Showdown Recap for 12 Dec 2017 at BWW Gibson in ABQ
Once again, the Ragged Rascals made a boxless-enforced migration from the familiar confines of the BWW Gibson to the noisy, claustrophobic environs of the BWW on Montgomery Blvd. BLZBUB wondered when, and if, the box refurbishment at the Gibson location would be accomplished. The longer the team plays at the Montgomery location, the more it begins to feel comfortable in spite of its limitations.
The team was relatively well settled in by the time the Showdown quest began, But that was in spite of a major traffic disruption on Wyoming Blvd that nearly delayed some team members arrival to beyond the start of the game. We played with 14 people in the house, manning 16 machines including some on the cell-phone app.
Worn-up Round
1. The Gateway Arch is a 630-foot-high structure that overlooks the ___ River. MISSISSIPPI. 2. ‘Exploitation of Mexico by Spanish Conquistadors’ is a mural by: DIEGO RIVERA. 3. The meerkat is a small carnivore also known as the: SURICATE. 4. Which popular singer of the 1960’s was a huge success in both Latin and mainstream pop? VICKI CARR. 5. Which of these is a type of rock? GNEISS. 6. The title of this Shakespeare comedy alludes to the winter holiday season: TWELFTH NIGHT. 7. The hippogriff is a mythical creature with the head of an ___ and the body of a horse. EAGLE. 8. Hermosillo is to Sonora as ___ is to ___. AUSTIN – TEXAS. 9. Which U.S. political figure published a book this year titled ‘What Happened’? HILLARY CLINTON. 10. To swim in the Sea of Galilee, you’d need to take a trip to: ISRAEL.
The team blew this round away. The pre-calls predominated the answer set. It is with some pride the BLZBUB says the team went 10 for 10 correct.
Ground-down Round
1. From which animal do we get the word ‘vaccine’? COW. 2. The Jules Verne Trophy is given to these sportsmen: YACHTSMEN. 3. In what state do tourists flock to the Pocono Mountains? PENNSYLVANIA. 4. Porramatur is a traditional food dish in: ICELAND. 5. Amelia Bloomer gained fame as a fighter for women’s rights during the: 19TH CENTURY. 6. It is the capital and largest city of Tajikistan: DUSHANBE. 7. Contumacious is a synonym of: DISOBEDIENT. 8. Prince Prospero tried to avoid a deadly plague in a famous short story by: EDGAR ALLAN POE. 9. ‘Disjecta membra’ is a Latin term used to refer to: FRAGMENTS. 10. In the 19th Century, ‘The Lightning’ and ‘The Flying Cloud’ were ___ known for their speed. CLIPPER SHIPS. 11. What does the ‘R’ in the medical condition ‘SARS’ stand for? RESPIRATORY. 12. In ancient Scandinavia, a servant or slave would be called a: THRALL
This round was above-average in correct responses. The team scored 9 of 12 correct, with delayed calls or third-clue saves on #’s 4, 6, and 7.
Scatology Round
S1. U.S. cities v GENERAL SCIENCE Diathermy is a process most commonly used in this field: MEDICINE. {DUFF and BLZBUB}
S2. 20TH CENTURY BOOKS v French cuisine Snowball, a character in the classic novel ‘Animal Farm,’ is a: PIG. {HEBEGB and BRICK}
S3. WORLD HISTORY v 20th century singers The Cisalpine Republic, which lasted from 1797 to 1802, had ___ as its capital city. MILAN. {CSICOP (aka CHILL) and DUFF}
S4. French cuisine v U.S. CITIES Which city is located in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula area? MARQUETTE. {BRICK}
S5. 20TH CENTURY SINGERS v 20th century books Born in Germany, this 1960’s singer and actress was an Andy Warhol superstar: NICO. {MEERA actually pre-called this.}
S6. General science v WORLD HISTORY From 1223 to 1240, Kievan Russia was overrun by the: MONGOLS. {DUFF}
The team scored a perfect 6 for 6 on this round. That was a bit surprising given the difficulty of this round.
