As always, a wonderful time was had by all at the Lion & Crown in Allen last night. Eleven teams scrambled for admittance to the winner's circle. All were regulars or irregulars (we hadn't seen Guess-a-Lot in a while, and there they were!). The exception was a young couple who wandered over from their usual haunt, the sister pub, Lion & Crown in Addison. Interestingly, they had played King Trivia there, but never as a team before (or perhaps they had played as part of another team?). In any case, they named themselves We Couldn't Agree on a Team Name and registered as such. And while they reached no accord on a squad moniker, they certainly managed to get their quiz answers in line. This duo stole the lead with an early Double-or-Nothing and nearly took first place before getting knocked out in Round Six! Congratulations, WCAOATN!
THE WINNERS: Round Six separated the wheat from the chaff, as they say... Stealth Texas, under Matt and Tito's guidance, snuck into first place. Beer Logic won the tie breaker with Pickles on a Plate for second and third respectively. (It was the University of Chicago that caused the tie, so blame them!)
THE QUIZ: No one would have ever imagined that reading Anne of Green Gables might one day lead to answering a geography question about Prince Edward Island correctly, but it did! It was a little known legend that the mythical Huldufolk of Iceland were so named by Olaf the Red, when he awoke one night to find the enigmatic creatures in his backyard and he impulsively shouted, "Hey! Huldufolk are you?!?" Historians have firmly identified Deadwood as ground zero for foul language in the old west. Notre Dame, Brown and UCLA did not make the list, though many wanted them to.
Since it has been my lot to find,
At every parting of the road,
The helping hand of comrade kind,
To help me with my heavy load,
And since I have no gold to give,
And love alone must make amends,
My humble prayer is while I live,
G-d grant me worthy of my friends!
Have a great week, everyone!
* Won Tiebreaker
One thing about the King Trivia Pub Quiz that I'll bet a lot of people don't consider... You learn stuff! Well, that is if you bother to. For example, I learned that the Thimble Berry (aka - salmon berry) is high in vitamin C, fragrant and its leaves can be used for toilet paper in the wild... If you have to. I learned that I couldn't tell the difference between the Addams' Family House and the Munsters' House (unless the Munster Mobile was parked in front). And, I learned that even if you know Italian, it doesn't necessarily mean you'll be able to match the American movie title to it's Italian counterpart. Just because you see The Producers in New York doesn't mean you'll be seeing I Produttori on the marquee in Rome. So you see... King Trivia has unknown and possibly untapped didactic properties that could be hitherto exploited for mankind's good. Just sayin'...
Best new team name award goes to Arnold Van Damme Stallone, who popped in to test their mettle against the regulars. Welcome back to Royal Flush, whom we haven't seen in a while. Likewise, Team Testa and Pickles on a Plate.
Winner's Circle: The Ninja Turtles once again on top after performing some deft ninjitsu-like acrobatics by moving from third to first place in the seventh round! Stealth Texas took second and Ship It! grabbed third after running first and second for most of the evening.
Geography Woes: All but a couple of teams Double-or-Nothing'd in the last round, which centered on which U.S. states had the longest borders with Canada. There was a lot of pain at the end of the evening. But that's how the Ninja Turtles won!
Oh well, as Wayne Gretsky once said: "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take!" Have a great week!
* Won Tiebreaker
DATELINE: May 3rd at the Lion & Crown in Watter's Creek... Team competition was steady, determined and focused as ten of the best struggled to solve last night's King Trivia Pub Quiz.
THE TEAMS: Welcome back to those whom we have not seen in a while - Too Drunk to Remember, Bastard Barristers and Pilarinsky. Regulars Ninja Turtles, Hilltoppers, Blood, Bath & Beyond, Beer Logic, Ship It! and Stealth Texas. A big howdy to a crossover team from sister pub, Kilarney's. Tequila Mockingbirds!
THE QUIZ: Hats off to the quiz makers, who came up with one of the most varied, esoteric and entertaining quizzes this Quizmaster has seen in a long time! Theme Knights (which cued Quizmaster Lou to sing a few bars from Monty Python's Knights of the Round Table!), Find-the-Connection and even the Guess Who Round were all tough, imaginative and crossed generational lines enough to make it challenging to everyone. The Visual Round was especially daunting... And perhaps a bit cruel. Throwing Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas into what was essentially a batch of children's books was a little like applying Sesame Street's "One of these Things is not like the Other" song as a guiding principle. Hmmm? Quizmaster Lou, being a movie buff (old, classic movies...) was particularly enamored of the Round Six AFI Top 100 Comedy match up. Had QL been playing instead of running the quiz, he would have Double-or-Nothing'd and won!
THE WINNERS: Stealth Texas Double-or-Nothing'd in Round One and stayed out in front all night. The drama was vying for second place, with resident champs the Ninja Turtles holding steady until Round Six when the Hilltoppers leapt from fourth to take it away. Beer Logic snagged third as they had ridden it most of the evening.
PUB NEWS: Congratulations to Derek the mighty publican, who just fathered his second child! Way to go, daddy!
As always, have an excellent week and hope to see you next Thursday! And if excellent is too high a bar, just do like I do and have a mediocre week. That way, at least your expectations have a better chance of being met.
* Won Tiebreaker
