Trivia Night 2

Thursday evening I joined Will at the Land of a Thousand Hills Coffee House for Trivia Night. This time the host was Erin, a 26 year-old St. Louis native. Before she began, Erin recruited a helper and performed a short rap ditty. There were six teams of mostly regular trivia buffs, pretty stiff competition.

In the first half Will and I got the first four questions right, then missed the next four, before answering the last question of the half. Fortunately, we got all three five-point questions right.

1. The song “I Feel Pretty” comes from what hit musical? Will knew it was from West Side Story.

2. Which acid in the body is associated with the lack of oxygen in the blood? Will knew it was Lactic Acid. I knew runners suffered from it, but couldn’t come up with the name.

3. Which war was the setting for the hit TV show MASH? An easy one for me…Korea.

4. All coffee is grown within 500 miles of what? Will guessed the Equator, and it sounded right to me. All six teams got this question correct.

5. What is the second smallest US state? I guessed Connecticut, but Delaware was right.

6. In France, which letter is on the hot water faucet? Neither of us knew. Will wanted to say C, but I talked him into answering F. He was right.

7. In what year did the space shuttle Columbia explode on liftoff? I knew Reagan was president. I was working for Mr. Suggs, and that evening I met a friend at the Lenox Bennigans before heading to the Hawks game. I was pretty sure it was before I got married, but I incorrectly was thinking about the year I started at Tull (1987). Nobody got the right answer: 1986.

8. What friend rode with Huckleberry Finn on his raft on the Mississippi? My only guess was Tom Sawyer, but it was actually Jim the Slave.

9. In the US, what hospital delivers more babies than any other? Since the category was Atlanta, I knew it was Northside.

HALFTIME: We got 2/5 of the name-the capitals question right:

Venezuela: Caracas (right)

Egypt: Cairo (right)

Pakistan: Islamabad (I didn’t know)

Sweden: Stockholm (I said Brussels)

Belgium: Brussels (I said Antwerp, a state capital)

Two teams had tallied 34 of the possible 37 first-half points. Will and I were in last place, eleven points back. In the second half we answered five of the nine questions correctly.

10. When the Hawks moved to Atlanta in 1968, what city did they move from? I knew, and Will said he knew as well: St. Louis.

11. What was the name of the original pink Power Ranger? Will jotted down Kimberly, which I thought absurd. I would’ve guessed Pinky Tuscadero. When the oldest team answered last, Erin laughed when she read their answer…Pinky. Interestingly, when Will and I finally got home, I flipped past Happy Days on the TV. Amazingly, Will was right.

12. From which continent did the Guinea Pig originate? We said Australia, but it was South America.

13. What southern state waited until 1995 to ratify the13th amendment, abolishing slavery? I correctly guessed Mississippi.

14. What geometric shape forms the hole filled by an Allen Wrench? Will knew it was either a Hexagon or an Octagon. I encouraged him to answer Octogon, which was wrong. When I asked handymen Brad and Darryl at work, they immediately knew the answer.

15. Hillary Clinton once tried to enlist in which branch of the military? Having recently read a Republican-sided book on the Secretary of State, I knew Hillary tried to enlist in the Marines. With her terrible vision, she knew she’d be turned down. She also applied to be an astronaut: doing both to have on her resume in case she were to later run for president. I mentioned the astronaut thing to Erin, and she was impressed (with Hillary). Out of the 24 trivia experts, I was the only one to get this question right.

16. On what vegetable did ancient Egyptians place their hands while taking an oath? Will thought squash, I thought potato. It was the onion.

17. Not counting numbered streets, what is the most popular street name in the US? Erin hinted that the most obvious answer may not be correct, so we stayed away from Main. I guessed Church, but the answer was Park. No one got this question right.

18. Technology question: What does SSD stand for? After mulling it over, Will came up with the correct response: Solid State Drive (or Disc).

Going into the final round, we were tied for last place (58-48-47-43-43-43). Thankfully, we had gotten all six of the 5 and 6 point questions right.

For the final question, five points were given for each of the four highest-grossing movies released since 1991. Erin hinted that two of the movies were released this year. We were one of several teams who guessed three of four: Titanic, Avatar, and the most recent Harry Potter. We also guessed Twilight, but the correct answer was Transformers 3.

We finished tied for next-to-last, besting only the old guys. Had we gotten questions right that we were close on, we would’ve finished tied for third. I’m sure Joel would’ve gotten us over that hump.

At least my beverage choice was better this time: instead of an orange Italian soda, I opted for cherry vanilla. A little mediciney, but much better.