Frightening Round
1. The riverboat in Disneyland is named for what famed writer? MARK TWAIN. 2. Founded in 1977, Sea ___ is a leading marine wildlife conservation organization. SHEPHERD. 3. What was the name of puppeteer Wayland Flower’s main puppet? MADAME 4. The Human Development Index assesses countries by life expectancy, per capita income, and: EDUCATIONAL ACCESS. 5. What 1990 movie was the first feature film to be given an NC-17 rating by the MPAA? HENRY AND JUNE. 6. Russet Burbank and Purple Majesty are types of: POTATOES 7. ‘Carry Fire’ is the latest music release from this former Led Zeppelin front man: ROBERT PLANT.
The team missed #5 and had a 2-way split between ‘education access’ and ‘literacy rate’ on #4.
Py-Ram-It Round
P1. Which obscure word would best describe an arrogantly insolent person? Choices: Parturient, contumelious, hortatory, lentando, enstatite A: CONTUMELIOUS. {OK, we don’t know if they did this intentionally, but the BUZZHEADS telegraphed the answer to this question by their choice of its next-of-kin, contumacious, back in Question 7 of the second round.}
P2. M.P. Shiel’s ‘The Purple Cloud’ is a classic: Choices: Children’s tale, Surrealist painting, Science Fiction novel, Poem, Ballet A: SCIENCE FICTION NOVEL. {This one prompted calls for a 5-way split.}
P3. Functional and numerical are two types of ___ in mathematics. Choices: Knot Theory, Analysis, Pythagorean Triples, Game Theory, Coordinates A: ANALYSIS. {As BLZBUB took a two-semester sequence in both of these as an undergraduate, he is once again proud to say he “doesn’t need to mail his diploma in math back to Nicholls State University on the grounds that it didn’t take.”}
P4. Which literary character makes a living as a Magipeel salesman? Choices: Eugene Henderson, Kilgore Trout, Harry Angstrom, Roy Gallagher, Richard Schiller A: HARRY ANGSTROM. {There was an almost-too-late call by MEERA on this question that proved to be trivia gold.}
P5. The Royal coat of Arms of the United Kingdom has phrases in Latin and: Choices: German, Gaelic, Greek, Welsh, French A: FRENCH. {Our moderator put us on a two-way split with Welsh and French as choices. It was only in retrospect that we realized that the Norman Conquest made the latter the best choice.}
This round conformed to the team’s historical average; there were three correct, one 2-way, and one 5-way split for answers.
BLZBUB was heard to comment, “That last question crushed our dreams, like those of a young girl expecting a pony for Christmas.”
FINAL TRAGEDY Topic: MARSUPIALS
This marsupial animal would be found in the wilds of Australia:
1. Gerenuk 2. Okapi 3. Kiwi 4. Cuscus 5. Torgot
The order of the eliminations was 2, 3, 5, and 1, leaving #4, CUSCUS as the correct answer. The group was able to eliminate okapi and kiwi rapidly. The others were not so easy to dismiss. A Google search conducted while writing this recap revealed a ‘torgot’ to be a furry animal on the Star Trek fictional planet of Rura Pente. Well played, Buzzie. The gerenuk is a long-necked gazelle aka the giraffe gazelle, from the Horn of Africa. So finally, the cuscus is an Australian possum.
The top individual scores for the night were 48442, 44430, 39025, 35723, 31487, and 30064 points.
Practically nobody scored more than 30% of the points they wagered, and more than half the team took a negative score on this question. Of the few that succeeded: The box coming into the Final in fifteenth place jumped to FIFTH; the box at fourteenth place jumped to SIXTH place; the box at ninth place jumped to SECOND; the box at sixth jumped to FOURTH; the box at fourth place jumped to FIRST; and the box at first fell to THIRD. Never before in the history of the team has this type of scrambling of the rankings happened.
The team’s average score for this game was 38,195 points.
The Ragged Rascals’ system-wide ranking was TWELFTH Place.
Congrats to Houlihan's of NY for the best score @47868 points. Next best was BWW Oklahoma City @ 46861. Third goes to Mad River of NYC, NY @44115. Those are all pretty low scores for a Showdown game, but they were considerably above that gained by the Ragged Rascals.
_________________ }}}--( (x) (x) )---> Oh my gawd, they killed Ken Z. You bastards!
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