This week at Elbo Room, several legacy teams returned to the Delaware Avenue bar and grille for their chance to win free food and beer, as well as the $1,500 grand prize. These were teams that hadn’t been at Elbo Room since the last tournament, and all of a sudden I saw Stern Fans, The Wrong Guy, Big Red Machine and Touched by an Uncle getting answer slips from General James and playing for another week for the big money.
One of the pre-game routines I like to do is to talk with teams – sometimes it’s gamesmanship, sometimes it’s trash-talking, sometimes it’s just “Hi, how are you, what brings you to trivia, etc.” That was the case with da new team in da Elbo Room tournament, da team known as Da Bears. Not “The Bears,” but “Da Bears,” as per da old Saturday Night Live sketch. It’s a family team, the patriarch of which came back from his home in Las Vegas to take care of his mother, who was eventually called to glory at the ripe age of 90. Da team is very friendly and enjoys da trivia atmosphere – and they are very competitive, they’ve already earned a few playoff points in this tournament.
As for this week’s rounds, I personally proceeded to dig an early grave by not only missing what Presidential vehicle is known as “Marine One” (I thought it was the Presidential boat, apparently it’s the helicopter), and I used my double-chance option on identifying the electronics store that was once known in the 1960’s as World of Music (I wrote down Radio Shack and followed it with Circuit City, it was Best Buy). After five questions, I was at -2 points (that’s right, negative two points), and received the customary jeers and catcalls from teams like Skidmarks and Woo Hoo a Go Go. Actually, after five questions Skidmarks had a perfect 30 points, so I had essentially coughed up a 32-point lead to start the show.
But afterward, I hunkered down. I got the double-bonus question right as to the two presidents who died on the same day (Thomas Jefferson and John Adams), I knew the romantic comedy whose soundtrack provided Harry Connick, Jr. with his first Grammy award (When Harry Met Sally), and I knew the rock group whose original members were born Chaim Weitz and Stanley Eisen (that’s Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley of Kiss). Clawed my way up.
I will now discuss a trivia tactic that could be considered declasse, but is actually within the rules. It’s called “the balanced trade.” And I effectuated this trade with the team known as The Wrong Guy, who were completely out of the game midway through the third quarter.
The quadruple bonus – four answers worth a total of 32 points – was to name the four baseball teams Sammy Sosa played for in his major league career. Heck, I knew that like anything. The Wrong Guy, however, was struggling on that question. I traded them the correct four answers – Cubs, White Sox, Orioles and Rangers – with the understanding that I would receive, should I ever need it, the correct answer to a question of equal or comparable score.
Which happened for me in the fourth quarter. The triple bonus was to name the last three teams to win the NCAA basketball tournament. You know what – that stuff gets pushed out of my brain cells until the tournament begins, then once the tournament ends I forget it completely. The Wrong Guy team didn’t directly give me the answer, but hey did say stuff to help, such as “One of the teams also won the championship in football,” and “One of the teams has a current home undefeated streak and it’s not Siena.” From there (as well as a clue from Da Bears, yes I owe you guys an 8-pointer), I could get that the three teams were Florida, Kansas and North Carolina. Triple bonus claimed.
Now with “the balanced trade,” you are under no obligation to begin a balanced trade with another team – especially if that question might bring your opponent to a score that could beat you in the finals. And you don’t have to give the direct answer, you can give a hint or a clue and let the team figure it out for itself. However, if you do agree to a balanced trade, you are expected to reciprocate if necessary. Oh, and the balanced trade is never used to get an answer for the final question. That’s just not de rigeur.
So here comes the final question. I had 124 points, a nice comeback from my first-quarter crumb-run, but was in sixth place. The final category was “Hollywood Names.”
Threw all my chips in the pot.
“Which actor uses a middle initial in his stage name that doesn’t match with his real middle name of Andrew?”
Okay, I had three choices. Michael J. Fox, William H. Macy or Samuel L. Jackson. I knew Jackson’s real middle name was Leroy, so that was out of the question. So it was down to Fox or Macy. I didn’t think that there would be enough teams that would even guess William H. Macy (and for the same reason I didn’t think the answer was Daniel J. Travanti from Hill Street Blues), so I put down Michael J. Fox and hoped for the best.
The answer was indeed Michael J. Fox. Now I had to hope for some pluck and luck. Of the teams that were ahead of me, Stern Fans bet a majority of their chips, and they said Michael J. Fox. Da Bears bet all their points, and they too said Michael J. Fox.
The Skidmarks bet everything they had – and said Samuel L. Jackson. Whoops.
Woo Hoo a Go Go wrote down Michael J. Fox – but bet no points. Whoops.
The final results – Stern Fans took the five playoff points for first place, Da Bears got three points, and Street Academy nailed third place for another playoff point.
