2020

December 29 & 30

Very Stable Geniuses would have had a perfect game victory on Tuesday if it weren’t for Karlsgood blocking them with the TV show Car 54 Where Are You? in the Scattergories round. I Rish for Drinking Establishment Trivia and a Healthy 2021 for Everyone finished a single point behind for 2nd place.

In the Wednesday contest, the Homebound Hos and a Bro were blocked into a tie-breaker, which they won, with Mitch McConnell's Childhood Polio thanks to the Madras Cousins who matched them with Charles in Charge and a bright candelabra in the Scattergories round.

The trickiest questions this week included the origin of the name Corvette, Robin Hood’s companions, organelles in living cells, the ritual of exchanging jerseys after soccer games, the disputed region of Kashmir, and a sexually confused Vin Diesel starring in The Fast and The Curious.

December 22 & 23

The winners of this year’s Christmas Spectaculars were Karlsgood on Tuesday and the Homebound Ho Ho Hos! on Wednesday. Finishing close behind each night were the Irish and Nita and Matt.

In the Holiday Music Bingo contests Beth M. was the winner on Tuesday when Karen Carpenter sang Merry Christmas Darling while Nita was victorious on Wednesday with Band Aid’s Do They Know It’s Christmas.

The trickiest holiday questions included what George Washington was up to on Christmas night 1776, Dumbledore’s first Christmas gift to Harry Potter, the reindeer mentioned in Here Comes Santa Claus, Bart Simpson’s water consumption on Christmas Eve, the location of Christmas Island, the number of original holiday movies the premiered on the Hallmark Channel this season, Hans Gruber’s rate of acceleration falling from Nakatomi Tower, and these mask wearers from Austria.

December 15

In our only game this week I accidentally crafted what may have been my trickiest question so far.

Beginning with 2004’s Curious, what singer has released 30 different perfumes including 19 that have Fantasy as part of their name? Glitter Fantasy and Festive Fantasy are new for 2020.

Many of the clues point directly to Mariah Carey. Movie she starred in? Glitter. Hit song of hers? Fantasy. Many teams fell into the trap and even all of the Hos on our winning team, Homebound Hos and Bros, were all aboard the Mariah train forcing one of the Bros to keep them from running off the rails by texting, “It’s Britney, bitches.”

Nita and Matt tied for the win but were strategerized in the tie breaker, while Karlsgood and Dude, I Don’t Think Those are Sugar Plums! finished close behind.

December 8 & 9

On Tuesday, Kauai Chickens and Karlsgood battled each other to a tie with the Chickens coming out on top in the tie-breaker and Homebound Hos and Bros were victorious over Nita and Matt on Wednesday.

In the Anything But the 80’s & 90’s Music Bingo contests Karlsgood was the winner on Tuesday with a multigenerational effort and on Wednesday the winner was Homebound Kiki. Bruce Springsteen’s Thunder Road was the winning song for both the moment he sang, “The screen door slams.”

The tricky questions this week included Lamborghini tractors, artistic Nocturnes, the number of Canadian provinces and territories and checker pieces in backgammon, the Coral sea, and Baby Fish Mouth which is apparently still not sweeping the nation 30 years after When Harry Met Sally was released.

Clarification: The Jarhead answerers on Wednesday successfully protested that it should have also been acceptable because the reason Marine’s are called Jarheads is due to the same high collar responsible for the term Leatherneck.

December 1 & 2

Both games this week were decided on the following tie-breaker question: How many possible answers are there in a Magic 8-Ball (answer below)?

On Tuesday, Karlsgood was victorious over Dude, Is it December Already?!?! while Homebound Hos and Bros bested Mitch McConnell's Childhood Polio on Wednesday.

In the 80’s & 90’s Music Bingo contests, Nita was the winner on Tuesday thanks to Cher’s auto-tuned classic Believe and Homebound Trixy won it on Wednesday in a speed match with Bust A Move by Young MC.

The tricky questions this week included the name of the host or a character on Yo Gabba Gabba, egg laying mammals, the order of the presidents on Mount Rushmore, the calculations of Eratosthenes of Cyrene in 240 B.C., and Best Picture winning movies with colors in their title.

Tie-Breaker Answer: There are 20 possible answers in a Magic 8-Ball. 10 answers are positive, 5 are negative, and 5 are noncommittal.

November 24 & 25

“Gah, I can’t believe our anus got blocked!" - Wilford Brimely's Diabeetus All Stars

Somehow I didn’t see the anus and a-hole answers coming when I chose the letter A for the Scattergories round and included Things Smaller Than Your Fist and Things That Are Round. Despite my lack of foresight it made for two of the more hilarious trivia games in quite some time.

Nita (celebrating a turkey day birthday) and Matt were the winners by a half point on Wednesday over Dolly Parton is the Last Targaryen and Homebound Hos and Bros with Homebound Trixy winning Movie Music Bingo high on a hill with a Lonely Goatherd from The Sound of Music.

On Tuesday, Kauai Chickens avoided the blockages this time in Scattergories to win by a point over Dude, Who Chooses a Dog Birthday Party Over Trivia?!?! I Believe I Can Fly from Space Jam was the Bingo winner for Beth from Karlsgood.

A special note of appreciation to BAR-FLYZZ by naming Alice’s Restaurant as a Place To Eat which was the absolutely perfect answer for Thanksgiving week, and it didn’t get blocked.

The tricky questions this week included Sylvester Stallone’s Oscar nominations as Rocky Balboa, train engineer Casey Jones, Don & Yukon Cornelius, Keith Haring’s artwork transformed in a Macy’s parade balloon, and Chandler Bing’s traumatic childhood Thanksgiving on Friends.

November 17 & 18

After finishing as a runner up more times than I can count, Dolly Parton is the Last Targaryen finally reached the top of the charts with a win in the Wednesday game and the best score of the week overall, which seems only fitting with the news of Dolly’s funding of a Covid vaccine. Nita and Matt took 2nd and I Rish were 3rd in trivia and Homebound Kelly won Music Bingo with Linda Ronstadt.

