We had a full house tonight, with 35 players making 6 teams...and a tie for first meant pulling out the tiebreaker question to determine a winner. #momjeans and Trebek's Rejects each came out blazing, successfully converting double-or-nothing bids to take the early lead; returners F Words For $500 and first-timers Humpback Whales each scored 16 in Round 2 with successful doubles (while Trebek's Rejects and Gold Vs. Gold set the evening's theme with failed double tries; there were 6 failed double bids tonight). Round 4 saw Humpback Whales bite off more than they could chew, taking a -1 by trying the 10-point clue in the Guess Where round, seemingly dropping them out of the running (while 4 teams scored 8 points in that round), but they jumped right back into the lead with a successful double-or-nothing in the Find The Connection round while the other teams all scored 8 or 9. #momjeans, accustomed to finishing in the money, tried to chase their losses with double in each of the final 2 rounds and missed on both, finishing 4th; ladies, my picture of you did not turn out, I assure you it was nothing personal!
Gold vs. Gold jumped from last to 3rd with a successful double in Round 6, which saw F Words For $500 move into a tie with Humpback Whales entering the final round. #momjeans, Trebek's Rejects and Mary, Queen of Scots each took a zero on failed double tries in Round 7; Gold vs. Gold scored 9 but could not close the gap on the leaders. Amazingly, both Whales and F Words scored 8 in Round 7, finishing in a tie and necessitating a tiebreaker round (for only the second time in all the games I've hosted). The question: when was the last confirmed sighting of a live dodo bird? (1662)
F Words for $500 guessed 1862, exactly 200 years off. Humpback Whales' guess was 186 years off (1848) but was "closest to the pin" and, incredibly, enough for the first-time players to take home the prize ($30 Collision gift card plus a 6-pack of their choosing). There were some issues with the questions (i.e. the new National Park in Indiana was not "their first") but overall the questions were good, and a good time was had by ALL tonight. Let's do it again next week!
* Won Tiebreaker
With huge thanks to Paul for filling in in my absence, I was "back in the saddle" at Collision Brewing tonight. My thanks also to all the players who so warmly welcomed me back. Tonight's game was EXCELLENT, as all 5 teams were in the hunt most of the night.
#momjeans jumped out in front early by converting a successful double-or nothing in Round 1. Returners F Words For $500 were hamstrung all night after a missed double try in the first round, while first-timers Dysfunction Junction calmed their internal fear of being skunked with a 3 in Round 1; they had so much fun, they registered their team mid-game and promised to return!
It was a 3-team race most of the night, and Gold vs. Gold hit on a double in Round 3 to close to within 2 points of #momjeans, with Brown Chicken, Brown Cow lurking in 3rd. All 5 teams scored the correct answer in the Guess Who round (kudos to #momjeans for correctly answering after the 8 point clue!), and Gold vs. Gold, Brown Chicken, Brown Cow and #momjeans ALL converted double-or-nothing bids in Round 5 to separate themselves from the other 2 teams. #momjeans suffered a failed double attempt in Round 6 to drop them into 3rd, where they finished; Gold vs. Gold & Brown Chicken, Brown Cow each converted a 2nd consecutive double and were separated by only 3 points entering Round 7. Interestingly, all 5 teams answered the first 6 questions (or more accurately, the first two sets of 3) correctly; Gold vs. Gold answered 2 of the remaining 3 correctly to coast home for the win ($30 gift card + a fresh 6-pack), while Brown Chicken, Brown Cow's 6 points clinched 2nd place ($20 gift card). Hats off to Dysfunction Junction, who "got the hang" of the game and converted the only successful double in the final round and leapfrogged F Words For $500 to finish 4th.
To all the players...I missed you. See you next week!
* Won Tiebreaker
The Collision saw the immovable object Kawhi Not? (composed of CU Trivia Bowl alumni) take the win with a nearly perfect yet conservative game, where they only doubled on one round. Brown Chicken Brown Cow, Freedom Photons (nice dig at the recent Energy Dept news) and Trebek's Rejects were out in front in the early going but the latter along with #momjeans were playing a bit shorthanded. Eventually things sorted where the bright newcomers grabbed bronze and the stalwart farm team took the silver. Thanks for letting me be your junior assistant quizmaster (and putting up with some of my technical difficulties) and your regular Quiz Khalifa Gil will be back next week to resume his robust presentations.
* Won Tiebreaker