So after three weeks, here are the standings. There’s a new column called “attendance,” in which teams that show up each week receive a black star. Twelve black stars earn you a white star, meaning you have fulfilled attendance requirements (to be in the finals, you must attend 75% of the qualifying weeks). Just trying to make this easy for everybody.
| Trivia Team | Points | Totals | Attendance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Da Bears | 3 | 8 | ★★★ |
| T-2 | Stern Fans | 5 | 5 | ★ |
| T-2 | Skidmarks | 5 | ★★★ | |
| T-4 | Con-Fear-Acy (Mayhem) | 3 | ★★★ | |
| T-4 | Woo Hoo a Go Go | 3 | ★★★ | |
| 6 | Street Academy | 1 | 2 | ★★★ |
| 7 | Tres Hombres | 1 | ★ | |
| T-8 | The Super Winners | ★★★ | ||
| T-8 | The Nature of Play | ★★ | ||
| T-8 | Big Red Machine | ★ | ||
| T-8 | The Wrong Guy | ★ | ||
| T-8 | The Elbow | ★ | ||
| T-8 | Touched by an Uncle | ★ | ||
| T-8 | The Know-Nothings | ★ | ||
| T-8 | Team Liz | ★ |
Okay, now it feels like a competition. The regular teams are back. It’s time to rock. 13 weeks left to go.
Chuck The Writer 
Judging from the questions it seems the Academy is lucky the Hombres weren’t in da house.
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Nice try, Chuck. But we’ve been there every week this tournament!
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In body or in spirit? Because it sure wasn’t in points… lol…
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We are the eternal stalking horses of the Elbo Room. All is going according to plan 😉
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Great… I’m playing against a team of Lippizanners.
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WOW look at you trying to justify COLLUDING with other teams for answers. “the team that also won the football championship” – come on, really? she might as well have written it down on your slip for you. “the balanced trade is an acceptable trivia tactic?” we’ve been doing trivia for about 6 or 7 years now, but somehow i think we might have missed that announcement. i call absolute shenanigans.
now for us it wouldnt have mattered because we got the final question wrong. but if we came in 4th last night and missed out on a point for the playoffs because of COLLUSION, i would not be a very happy camper.
first sports and now trivia. is nothing sacred anymore?
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Hey, there’s a great way to curtail collusion. You give the person the wrong answer and they’ll never ask you for help ever again. Or you just simply refuse to offer. I’ve had teams come to me for answers and depending on how I feel, I might give them the answer or just hem and haw. And if anyone thinks they can use that on a final answer or in the finals of the money tournament or trivia bowl, they’re sadly mistaken. If you’re playing for food and beer, that’s another matter altogether.
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Marine One a boat?? When is the last time that the president traveled by boat?
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Does George W Bush’s bathtub toys count? 🙂
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Do we need to add “Collusion between teams” to the last line of the rules? “No Cellphones, No Text messaging, No Wireless Web, or No Collusion between teams”….lol…as I always say “Don’t be lame, don’t be the team that cheats”….collusion appears LAME.
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Ben –
Has it occurred to anyone that the reason I put that in there was to dissuade people from using that tactic during money tournament finals or trivia bowls? Besides, what if you asked for an answer on who’s buried in Grant’s Tomb and the person tells you it’s Spencer Pratt? You’re going to write that down, hand it in, and lose points – while the team who gave you the bum answer points at you and laughs.
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Noone is buried in Grant’s Tomb…Grant and his wife are ENTOMBED there. Rookie.
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Mostly, I am being sarcastic….as a host, it seems lame…as a player, I would just rather do it all on my own and not help or hurt another team. To each their own I guess.
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Chuck,
What are your suggestions for a few people looking for a trivia night location on a Tuesday or Thursday night..preferably something like 7p-9p or 8p-10p. I was part of a team that used to go to Washington Tavern, but we took a break after the host at the time left and haven’t been to a new spot since. It didn’t help that the games were starting to end around 11:30p or later..not great for people who have work the next morning at 8a.
We all live in the Guilderland area, so we’d probably look for something within 15-20 minutes or so from us.
Thanks!
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Brian –
If you live in Guilderland, a good Tuesday night game can be had at Pizzeria UNO in Crossgates Mall, first question starts at 730pm. Top teams over at UNO are Lynch’s Mob, Tres Hombres, Clueless, Surf Tulsa and some team called Street Academy. 🙂 There’s a Thursday night game at Side Door Cafe, I think the first question there is at 7 or 730pm. Be aware that if you buy any food or drinks at Side Door, it’s cash only. Top teams at Side Door are usually the Village Idiots and Joe Rude.
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Much appreciated, Chuck..thanks!
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Brian: If you’re playing at Pizzeria UNO on Tuesday, remember the ancient trivia night custom to boo “Street Academy” and “Lynch’s Mob” whenever their names are announced.
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Ha, thanks for the heads up!
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