There was a three-way tie in the Tuesday game between Kauai Chickens, Karlsgood, and BAR FLYZZ, with the Chickens coming out on top thanks to one of their team members remembering the exact value from what I thought was an obscure news story from back in October. Connie Francis was the winning tune for BAR FLYZZ in the Music Bingo game.

Tricky questions included profession-al last names of Mercury 7 astronauts, the value of racing pigeons, 5-syllable vocabulary words, top-earning dead celebrities, the world’s largest hotel chain, TV art historian Sister Wendy, and Jane Birkin pictured with her namesake bag.

November 10 & 11

Tuesday was the night of the BAR FLYZZ, not only winning 21st Century Music Bingo with Janelle Monáe but also leading the way in Trivia after a controversial question about South American geography pushed them over the top by a point ahead of Dude, Why is Mike Wearing My Mask?, The Jazzmatics, Karlsgood, and Very Stable Geniuses.

On Wednesday, Homebound Hos and Bros had a two-fer of their own with Homebound Kiki winning Music Bingo with Lana Del Rey and the team finishing just ahead of The Book Club and Win AND Booze in the Trivia contest.

Tricky questions this week included the shakeup on The Bachelorette, Faulkner’s opinion of Hemingway, synchronized swimming, America’s first billionaire, the TV series Supernatural, the Chrysler building, Funko figurines, and the origin of the word Dinosaur.

We also paid tribute to the greatest trivia host of all time...

November 4

Nita and Matt needed the perfecto, including Spoonerism knowledge, to grab the Trivia victory ahead of Homebound Hos and Bro in 2nd and Dolly Parton is the Next President in 3rd. Tricky questions this week, in addition to William Archibald Spooner, included Lewis Hamilton’s recent F1 record, the origins of the term Iron Curtain, An Album Cover design by Basquiat, and Sean Connery’s age when he was named Sexiest Man Alive. In the 80’s & 90’s Music Bingo game, Karlsgood were victorious with New Edition’s Cool It Now.

Note: No Tuesday game due to the Election

October 27 & 28 ~ Halloween Week

Music Bingo

On Tuesday, a dude from Dude, I try to get out but they keep pulling me back... inside! was the winner with the theme from Jaws, while on Wednesday, kikicocolala of the Homebound Hos and Bros was victorious with Ding-Dong! The Witch Is Dead from The Wizard of Oz.

Trivia

After a few weeks outside of the winner’s circle the Kauai Chickens returned to the top of the leaderboard on Tuesday just ahead of Karlsgood, while Win AND Booze continued their winning ways in the Wednesday game with a come from behind victory over Homebound Hos and Bros and Nita & Matt.

Tricky questions included the favorite dessert treat of the Golden Girls, the names of ping pong table manufacturers, the chemical compound in dry ice, and the murderous traitor and coward not named on the tombstone of Jesse James, although the answer of Sandra Bullock from Wilford Brimley's Diabeetus All-Stars was easily the funniest wrong answer of the week.

October 20 & 21

In the Tuesday simulcast from the Windmill Food Hall, the in-person winners of the 1st Place gift card for Trivia were Dude, Why is Mike Yelling ‘Garfunkel?’ and the 2nd Place gift card went to the Evans family staying at the hotel next door who were in town for a wedding. On the Zoom side, Very Stable Geniuses must have been doing laundry again as they claimed the overall win. In the 50s-60s-70s Music Bingo contest a mystery player at the Windmill was the winner of that gift card.

In the Zoom-only Wednesday trivia game, Win AND Booze eked out another victory with a controversial Scattergories answer of dressing as your trivia host (name begins with T) for Halloween. Still not entirely sure what that costume would entail, but we decided to give it to them once it was suggested that album covers would need to be part of it. Matt from the team Nita and Matt was the winner of Music Bingo.

Tricky questions included Brooke Shields and her Calvin’s; Ichiro Suzuki’s hits record; the original official flower of Mother’s Day; the family of sizes of Dad’s root beer; Randy Pausch’s Last Lecture; and the bands formerly fronted by John Fogerty, Natalie Merchant, and Cee Lo Green.

October 13 & 14

In the Tuesday simulcast from the Windmill Food Hall, the in-person winners of the 1st Place gift card for Trivia were Dudes, We’re Skippin’ Book Club! and the 2nd Place gift card went to Buzz lite beer. On the Zoom side, Nita & Matt finally achieved a perfect game for the overall win. In the 2000’s Music Bingo contest a mystery woman at the WFH bar was the winner after two others came up an artist short in their bingo claims.

In the Zoom-only Wednesday trivia game, Win AND Booze won a tie-breaker over Homebound Ho’s and Bros and also won the Music Bingo contest for a two-fer.

Tricky questions included the color, liqueur, and mountain range of Chartreuse; the organization that publishes The Watchtower magazine; Chief Joseph & the Nez Perce tribe; the ice cream flavored song that birthed rock-n-roll; the Tahitian adventures of artist Paul Gauguin; and the triumphant return of Sesame Street’s Count von Count to twitter.

October 6

A single game on Tuesday this past week due to the VP debate led to a super competitive merging of teams from both nights.

Of the teams that made it out to the Windmill Food Hall for the in-person experience, Stephen Miller has COVID ... hahahahaha (aka Mitch McConnel’s Childhood Polio) received the 1st Place gift card for Trivia with Chief Justice Dingo getting gift cards for 2nd Place in Trivia and another gift card for being the 1st at WFM to get Bingo in our 80’s & 90’s music contest.

On the Zoom side, both Kauai Chickens and Homebound Hos and Bros scored perfect games with the Chickens winning the tie-breaker thanks to a miscalculation of the number of Apollo missions that fortunately led to the correct answer for the number of people who have walked on the moon. Lee from Kauai Chickens was also the overall winner of Music Bingo.

