STANDINGS AND FINAL REPORT FOR MAY 2015

STANDINGS AND FINAL REPORT FOR MAY 2015

We had (again, compared with April) 110 players and 29 teams however the scores in the rounds were rather variable setting (I think) some records.  The overall average was 41/70 (59%) with a low round (#2) of 47% and a record 75% in round 5.

During the night there was an unprecedented 7 10s with the Trivial Trailblazers scoring 2 of these and Boom Down, Double Pair of Docs, Cheap Dates, In Vino and the Ministry with the other perfect rounds.  Six teams scored 50 or more during the evening for another record reflecting a “soft” spring event.  It was a hard-fought contest with The Blond Artifacts pulling ahead of relative newcomer Cheap Dates with a tie-breaker for the May win.  The question was the population of Canada as of July 1, 2014 and while both teams were reasonably close, the Blondies were only 1.3% off the correct number.  The Ministry was in contention and took 3^rd for the night with Hotel de Ville and the Idaho Spuds tying for 4^th with neither team delivering a good estimate of the paid extras in the movie Gandhi (~94,000) with the Spuds guessing 300,000 and the Hotel team with 3,000 but they were closer and captured 4^th spot.  Their legitimate complaint is that they have finished 4^th for a few years now and have suggested that their name should be “Hotel De Ville (and so forth)”.  Hah.

In Round 1, nine teams knew that Pandora was the moon in Avatar while there were a remarkable series of guesses such as Navient, Nomo, Nori,  Nevi, Narena, Neelu, Navena, Nra, Calypso, Artemis,  Lunitar, Pi  Turgu and Unobtanium.  Remarkable.  All but three teams knew Weird Al Yankovic.  Also remarkable.  Only Positive Vibrations, the Blonde Artifacts and their “arch” rivals in the corner, Hotel de Ville, knew what a maulstick is.  Most said it was for use by a glassblower.  Billie Holiday was selected as the 7-husband woman by nearly the whole House but the Spuds and the Cadets knew it was Dinah Washington.  At the end of this round, the Spuds had the lead with 9.

Round 2 was the toughest of the night with only 47% getting correct answers.  Two thirds of the teams got it that Marcel Marceau was the only speaker in the silent movie by Mel Brooks; other answers were Charlie Chaplin, Teller of Penn and Teller, Marty Feldman and Harpo Marx.  There was one vote for Brad Pitt. (?)  The study of Orology was logically answered by most as either the study of time or gold.  These were good answers but the team from Cheap Dates got it right (study of mountains) preventing a quiz shutout.  As this team tied for first in the night, I think it important to point out that they had a shake-up in their lineup and brought in the daughter of one of the players who said she had taken a World of Chemistry course and was credited by her teammates in their high score; you all know where to recruit now.  Most knew the pink carnation in the title of Marty Robbins’ song.  About 8 teams knew that the divorce rate ratio from the 1920s to 2004 was a factor of 40 including Aquavit, Crusader Rabbit, The Hacks, Shenanigans and For the Record.  About half the teams knew that Neil Young had polio including the Bulldogs, Double Pair of Docs, Thistle Rocks, the Dentrites, Cashew and the Otto Maass group.

EVERY team got the three dotted letters in a row question with all but two saying Fiji and the two who chose Beijing were Cheap Dates and the Trivia Trailblazers.  Round three was very good with an average of 72%.  I thought a fairly tough question was the pair of celebrities that were homonyms but 11 teams got it right as Tom Cruise and Penelope Cruz.  We have good players.  Only 5 teams knew that the Q in Q-Tips meant Quality- the Ministry, I’ll Ask the Questions, Boom Down, In Vino and Double Pair of Docs.  Team 42 initially wrote Quality but switched it to Quilted?  Hmmm.  Nine teams got 135 degrees for the internal angle of an octagon although many stopped short of a logical conclusion with 1080 degrees.  Some octagon.  Every team knew about the Hudson’s Bay Company start up in the late 1600s and almost all knew that Princess Diana caused 54 countries to produce stamps on her 21^st birthday.  It is sad to be reminded she would have been 54 this year.  Further, most every team knew that Marvin Gaye was shot by his father.  The Artifacts now had the lead with 25 over the Spuds (23).

