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The group assembled slowly, person by person, then in twos or threes, tampering to solo stragglers for the big game. Showdown was but an hour away when the last player arrived. There were tales of activities experienced the prior week, new jokes heard, and excuses for missing past games to be shared. Many on the team seemed to be somewhat subdued or even depressed, based upon characteristics displayed. Would they be ready for the…
Worn-up Round
1. The cutthroat ___ got its name from the orange mark under its lower jaw: TROUT. 2. Orzo is a type of pasta shaped like: GRAINS OF RICE. 3. CPV2, also known as parvo, is a viral disease that directly affects: DOGS. 4. Denali is another name for this famous geographical landmark: MT. MCKINLEY. 5. The copyright to “Mein Kampf,” which expires at the end of next year, is owned by: BAVARIA. {The answer provided by Buzzie did not preserve ‘our struggle’ for big points.} 6. Golf’s 143rd Open Championship took place at Royal ___ Golf Club in July: LIVERPOOL. 7. King Mongkut is a character in this musical: THE KING AND I. 8. The ___ is the central criminal court of England and Wales: OLD BAILEY. 9. An idyll is a literary work with a/an ___ setting: RUSTIC. 10. The first U.S. Renaissance Fair was held in Southern California in the: 1960’s.
Although the round went reasonably well, the pre-calls and chatter spoke of a lack of focus or perhaps even of mental acuity this evening. This was akin to the ominous music that slowly wells behind the protagonist in a suspense movie. Would it continue to build during the…
Ground-down Round
1. Michael Lewis’ acclaimed “Moneyball” deals with this sport: BASEBALL. 2. Both altruistic and paid surrogacy are illegal in this country: FINLAND. {Surrogate question answerers would be welcomed here.} 3. The emperor, the empress and Barak the Dyer are characters in the opera, ‘The ___’: WOMAN WITHOUT A SHADOW. {We had more than a shadow of a doubt here.} 4. Inchworm is a colloquial name for the larva of the: GEOMETER MOTH. 5. The Mombasa Carnival is an annual celebration in: KENYA. 6. In number theory, ___ is the first or lowest perfect number: SIX. 7. Where would you most likely see a mandorla? RELIGIOUS PAINTING. 8. Which term is used at Oxford University for a domestic worker: SCOUT. {It would have taken a Kit Carson to track this one.} 9. The late Edward Shevardnadze was Foreign Minister under: MIKHAIL GORBACHEV. 10. Swabian is a dialect of: GERMAN. 11. William Shockley, John Bardeen and Walter Brattain co-invented the: TRANSISTOR. 12. William Wollmann’s prize-winning “Europe Central” is a historical novel about: TOTALITARIANISM. {It should have been titled “European Confusing”.}
The disconcerting lack of accuracy on some of the suggestions for answers caused an overall sense of caution to permeate the group. If continued it will generate colorful swearing throughout the…
Scatology Round
S1. Newspapers v WORLD HISTORY (paraphrased)
The ___ wars of independence were fought between 1808 and 1833 in:
SOUTH AMERICA. {After some “it’s all Greek to me,” DUFF changed us to the right continent.}
S2. METEOROLOGY v vegetarian cuisine (paraphrased)
Hyetography is a branch of meteorology concerning the geographical distribution of: RAIN. {Into each trivia game, a little must fall.}
S3. 1960’s English films v GLOBAL DEMOGRAPHICS
The population of North Africa is predominantly: ARABIC. {Easy.}
S4. VEGETARIAN CUISINE v newspapers
Used as a meat substitute, Japan’s seitan is: WHEAT GLUTEN. {Our cooks fried this one perfectly.}
S5. Global demographics v METEOROLOGY
Ferdinando II de Medici established the first weather observing network in the: 17TH CENTURY. {There was uncertainty between the 15th and 17th Century.}
S6. World history v 1960’S ENGLISH FILMS
“The Entertainer,” “Mademoiselle” and “Tom Jones” were films directed by: TONY RICHARDSON. {This was an unaccountably bad choice of category by the team. Only 4 of 16 players got it until the third clue bailed them out.}
The realization that this week’s choices could have been better renewed the calls for information on the content of the alternate categories. It is dampening the group’s spirit headed into the…
Frightening Round
1. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the major league debut of: BABE RUTH. 2. Bachata is a style of music that originated in this country: DOMINICAN REPUBLIC. 3. A kitchen vessel, a cruet is usually used to contain: OLIVE OIL. 4. Sumuru is a female supervillain created by Sax Rohmer, who also created: FU MANCHU. 5. An entrechat is a move done by this type of performer: BALLET DANCER. 6. Who created such characters as Francine Fishpaw, Ursula Udders and Link Larkin? JOHN WATERS. 7. In medicine, prolapse refers to a condition where an organ is: OUT OF PLACE.
After faultlessly navigating the first five questions, there came resistance, followed by regression to confusion for the last three of this series. The group is flagging under the strain of miscommunication or wildly inappropriate guesses on the harder questions. It suggests difficulty with the…
Py-Ram-It Round
P1. What country do the Antipodes Islands belong to? NEW ZEALAND. {We narrowed it down to a straight-up choice of Indonesia and NZ.}
P2. Nobel Prize laureate and biologist Norman Borlaug is known as the Father of the: GREEN REVOLUTION. {BLZBUB knew this because it means more souls survive to be tempted by him on tricky triv queries.}
P3. In modern history, the Ugandan Scheme and the Madagascar Plan were proposals to: CREATE A JEWISH HOMELAND. {This proved too controversial an answer for us to go for it.}
P4. “Presumed innocent until proven guilty” is a concept introduced by this legal innovator: SIR WILLIAM GARROW. {‘Presumed stupid until guessing lucky’ should be our motto going forward. We missed this one.}
P5. The old Russian epic, “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” deals with a defeat at the hands of: TURKIC NOMADS. {BLZBUB couldn’t resist the temptation to prove his stupidity here.}
The best the group could muster was one box on 3 of 5 correct. The results of this round have sparked depression and self incrimination among the greater part of the group. They are feeling particularly ragged going into the…
FINAL TRAGEDY, on the Topic of: ART MOVEMENTS
This 19th Century avant-garde art movement was founded by Georges Seurat.
1. Expressionism
2. Fauvism
3. Neo-impressionism
4. Cubism
5. Art Deco
The order of the eliminations was 2, 4, 5 and 1, leaving, #3, NEO-IMPRESSIONISM, as the correct answer. This question prompted a pre-call of Pointillism, which then generated a dead silence until the team realized that was a component of neo-impressionism.
After the deadly flirtation with the bitch-goddess of Pyramid, a strong finish was a gilded relief. The team breathed a collective sigh of resignation to our final scores. The top six boxes came in at 38392, 36310, 36072, 35194, 35043 and 34997 points. The team score was an uninspiring 36,001 points.
The team was expecting a low ranking until BLZBUB accurately predicted that the Pyramid Round had probably savaged more scores than just ours. The Ragged Rascals finished SEVENTH in the Mt/Pac Zone of play. This was also good for a lowly TWENTY-FIFTH place system-wide.
No team on the system broke above 50,000 points for this game. Congratulations to Brewstirs on their victory.
_________________
}}}--( (x) (x) )--->
Oh my gawd, they killed
Ken Z.
You bastards!
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