Tricky questions this week included the band featured in the recent video of the cranberry juice loving skateboarder, the mythical Arthurian island of Avalon, the motto of the Brownies, and the love life of Jennifer Lawrence (and to a lesser extent Paul Simon).

Note: No Wednesday game due to VP Debate

September 29 & 30

Our second week at Windmill Food Hall and Irish scored big by not only getting the 1st Place Trivia gift card they also won the Music Bingo prize, while the Dudes received the 2nd Place gift card for Trivia.

The best Zoom team overall last week was Karlsgood with a perfect game on Tuesday night and Homebound Hos and Bros took the title on Wednesday night.

Tricky questions this week included the recent whale beaching in Australia, Denzel Washington’s Oscar-winning movies, the Gilded Age of the late 1800’s, injuries on Dancing with the Stars, Tiki carvings, croquet at Wimbledon, and some fairy tale confusion over who could spin straw into gold.

September 22 & 23

After six months of Zoom only events a handful of teams joined me at Windmill Food Hall in Carlsbad on Tuesday for our very first live simulcast. It was great having a live audience and technically things worked out better than I expected. We will be doing it again this Tuesday although the start time(s) may be different and we may end up playing closer to the bar as we figure out what works best.

Among the Windmill teams, we had a three-way tie for 1st place which worked out perfectly with WFH providing three prizes. Irish won the tie-breaker for 1st place ($25 Gift Card), Dude, Finally At the Windmill! took 2nd ($15 GC), and Mitch McConnell’s Childhood Polio was 3rd ($10 GC).

Very Stable Geniuses were the top team overall on Tuesday and on Wednesday night Homebound Hos and Bros took the title.

Tricky questions this week included Otter Pop character names, the sum total of the visible numbers on a dartboard, the plot of the musical Cats, the best selling brand of peanut butter, and sperm whale contributions to perfume, but by far the most controversial question was over Kobe beef with many arguing for Wagyu and ultimately being denied after a spirited debate both online and in person because Kobe is a specific type of Wagyu but not all Wagyu is Kobe.

September 15 & 16

Back in Time week! While a single Back in Time round has randomly appeared in the regular game from time to time, it had been nearly two years since the contest was filled with Back in Time rounds where you have to figure out the year in which all four questions occurred and we hit a year from every decade going all the way back to the 1940’s.

Win AND Booze on Wednesday and Kauai Chickens on Tuesday were perfect, not only with the questions, but also guessing each year exactly. Hands Across America (1986) and the Hula Hoop (1958) were the trickiest of the questions, and it was gratifying to know that every team remembered how Fabio killed a bird with his face while promoting a roller coaster.

We went back in time, just a bit, to the Name the Artist music contest with each team choosing their own musical adventure by picking a different style and/or decade of music each round. BARFLYZZ were the winners on Tuesday while Homebound Hos bested the Dolly Parton's in a shootout on Wednesday.

The complete and combined Standings from both nights can be found below and there is no T-Score ranking this week because the Back in Time format is such an outlier from the regular game.

September 8 & 9

Very Stable Geniuses broke through with a perfect game on Tuesday night for the victory after finishing in the runner-up slot the past four weeks. Homebound Hos and Bro returned from a week off in the wilds of Oregon to toss a perfecto of their own for the win on Wednesday.

Tricky questions this week included the tragically short reign of Lady Jane Grey, Julie Andrews’ reign as the top movie nanny of the 1960’s, the demise of My Darling Clementine, Dorothea Lange’s photography, and how the Stanford marching band trombone trampled at the end of “The Play” is in the College Football Hall of Fame.

The Bingo contest this week was filled with hard rock, grunge, and heavy metal… pleasing some and disturbing others. Carol and Rob from BARFLYZZ seemed surprised to be the winners on Tuesday with Metallica, and on Wednesday it was Homebound Tari winning on Jimi Hendrix after realizing she forgot to mark off her Anthrax square from earlier.

The complete and combined Standings from both nights can be found below, but first up is the T-Score ranking that shows the Top 10 teams after taking this week's score and adjusting it by past per game averages vs the median score. Dolly Parton is the Last Targaryen tied with Very Stable Geniuses atop this chart with 47.75 T-Scores.

September 1 & 2

Nita & Matt won the tie-breaker over win AND booze on Wednesday night for their first victory since early July and on Tuesday the Kauai Chickens rebounded from Scattergories week to pitch a perfect game.

In addition to the final video question, we paid tribute to Chadwick Boseman with three other questions mixed in throughout the game for the legendary characters he portrayed in his career: Jackie Robinson, Thurgood Marshall, and James Brown. Tricky questions this week included the portmanteau naming of Tanzania, the Bauhaus logo, microscope parts, the Al-Khazneh temple in Petra, and the first known mention of bagels.

The Bingo contest this week went way back to the 70’s, 60’s, 50’s, and even a little Glenn Miller from the 40’s. Karlsgood took the title on Tuesday thanks to Fats Domino’s Blueberry Hill and on Wednesday the Helen Keller’s were a split second faster than Nita & Matt in recognizing Love Train by the O’Jays. The next Music Bingo game will finally fulfill a long time request for Heavy Metal, Hair Metal, Hard Rock, Grunge, and other head bangers that will be turned up to 11.

Requests for trivia categories and questions are always welcomed along with any favorite songs and artists that you would want added to the Music Bingo mix.

The complete and combined Standings from both nights can be found below, but first up is the T-Score ranking that shows the Top 10 teams after taking this week's score and adjusting it by past per game averages vs the median score. Nita & Matt top this chart with the leading T-Score of 48.88 despite their score of 49 points getting knocked down a bit by their average of 0.13 above the median.

