Week 12 of the 2010 Elbo Room Trivia Tournament

Adding Jeremy and Alexis to my Thursday night Street Academy trivia team has really paid off.  More times than not, we’re either in the lead at the half (winning the free pitcher of beverage for doing so), but the final question – the one that could earn us playoff points for the finals – kills us.

This time, however, it was the opposite.  We were getting clobbered in the early questions (not knowing what state hosts Burning Man, we doubled on Arizona and New Mexico – yes, we lost 12 points because Burning Man is held in Nevada), and we skipped questions that we eventually found out were answers we knew (what type of animal is an ovine, Jeremy thought they were sheep, I wasn’t sure, I wrote down skip, it was a sheep, we lost a good six points on that one, my bad).

“Chuck, are you sure you want to blog about trivia this week?” Alexis asked.  “Maybe you should just post the score and be done with it.”

And I actually thought that might be a worthwhile consideration.

However, we got back into the fight with the fourth quarter of questions, knowing that William Gladstone was a four-time prime minister of England; that Hurricane Katrina took place in 2005; and that people who drink merlot are shunned in the film Sideways.

As the final question arrived, we were in sixth place – among six teams destined for the playoffs.  We had nothing to lose.  All the chips in the pot.  Category was “Dollar and a Dream.”

Oh that could be anything.  In what year did the New York State Lottery start selling Win for Life tickets.  Or – How old is Yolanda Vega.  Or – what was the largest jackpot ever awarded.

We would have gone 0-for-3 on those questions.

The question actually was – In what decade did the New York State Lottery offer its first million dollar prize?

And I remembered something.  I remembered Mike Dyer, the sports reporter for the Troy Record.  He covered the Patroons for a couple of years during their second incarnation, and he told me about how he used to work for a paper in Long Island, and when the lottery results would come in, he had to call the winner to let them know they had won, and to get a couple of quotes for the newspaper article about the lucky winner.

And that was back in the 70’s.

So I knew it had to be at least in the 70’s.  Whether it was in the 60’s or not, I couldn’t completely put that in context.  So I wrote 1970’s and handed in the slip.  Nothing to lose.

Of the five teams ahead of Street Academy, the Con-Fear-Acy wrote down the 1980’s.  The Skidmarks wrote down the 1920’s.  (Seriously???)  And Stern Fans wrote down the 1970’s, but bet only two points.  Woo Hoo a Go Go and Da Bears put down the 1970’s, and bet enough points to finish first and second, respectively.

The correct answer was the 1970’s.  Street Academy picked up a trivia point for finishing third.  Victory!!  And by picking up a playoff point, Street Academy moves into a tie for 7th place with Touched by an Uncle, who didn’t even show up this week.

Now see, this feels good.  And with four weeks left in the tournament, Street Academy actually completed the “attendance requirement” (12 of 16 weeks) and is now locked in for the playoffs, as are the Con-Fear-Acy, Skidmarks and Woo Hoo a Go Go.

So after twelve weeks, here are the standings. Twelve black stars (one star for each attendance) earn you a green star, meaning you have fulfilled attendance requirements (to be in the finals, you must attend 75% of the qualifying weeks). If your team has a “red star” next to your name, you are in danger of being disqualified for not showing up for the requisite 12 out of 16 weeks to qualify for the tournament.

Elbo Room Trivia Standings – Week 12

	Trivia Team	Points	Totals	Attendance
1	Con-Fear-Acy		23	★
2	Da Bears	3	20	★★★★★★★★★★★
3	Skidmarks		18	★
4	Stern Fans		16	★★★★★★★★★★
5	Woo Hoo a Go Go	5	14	★
6	Big Red Machine		9	★★★★★★★★
T-7	Street Academy	1	3	★
T-7	Touched by an Uncle		3	★★★★★★★★

Four weeks left to go, with the championship game on June 10th. Good luck to all.