 and 65 points respectively.  The big question was how would Team of Enchantment do?  Would they risk the possibility of taking 2nd place and losing $5,000 to Eat Me I’m a Danish by playing it safe or would they Double or Nothing and risk it all?  A failed 24 point Double or Nothing could have launched 2 additional teams into the money making a prize spread of just $2,500 per team.

At Round’s end they got 11 points with the closest runner up scoring 10 for the round.

When the 7th and Final Round came up, Team of Enchantment was not quite in the clear. There were two teams that, with a successful Double or Nothing, could have beat Team of Enchantment, forcing them to split the prize money. However, Westeros Baptist Church and Eat Me, I’m a Danish could not name enough actors who had won both Beat Lead and Best Supporting categories.

Past Tournament of Champions winners, Mr No Poster Shop, finished up in 10th place with 47 points.

Final standing had Team of Enchantment clearly in 1st place with 83 points and the closest competitors with 65 and 58 points respectively.

Coming in 2nd Place was Eat Me, I’m A Danish! with 65 points

And 3rd Place went to Westeros Baptist Church with 58 points

The elusive Spirit Award went to Our Combined IQ Is... and they definitely deserved it!

Congratulations to King Trivia’s $10,000 Tournament of Champions winners!!!

And since you read all the way to the bottom, you are rewarded with two of our favorite doodles of the night, courtesy of East Fart Fort Island, and Lennox Ave Ladybugs