August 25 & 26

Scattergories! Our second time ending the contest with a Scattergories round and it proved to be the wild card in this week’s games. Karlsgood edged out Wilfred Brimley's Diabeetus All-Stars and Very Stable Geniuses for a 1 point victory on Tuesday and the only one they got wrong was identifying what those 4 historical figures had in common in the Mystery Round (Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure). Helen Keller’s Death was Senseless was also a single point from perfection to get the 1 point victory over win AND booze on Wednesday, only missing the “Shoestring” budget question, and some would argue that their answer of “Tight” should have been acceptable, but I’m clearly not one of those people.

The trickier questions this week included the social clubs of the Honeymooners and Flintstones, the fleshy bits on a rooster’s head, the 9,000 balloon bombs launched at the U.S. in WWII killing 6 picnickers in Oregon, and that I Got You Babe was played 10 times in Groundhog Day.

The Bingo contest this week covered songs from this century including the The Hampster Dance Song from the summer of 2000. Matthew A. (I Rish) was the split second winner over Jasen C. (K Chix) on Tuesday and win AND booze were the winners on Wednesday. The upcoming Music Bingo game will be songs from the 70’s, 60’s, 50’s, and possibly even further back than that.

Requests for trivia categories and questions are always welcomed along with any favorite songs and artists that you would want added to the Music Bingo mix.

The complete and combined Standings from both nights can be found below, but first up is the T-Score ranking that shows the Top 10 teams after taking this week's score and adjusting it by past per game averages vs the median score. Our Wednesday car playing team, The Stephen Marikas (sans Marika), top this chart as their average of 4.63 below the median bumps them up for the leading T-Score of 49.13.

August 18 & 19

Homebound Hos and Kauai Chickens top the charts this week with each team pitching a perfect game and avoiding the traps of the trickier questions of the B&O Railroad, cities with the largest net loss in population since 2000, the board game Reversi/Othello, the Dreadnought battleship, and the first non-citizen of the United States to win the Academy of Country Music Award for Entertainer of the Year.

The Bingo contest this week flashed back to songs from the 80’s and 90’s. Damien M. (MM Childhood Polio) was the winner on Tuesday thanks to Alanis Morissette while Homebound Trixy was a split second faster than Andre L. (Dolly P is Last T) on Wednesday the moment Ricky Martin was heard. The upcoming Music Bingo game will be songs from the current century.

Requests for trivia categories and questions are always welcomed along with any favorite songs and artists that you would want added to the Music Bingo mix.

The complete and combined Standings from both nights can be found below, but first up is the T-Score ranking that shows the Top 10 teams after taking this week's score and adjusting it by past per game averages vs the median score. Very Stable Geniuses may have been one point away from victory this week but they top this chart even with their score of 49 points getting knocked down by their average of 0.75 above the median for the leading T-Score of 48.25.

Opportunist?!?!

That's a Sneaky Fucker!

August 11 & 12

Click HERE to watch the short PBS Nature video shown above of the deceptive maneuverings that a smaller male cuttlefish takes to mate in the best example I have found of my favorite trivia questions in quite some time. My favorite because of your incorrect answers that turned out to be so much better than the correct one. Kauai Chickens was one of the few teams to know that answer to give them the perfecto on Tuesday with win AND booze claiming the title on Wednesday.

Additional tricky questions this week included the original title of Saved by the Bell, Worcestershire sauce, music artists with the most Top 10 songs, wives of Henry VIII not named Anne or Catherine, and that Nintendo of America’s president is named Bowser. I am giving retro-credit for Jordan Spieth because he won his first major a year before turning 23.

The Bingo contest this week was our first using Movie clips and both of our winners hit their Bingos on Legally Blonde. "What? Like it’s hard?" Skyler & Sean were the winners on Tuesday and Mathew R. was the champ on Wednesday. The next Music Bingo game will be flashing back to the 80’s and 90’s. Let me know if you have any favorite songs from those decades that you would like added to the mix that aren’t too obscure.

The complete and combined Standings from both nights can be found below, but first up is the T-Score ranking that shows the Top 10 teams after taking this week's score and adjusting it by their past per game average vs the median score. Wilford Brimley's Diabeetus All-Stars rise up the most this week as their score of 48 points was bumped up by their average of 1.75 below the median for the leading T-Score of 49.75.

August 4 & 5

Homebound Hos and Bros were a 24 Second Shot Clock away from a perfect game to win the Wednesday contest while the Tuesday game went to a rare three team double overtime showdown with Kauai Chickens besting Gaza Strippers (2nd) and I Rish.

Tricky questions this week dealt with the American Beauty rose, the other countries who recently launched missions to Mars, the second movie based on an SNL sketch, hotel bible distributors, Kodak’s line of Brownie cameras, and the toy invented by Frank Lloyd Wright’s son. The question I thought would be trickier than it turned out to be was about Mesopotamian ziggurats, which I had never heard of before, or never remembered, but most of you had. Good job by you!

The Music Bingo contest went back to the 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s. The Tuesday winner was Judy from Bar Flyzz with Rick Nelson’s Travelin’ Man and on Wednesday the winner was Smiley Gee & Elena on Please Mr. Postman by The Marvelettes, which was the first No. 1 song for Motown. Both songs coincidentally came out in 1961. The next Bingo game will be something Movie related. Might be songs from movies. Might be movie quotes. Let me know if you have a preference.

The complete and combined Standings from both nights can be found below, but first up is the T-Score ranking that shows the Top 10 teams after taking this week's score and adjusting it by their past per game average vs the median score. I Rish lead the way this week as their score of 48 points was bumped up by their average of 1.75 below the median for the leading T-Score of the week at 49.75.

July 28 & 29

Two perfect games this week from Karlsgood on Tuesday and Helen Keller’s Death Was Senseless on Wednesday, and five other teams were a single point away from a perfecto themselves. This marks the first time Kauai Chickens did not win the Tuesday contest since the first week of June... and there was much rejoicing.