Round 4 had a “normal” correct response profile of 54%.  Eleven teams knew about the origin of the name of dominoes; think of the sometimes heard phrase-  auxilium meum a Domino (my help comes from the Lord)- that might be helpful for creating answers in the future.  A number of teams knew that Stanford has had over $10B in its endowment including The Hacks, Sticky Fingers, the Bulldogs, Trivia Now and Aquavit.  Most knew that Ohio has its three largest cities beginning with the letter C.  Similarly, most also knew that a baby hamster and a baby shark are called pups although one team suggested sprat.  That sounds like a residue left by the hamster.  A majority of the teams knew that Bryan Adams was a fine photographer.  Only six teams knew that Humphrey Bogart was voted the #1 actor including Boom Down and Crusader Rabbit Redux but a top team slipped and suggested Paul Newman- he was not born in 1899!

Round 5 scored 75% with most teams prospering.  About half the teams knew about Charles Manson including 42, For the Record, Green Eggs, the Bulldogs, Trivia Trailblazers, the Otto Maass group and the Space Cadets who returned after an absence and turned in a good performance.  To my surprise, about half knew that HOG was the label for the Harley Davidson Company.  Some of those machines are referred to as HOGs but the reason for the NY Stock Exchange change of name from HDI is quoted as:

“Beginning in 1920, a team of Harley Davidson riding farm boys consistently won races. The group had a live hog as their mascot. Following a win, they would put the hog on their Harley and take a victory lap. “On August 15, 2006, Harley-Davidson Inc. had its New York Stock Exchange ticker symbol changed from HDI to HOG.” 

There were no seriously weak performances on this relatively easy round.  By the end of this round, the Blonds were still in first place.

A 62% score was delivered in Round 6 that saw Omar being correctly designated as the Middle Eastern Name for Homer Simpson.  Excellent.  Other suggestions were Ahmed, Amir, Ali, Haim, Abou, Husan and Hamar.  Most got Battleship as the game of grids including Shenanigans, Bulldogs, Spuds, 42 and Thistle Rocks who were solid during the evening and quietly protected their 9 point season lead they had at the start of the proceedings.  They cruised for the overall championship but eventually came in 5^th for the night.  Almost all knew Lenny Kravitz.  For the Record and a few others knew about silicon being the second most prevalent element in the earth’s crust after oxygen.  This is because sand is silicon dioxide and silicon is very prevalent in many minerals.

The 7^th round showed a more standard score of 54%.  Quite a few knew that Wilco stands for Will Comply.  Some of these were For the Record, the Hotel squad, Thistle Rocks and Trivia Now.  All but one team knew that CaSO₄ and CaCO₃ are chalk.  Good blackboard work.  Only three teams accurately delivered what a RAP sheet was and these were the Mighty Dendrites, Trivia Now and Aquavit.  Only Cheap Dates and The Hacks knew that Will & Grace were so popular and most knew Jersey Boys.  I played that piece on another Trivia session with a different question.

For the first time, another team except the Ministry won the overall season and as mentioned above, it was Thistle Rocks.  The Ministry rallied in recent months to take second and the Blond Artifacts won third by a single point over Hotel de Ville.  The Idaho Spuds were fifth and the Dynamic Duo of Cashew were sixth.

Some summary statistics:  14 teams played all 6 rounds- 5 teams played 5, 7 teams 4, 7 teams 3, 1 team played 2 rounds and 8 teams played only once.  Overall, 43 different teams participated.  Watch out for Cheap Dates next year; they only played twice this year and made 99 points.

Thank you for playing and thanks to the scoring team of Julia, Angela, Cordelia and Alexander for keeping the books as well as Kim Stephenson from our Bookstore for sorting the cash for the Centraide finances and contributing book prizes and helpful edits.  This year we were able to contribute $3138 to Centraide making our 5 year total approximately $15,000.  Also thanks to our University Advancement group for other prizes.

Register for the October event when it is announced sometime in early September.

STANDINGS FOR THE MAY CONTEST