Wolf’s 1-11 Trivia: The Return

It would take some getting used to.  The “Wall of Foam” – the trophy panel honoring the name of each person who tried one of the 101 beers from the establishment that previously operated at this location – is now covered with a Guinness advertising mirror.  The bright lights are now replaced with more subdued “intimate dining” lighting.

Granted, it’s hard to walk into a place you’ve been to before and have known as one establishment, now that it’s under new management.  But the staff and ownership of Wolf’s 1-11 did a great job of turning the fun-and-food atmosphere of Old Chicago into a more sedate sports bar / restaurant.  Credit to them.  And the fact that Tuesday Night Trivia is back at the location is a plus as well.

General James hosted last night, and there were at lesat ten teams in the hunt on opening night, including another Old Chicago standby, Granny’s One-Night Stand.  I raced out to an early lead, while Granny’s was still spinning its wheels at the back of the pack.

With eighteen questions accounted for, I was hitting on all cylinders, including knowing the four films in which Anthony Hopkins received Academy Award nominations (Silence of the Lambs, Remains of the Day, Amistad, Nixon) and the beginning and end of the Mississippi River (starts in Minnesota, ends in Louisiana).

Then came Question 19, and I just blew it.

“In what year was Britney Spears’ first album released?”

Normally when one still has two skips and a double-play option available, an “in what year” question is a good chance to put down two years and pick up the requisite points.  So I put down 1997 and 1998.

Of course, you gotta hope that one of those answers is correct, because the consequence of a wrong answer in the use of a double-play option is to lose TWICE as many points.  Which is exactly what happened to me, in that Britney Spears’ first album was released in 1999.

URGH

That meant I would go into the 20th question with 100 points, while two other teams ahead of me had 120 apiece.

Final category – NFL in 2009.

I went almost all-in and bet 99 of my 100 points.

“How many wins were earned by the five worst NFL teams in 2009?”

I knew the Rams had one win and the Lions garnered two.  Other than that, I wasn’t sure.  I did, however, see a couple of people at the bar rifling through the Times-Union, looking for the sports section for the answers.  Not cool.

But I gotta remember, back when this place was Old Chicago, the establishment once had a map of the United States on the wall (actually, it was part of an advertisement), and any time the host would ask a U.S. geography question, several people would run to the map to see which state border what state in which direction.  That pretty much put the kibosh on geography questions in that location.

I wrote down 16 wins, and other teams put down 12, 11, 15 – one team put down 6.

The correct answer was 14 wins – and the team that ended up taking the night, since everyone else wiped out, bet nothing on the night and won by default.

It felt good to be back at the old location for a new round of trivia.  And I can’t wait for February 6, when Wolf’s will host Trivia Bowl VI.  BRING IT ON!