This week’s game recalled the President’s cognitive test answers with the teams that remembered them in order receiving an extra point, just like the President. Other tricky questions covered the top selling fiction book from last year, the naming of uranium, the jukebox musical Rock of Ages, and the Dance Moves video round.

The Music Bingo contest featured songs from this century. Team I Rish were the surprise winners of the Tuesday Bingo, while on Wednesday we had a tie between Homebound Kikicocolala and Win AND Booze. The next Bingo game will be songs from the 60’s and 70’s and maybe even a few earlier than that.

The complete and combined Standings from both nights can be found below, but first up is the T-Score ranking that shows the Top 10 teams after taking this week's score and adjusting it by their past per game average vs the median score. Wilfred Brimley's Diabeetus All-Stars must have liked that round dedicated to their team name, topping this ranking as their near perfect score of 50 points was bumped up by their average of 1.88 below the median for the leading T-Score of the week at 51.88.

July 21 & 22

For the first time in many weeks a new team appears at the top of the overall leaderboard and it was also their first win in the Wednesday contest. Congratulations to Okay Zoomer on their first sweet taste of victory and for dethroning Kauai Chickens, who still pulled out their own victory on Tuesday despite struggling a bit more than usual.

The wild card round this week was our first attempt at playing Scattergories and while I don’t plan on doing it every week, as some suggested, I do see it returning regularly because of how fun it was… at least from my perspective. The answer that was shared (and canceled out) by the most teams was Sousaphone for the S-lettered Musical Instrument.

Tricky questions this week included Baskin Robbins’ Flavor of the Month, Ta-Nehisi Coates, 7-11’s trademark on “Brain Freeze”, Scrabble letters, and my family harassed me into accepting the Baker’s Dozen answer from the Jokes & Riddles round so all you bakers have been credited. It should also be noted that Diner Lingo will never return.

Music Bingo returned this week with a digital version of the printed cards we used to use at O’Sullivan’s and Kilowatt. It was 80’s & 90’s songs this week and on Tuesday, the Quarantidiots had one of the best Bingo cards of all-time winning after Bruce Hornsby, the 8th song, was played. Since that was so quick, we continued for 2nd place and that was taken by Skyler after song 19 by Til Tuesday. The game lasted longer on Wednesday, with Nita submitting her card after Tupac was played as the 22nd song, hoping to end the stress one way or another, and walking away as a Bingo champion.

The complete and combined Standings from both nights can be found below, but first up is the T-Score ranking that shows the Top 10 teams after taking this week's score and adjusting it by their past per game average vs the median score. Helen Keller’s Death Was Senseless tops this ranking as their score of 47 points was bumped up by their average of 1.38 below the median for the leading T-Score of the week at 48.38.

July 14 & 15

Kauai Chickens ran their winning streak to 5 weeks in a row on Tuesday and on Wednesday Homebound Hos and Bros won a tie-breaker utilizing the Price Is Right rules over Okay Zoomer who went over.

This turned out to be a somewhat more difficult game than usual starting with the Top 5 round to identify the top beer producing countries in the world. Other tricky questions dealt with helter skelters, dangers to birds, Jim Crow, and Tasmanian Tigers & Devils. As y’all know, I love album covers and when I saw the above senior care center recreations online last week I had to include them in the game. Hope you enjoyed them as much as I did.

After weeks of requests the music contest finally covered cover songs with each team deciding whether to hear the original or the cover based on which year each was released, then having to name the other artist. On Tuesday, it came down to the song You Can Leave Your Hat On with Kauai Chickens defeating Mitch McConnell by knowing the 1972 Randy Newman original was covered in 1986 by Joe Cocker. On Wednesday, Take Me to the River was the decider with Win AND Booze taking the title over Homebound by knowing that the 1978 Talking Heads cover was a 1974 Al Green original. If you enjoy really bad cover songs, Questlove did an entire DJ set of them on Thursday night that you will want to at least skim through here: https://youtu.be/TAb18QjUDQ4

The complete and combined Standings from both nights can be found below, but first up is SOMETHING NEW. I have been tracking each team’s score for the past month or so against the median score each week. This T-Score ranking shows the Top 10 teams after taking this week's score and adjusting it by their past per game average vs the median score. For example, Kauai Chickens have had an average score 3.75 points above the median each week. By taking their score from this week (48) and lowering it by that average (3.75) they wind up with a T-Score of 44.25. OK Zoomer’s score of 47 was bumped up by their average of 0.67 below the median for the leading T-Score of the week at 47.67.

July 7 & 8

Nita’s Brawlstars rose to the top of the Wednesday leaderboard for their first ever victory and in the Tuesday contest Gaza Strippers finished a half point ahead of Karlsgood for 2nd place. Sure, Kauai Chickens took 1st overall with another perfect score but I think we’re getting used to that now as their winning streak has reached 4 weeks.

There were some surprisingly tricky questions this week including the six syllable word for what the president said he did NOT take for Covid-19 (responsibility), the former form of currency on the island of Yap, all the uses of the word ‘booster’, the scruff of the neck, and some of the Karens pictured above.

Win AND Booze and Homebound Hos and Bros had another marathon overtime battle in Wednesday's music contest with Homebound ultimately winning with Jason Derulo. Quarantidiots almost defeated the Chickens on Tuesday but ultimately fell to Kasey Musgraves after a valiant overtime battle. A strange turn of events played out in the chat messaging on Tuesday after I played Camila Cabella and it was mentioned by Damien of Mitch McConnell's Childhood Polio that she was a former member of Fifth Harmony, which I didn’t see at the time, then their team was eliminated by a Fifth Harmony song.

The complete and combined Standings from both nights can be found below, but first up is a list of the teams that improved their ranking the most from their previous game with No Pants rising from 22nd to 12th from their previous game two weeks ago.

