QUIZ RECAP

Our Inaugural Event of Tuesday Night Trivia at Petoskey's went off with a bang! Despite a little mix-up from our audio supplier, your intrepid host was still able to shout and bellow instructions and questions throughout the room. We had six teams partaking in this christening competition, although the rotating chefs' team Yeksoteps valiantly bowed out midway through in order to focus on getting the rest of our brain-battlers the vital nutrients they needed to keep rolling at peak performance.

Our five remaining teams were the resolute A-Train, the gutsy Lake Monsters, the boisterous Grant + Friends, the entertaining Cunning Stunts, and the clever Fruit Loops. And with individual-round prizes generously donated by Petoskey's, each round offered the opportunity to come away with some swag regardless of the overall point standings (based on the winner of each individual round).

Things started off with a tough Round 1 where our teams collectively hit every accuracy metric except for 6/6. And as much as some team's might have wished, it was not drinking, but dancing, that was legalized at Baylor University in the late 90s. But we kept their sober struggle in our hearts as we continued on in our factoid sojourn.

The night's contest really got exciting in our Southpark Celebrity Picture Round where we had two successful Double or Nothings! The stalwart fans from the Fruit Loops and the A-Train were justly rewarded with a sweet 16 points, placing them firmly in 1st and 2nd place respectively at 21 and 18 points. But it was a fierce battle for 3rd, with our remaining teams separated by only 4 points.

No one was able to shake up the standings after our Rocket themed Round 3, but it warmed your nerdy host's heart to hear teams affirm the "Team Rocket member" Meowth with a resounding "That's Right!". Apologies to the world's baseball fans though, as we followed up that hoot with only Cunning Stunts correctly identifying the 7-time Cy Young award-winning pitcher as Roger "The Rocket" Clemens. Personally, I blame the Mariners for not fostering a more engaged following.

We had a little doubling down of geek trivia as we entered into our Guess Who? Round, but I don't blame the teams for not knowing the vague backstory of D.C. superhero The Flash that our first few clues skirted around. We had a flurry of responses once we name-dropped Central City though, and we headed into Round 5 with some new point standings. Fruit Loops started to pull away with 30 points, with the A-Train and Grant+Friends trailing behind at 21 and 18 points. The Lake Monsters and Cunning Stunts brought up the rear with 13 and 10 points.

But don't make the mistake of concluding that the night's contest was all wrapped up, because there's going to be a titanic swing in events right after Round 5. Although our teams initially struggled with figuring out some of the answers in this Find the Connection contest, there were still plenty of 'Aha' moments to go around after our players identified Boston as the connection. By strategically back-filling their answer sheets with this newfound information, all our teams managed to score roughly the same amount of points, narrowly split between 6, 7, and 8.

With the relative positions between teams still static, we slid into our Handout Matching Round as the cable-cutting attendants rued their lack of access to network news and shows. This was a nice break for your host to be able to re-hydrate and rest his voice, as our players diligently took their time to accurately match all the listed news anchor/show host pairs together. And although the Fruit Loops managed to score a perfect 10 and up their total to 48, it was the Lake Monsters who had the most audacious move of the night with their successful late-game Double or Nothing.

This heroic 20-point gambit catapulted them all the way into second place with 40 points, leaving the A-Train behind them in 3rd at 32 points. Everything was still potentially up for grabs in our Final Round, as your eminent host revealed the closing challenge:

Guess 10 of the top 12 most consumed meats in the United States (by pound consumed, and by specific kind of animal).

This was a dastardly challenge as teams fiercely debated whether the poundage of smaller seafood animals could possibly match the tonnage of overstuffed cows and pigs. In the end though, yes, even our little Shrimp friends made the dirty dozen, a fact which didn't help Grant+Friends and Cunning Stunts as they couldn't quite close out their last-ditch Double or Nothing attempts to potentially come in 3rd.

That left the Fruit Loops (1st), The Lake Monsters (2nd), and the A-Train (3rd) to revel in the glory of being our first-ever Petoskey's champions! Congratulations on earning those top-finisher prizes, and a big thanks to everyone for coming out and making our first event one to remember. Be sure to stop by next week, I've got a fun little surprise in store to help better visualize the glory of being a top-3 finisher.