Last night I went to DC Improv’s monthly trivia night over on 1140 Connecticut Ave. This was the second time our team was represented at Trivia Night, but it was the first time I competed. I joined returning competitors Allie, Adam, and Chris and fellow newbie Heather. Due to the additions to our line up, the original team name of Thomas Jefferson Airplane was changed, appropriately enough, to Thomas Jefferson Starship.
Each teammate was successful in answering some tricky questions, but a difficult opening round hurt our final score. By my estimation, our final score of 22 earned us a spot in the top third of teams; first place scored 27.
Highlights
Round 1: Lamb-themed questions. 3/10 points.
Heather correctly identified the country with the largest sheep-to-people ratio. Everyone knew an easy answer: “What film was inspired by “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?”
Round 2: Who said it? 7/13 points.
Chris and Adam scored with their sports knowledge. Calder identified Oppenheimer’s quote marking the creation of the atomic bomb.
Round 3: Casablanca-inspired questions. 5/11 points.
Allie knew that three actors who appear in Casablanca also appear in The Maltese Falcon. Calder guessed (correctly) that the point at which a black hole becomes inescapable is the “event horizon.”
Round 4: 50-50 Relative Sizes. 7/10 points.
Adam knew that the A-10 has 14 teams, while the Big 10 only has 11. Chris knew that a Lightyear is much longer than a Galactic Unit.
Some stumpers: the third ingredient in tzatziki sauce; the novel written by Wally Lamb, the significance of Sarah Josepha Hale, and the regular name of an artiodactyl. The berry used to make gin, the number of spaces on a roulette wheel, and the number of squares on a monopoly board (trick question: only the four corners are squares).
Team Thomas Jefferson Starship will return to trivia next month, but perhaps under different auspices. I think the next logical name is “Starship,” but Allie is pulling for “Boba Fettucine Alfredo.”