June 30 & July 1

The Kauai Chickens are atop the overall leaderboard for the third week in a row with Babes with Brains and Gaza Strippers finishing tied for 2nd on Tuesday. On Wednesday, there was a three way tie for 1st between BARFLYZZ, Homebound Hos and Bros, and win AND booze with the Hos & Bros taking the tie-breaker by nailing the exact number of hot dogs Joey Chestnut had eaten for the world record, which in case you didn’t catch it, he broke yesterday by eating 75 Nathan dogs in 10 minutes. Tricky questions this week included Tarot card suits, the Algonquin round table, the minuteman missile/soldier, the architectural designs of Buckminster Fuller, and the Gaza Strippers were the only team to know what a bail/bale is in jewelry.

On a personal note, thank you for indulging my love of Melvin Kaminsky, aka Mel Brooks, with an entire round dedicated to him to celebrate his 94th birthday, and while it is sad that we lost Carl Reiner, we should all be so lucky to have 98 years and to spend them up to the very end with our best friends.

The music contest featured a playlist of songs that had any type of connection to America and the 4th of July. Kauai Chickens bested Mitch McConnell's Childhood Polio on Tuesday, while win AND booze took the championship belt on Wednesday by knowing that Rick Derringer was the artist behind Hulk Hogan’s entrance song, Real American.

The complete and combined Standings from both nights can be found below, but first up is a list of the teams that improved their ranking the most from their previous game with BARFLYZZ rising the most from 18th to 2nd place.

June 23 & 24

The Kauai Chickens were a dirty shoulder away from a perfect game to win the Tuesday game by a point over Mitch McConnell’s Childhood Polio, while Homebound Hos and Bros eked out a victory over win AND booze on Wednesday. Tougher than usual questions dealing with botany, sausages, Chinese history, Sprite, and NFL quarterbacks tripped up numerous teams this week but I was also happy to see that most teams remembered the story from 1970 that led to the naming of a new park in Oregon. Here’s a link to the video of that infamous local news report if you’ve never seen it or want to view it again: https://youtu.be/yPuaSY0cMK8

For the music contest we dived into some One Hit Wonders over the decades which also proved to be more difficult than usual but also super fun because who doesn’t enjoy a little Kung Fu Fighting, Rico Suave, and the vocal stylings of Bruce Willis? BAR FLYZZ were the first winners on Tuesday and the Wednesday game was won by Helen Keller’s death was senseless.

The complete and combined Standings from both nights can be found below, but first up is a list of the teams that improved their ranking the most from their previous game with Mitch McConnell’s Childhood Polio rising the most from 15th to 2nd place.

June 16 & 17

Gaza Strippers were a Fly Girl away from matching the perfect game of the Kauai Chickens in the Tuesday contest, while win AND booze won a razor thin tie-breaker over Groover Cleveland and Homebound Hos and Bros on Wednesday. Highlights magazine, OJ’s dog, Tombstone’s theater, and the highest paid celebrities were the trickiest trivia questions this week.

Both nights had extended overtimes in the music contests. On Tuesday, Gaza Strippers eventually lost to BAR FLYZ on the slightest of technicalities when they went with Misfits instead of Danzig on the song Mother. On Wednesday, Homebound Hos and Bros were able to identify I’m Not In Love by 10cc after a handful of seconds to prevent win AND Booze from winning both contests.

The complete and combined Standings from both nights can be found below, but first up is a list of the teams that improved their ranking the most from their previous game and Babes With Brains led the way this week rising from 19th to 7th place.

June 9 & 10

Another perfect tie game on Wednesday but this week Groover Cleveland came out on top over Quentin Quarantino with the Homebound Hos and Bros missing the perfecto by a USA Today. On Tuesday, it was Kauai Chickens taking the title by a Bud Light over G Funk and Gaza Strippers.

The trickiest questions this week dealt with the previously mentioned beers and newspapers, the Black Panthers, the guardian of the Holy Grail, Vandals over (Visi)Goths, and the Tropic of Capricorn.

Joanna repeated as Tuesday’s music champ over BAR FLYZ and on Wednesday the Homebound Hos and Bros rebounded from their early TV Theme exit the week before to take the title over Helen Keller’s death was senseless via an assist from Win AND Booze’s earlier request for some speed metal to make it into the music mix.

The complete and combined Standings from both nights can be found below, but first up is a list of the teams that improved their ranking the most from their previous game with the I-Rish movin' on up like The Jefferson's from 21st to 8th place.

June 2 & 3

New winners this week on both nights with three perfect games, which surprised me because I thought I had thrown in a few really hard questions in an attempt to keep that from happening. On Tuesday, it was Karlsgood with the perfecto and on Wednesday there was a tie between Win AND Booze and Groover Cleveland with the boozers winning it on the tie-breaker.

The most controversial question was over Anubis, the ancient Egyptian god’s animal head and I have corrected the scores giving all teams with dog, canine, and wolf related answers credit in addition to the jackals, as all are mentioned in the wikipedia entry. Other tricky questions included the commander of the recent Space X mission, free donuts, parts of feathers, Ginger Rogers, a parsec, and fiddlehead ferns.

The music game this week featured TV theme songs along with other songs that were featured in shows like Let’s Go to the Mall from HIMYM and Best Day Ever from Spongebob, the latter of which unexpectedly tripped up one of our stronger music teams in the first round. Joanna was the winner on Tuesday with Joan Jett’s Bad Reputation used as the theme for Freaks and Geeks and Helen Keller outlasted Thunderfist! to take Wednesday’s crown with the theme to Hill Street Blues.

The complete and combined Standings from both nights can be found below, but first up is a list of the teams that improved their ranking the most from their previous game with BAR FLYZ rising from from 23rd to 7th place.

May 26 & 27

Homebound Hos and Bros were the pitchers of the perfect game this week on Wednesday with Groover Cleveland and win AND booze hot on their heels. On Tuesday, there were four teams tied for the lead and it was the Kauai Chickens who had the sneakerhead on their team who knew the price of the recently auctioned Air Jordan 1's to win the tie-breaker over Mitch McConnell’s Childhood Polio, Babes With Brains, and Wilford Brimley Diabeetus All-Stars.

Kauai Chickens also won the Music contest on Tuesday over G Funk while win AND booze turned the tables and outlasted a marathon Wednesday overtime versus Homebound Hos with Hey Mr. D.J. by Zhané.

For those of you who enjoyed the Music Mashup round that concluded this week's trivia game here are the links to those videos...

• Rick James vs The Clash

• The Strokes vs. Christina Aguilera

• The Smiths vs The Rolling Stones

• Nena vs Jay Z

• Tom Petty vs Ed Sheeren

The complete and combined Standings from both nights can be found below, but first up is a list of the teams that improved their ranking the most from their previous game. This week it was G Funk moving all the way up from 29th to 9th place.

May 19 & 20

The Kauai Chickens pitched a perfect game on Tuesday, even getting the tricky flower question, which has been their downfall in the past. In Wednesday's game, Win or Booze won a tie-breaker over Homebound Hos and Bros for their first time on top of the leaderboard after a previous tie-break loss.

The toughest questions this week included NYC’s Taxi and Limousine Commission, the Next Level of Jumanji, the Reebok antelopes and shoe connection, and Chuck E. Cheese’s recent nefarious marketing scheme. However, one of the toughest questions in a long while was about the recent popularity of Fireball whiskey.

In the music contests, Kauai Chickens were foiled on Tuesday by Bar Flyzz who were able to name Olivia Newton-John in a fastest finger tie-breaker, while on Wednesday it was the Homebound Hos knowing that Zapp performed the original More Bounce to the Ounce in an overtime, time free victory over Win or Booze. And for the record, Joanna from Mitch McConnell’s Childhood Polio would like everyone to know that she hates Post Malone. No word on her feelings about Swae Lee.

The complete and combined Standings from both nights can be found below, but first up is a list of the teams that improved their ranking the most from their previous game with The Book Club making a massive leap from 28th to 7th place.

May 12 & 13

I want to start with the funniest moment of this week which took place in the Movie Music contest during Michele Pfeiffer's lovely performance of the song Cool Rider. The team on the clock appeared to be stumped, which was expected because it was one of the more obscure songs that I included, then what to my wondering ears should I hear but a faint voice in the background screaming out, "Grease 2." Those closest to the mic wouldn't believe them and were about to throw in the towel when I gave it to them for fear of the rumble that might have broken out if they had lost by not listening to their friend. Win or Booze were the redemptive winners of Movie Music on Wednesday while the Dudes triumphed on Tuesday.

In the Trivia contests, Very Stable Geniuses and Hometown Hos and Bros returned to the top of the leaderboard with near perfect games on Tuesday and Wednesday. The trickier questions this week included some of the celebrity moms, the names of Foosball table manufacturers, interior angles of a Pentagon, the relatively new volleyball position of Libero, and then there were those who remembered that Monopoly has a Luxury Tax space but forgot about the Income Tax space which is the 16th Amendment of the Constitution

The complete and combined Standings from both nights can be found below, but first up is a list of the teams that improved their ranking the most from their previous game.

May 5 & 6

It took seven weeks of online trivia for a question to rise up and create a whirlwind of controversy so heated that for the first time I wish I had been recording Tuesday’s game. Alas, there is the chat transcript to preserve at least a portion of THE DEVOTED DUVET DEBATE OF 2020.

Shams go on pillows
A sham is a pillow thing
sham is for a pillow
duvet is the comforter
Sam the sham and the Pharos
the cover is duvet cover
OMG is this real life
I think we're reaching that breaking point
That answer is a sham
This is making my night. OMG.
This is all a sham!
a duvet cover covers a duvet
the label says DUVET COVER
Stop with these sheety answers
HOLY SHIT THEY'RE CALLED DUVET COVERS BECAUSE THEY COVER DUVETS
don’t make me pull up a Bed Bath and Beyond screenshot
THIS IS NOT IN DISPUTE
I LOVE LAMP
A comforter covers a bed, a duvet cover covers a duvet a sham covers a pillow
omg duvet is what goes inside of the cover. i've only ever lived in socal and its the same
do say do vay
the duvet was invented in canada. little known fact.

Less controversial but difficult questions included the dynasty/currency of China, America’s oldest brewery, the country Mexico defeated on Cinco de Mayo, U.S. landmarks, and the Teletubby with the red bag.

In Trivia there were near perfect games played by Irish for more margaritas, The Gaza Strippers, and Kauai Chickens. On Tuesday, it took a tie-breaker to give the crown to the Strippers, and on Wednesday the Irish finished one point ahead of Win or Booze.

In the Music games, Joanna finally prevailed all by her lonesome on Tuesday in overtime against G Funk (2nd), Paulding Pounders, Bar Flyz, Babes With Brains, and Kauai Chickens. On Wednesday, Helen Keller won in overtime for the second week in a row over Homebound Hos (2nd), Okay Zoomer, and Win or Booze.

The complete and combined Standings from both nights can be found below, but first up is a list of the teams that improved their ranking the most from the previous week.

APRIL 28 & 29

35 teams and 102 participants played across both nights this week. Kauai Chickens pitched a perfect game on Tuesday to return to the top of the roost after a few weeks just missing out, while Homebound Hos and Bros had just enough to repeat as the Wednesday champs. The toughest questions included my slightly too hidden hint to go to Scarborough Fair, Jake Ryan of 16 Candles appearing in VisionQuest, the names of meteor showers, and that Doofenshmirtz Evil, Inc. is from Phineas and Ferb.

The Music Bee contests were equally intense. Four teams survived all six decades on Tuesday to make it into the "fastest to 3" playoff with G Funk eeking out the victory over Kauai Chickens, I-Rish..., and Lean Mean Quarantine Machine. On Wednesday it was Helen Keller with the faster fingers in a playoff win over Homebound Hos.

The complete and combined Standings from both nights can be found below, but first up is a list of the teams that improved their ranking the most from the previous week. Maybe they had teammates returning who couldn't be there the week before or maybe this week's categories matched their areas of knowledge better, or maybe they had less (or more) to drink, but whatever the reason, I thought it would be fun to highlight teams this way, as well.

APRIL 21 & 22

34 teams and 107 participants played across both nights this week. The trickiest questions included the Motor Trend car of the year trophy, The #1 Ladies Detective Agency, the minimum number of rolls in a game of bowling, siblings Beanie Feldstein & Jonah Hill, the self-loathing of Floridians, YouTubing sensation Ryan Kaji, and the velocity associated with Ernst Mach, but the most difficult question of all was that Roblox is the gaming system played by an estimated two-thirds of American kids between the ages of nine and 12.

Very Stable Geniuses pitched a perfect game for the victory in the Tuesday contest with Gaza Strippers and Babes With Brains leaping into the upper echelon. The Wednesday game had a three-way tie for first with Homebound Hos and Bros winning the tie-breaker over Asymptomatic Carriers and We brought A Baby by getting closest to the current average number of people per household in the U.S.

The Music Bee contest saw teams get knocked out both nights by going with the Everly Brothers instead of the Righteous Brothers for You've Lost That Loving Feeling. On Tuesday, Kauai Chickens won a tie-breaker over I-Rish I had a Cuter Mask while on Wednesday Thunderfist! survived with Gloria Gaynor to outlast Okay Zoomer in overtime.

APRIL 14 & 15

We expanded to two shows this week, adding a Wednesday game to keep from going over the Zoom streaming limit, which we would have with a collective total of 105 participants playing on 32 teams. The trickiest question this week was about the origins of the betting term Handicap with only one team knowing (or guessing) that it came from the custom of placing bets in a hat (hand-in-cap).

Mitch McConnell's Childhood Polio had a near perfect game, only missing the above question to win on Tuesday, and Asymptomatic Carriers won the tie-breaker over Win or Booze on Wednesday by being the first to name the Doctor below.

The Music Bee winners this week were Homebound Hos and Joe in a tie-breaker on Tuesday and Thunderfist! on Wednesday.

APRIL 7

Our third online Zoom event saw a nearly overwhelming number of participants streaming from 85 different homes to form 23 teams. The competition was fierce and not without some missteps from your host who now appreciates the silence of Zoom after completely bungling a Word question that I never could have dremt of messing up as badly as I did (see below for the Chat reactions). The saddest part was I included the number of letters as a way of helping, which it would have, if I had given out the correct number. Anyway, I decided to give everybody a point for that one in the revised Standings below.

Speaking of which, after further review, Monterrey, Mexico, is a city in the state of Nuevo Leon and it is in the NorthEAST of the country, not the Northwest. Not to mention the extra letter vs. different letter issue already argued during the game by the correct Sonoma/Sonora crowd. Therefore, no points for Monterey/Monterrey.

Also upon further review, the Kauai Chickens did not tie for 1st place due to my accidental crediting them for Beyonce on the Twitter round. That gives the title to Homebound Hos and Bros who would have won the jigsaw puzzle tie-breaker over the new 2nd place team, Very Stable Geniuses.

The Music Bee game after Trivia also reached a new level of excitement with 3 teams not only making it through every decade to the end, they also matched each other song for song through 5 rounds of overtime before we finally improvised a best of 3 tie-breaker with the fastest to text the answer determining the winner:

1. Quarantinis

2. Kauai Chickens

3. Homebound Hos

March 31

Our second online Zoom event was even better with 18 teams and close to 60 video streams. The Love Lives round tripped up a number of teams, particularly the loves of Rachel Weisz and that Martha Stewart broke up with Anthony Hopkins after she saw him play Hannibal Lecter. This was also the week of Fake Trivia questions with wrong answers in honor of April Fool's Day. Bar Flyz started out strong with a perfect 1st Half but it was the Kauai Chickens coming from behind with a perfect 2nd Half for the 1 point victory over Mitch McConnell’s Childhood Polio.

11 teams stayed after Trivia for the new Music Bee game that mixes Name That Tune in a Spelling Bee format. Two teams made it through all the decades then had a brutal head-to-head battle on their final decade (60's) with the Homebound Hos outlasting the Gaza Strippers for the win.

TRIVIA STANDINGS

1. Kauai Chickens

2. Mitch McConnell’s Childhood Polio

3. Karlsgood

4. Gaza Strippers

5. I-rish I had my own gov. cuomo

The Very Stable Geniuses

6. BAR FLYZ

Homebound Hos and Joe

7. Speed Dating isn't what it used to be....

8. Village Idiots

Wilford Brimley's Diabeetus All-Stars

9. Almost to the Purple Church

10. Babes With Brains

Dude, I talk to my Roomba

G-Funk

11. The Philips Phamily

12. No Pants

13. Just me

MARCH 24

Our inaugural online Zoom event saw 13 teams and 50 video streams turn out. It was heartwarming to see all your faces pop up on screen and I want to thank everyone for making the game flow smoother than I ever expected. Cannot wait to host the next game on the 31st. If you didn't stick around after the trivia contest, we tested out a new Music game using a Spelling Bee format and that was just as much fun with the Bar Flyz outlasting Karlsgood for the Music Bee victory.

TRIVIA STANDINGS

1. Mitch McConnell's Childhood Polio

2. Cooped Up Kauai Chickens

3. Karlsgood

4. I-Rish we had more TP

5. Homebound Ho's

6. Bar Flyz

Gaza Strippers

7. Very Stable Geniuses

8. Wilfred Brimley's DiaBEEtus All-Stars

9. Village Idiots

10. Dude, we're locked inside

11. Babes With Brains

12. Almost to the Purple Church