Week 22 of the $2,500 Elbo Room Trivia Tournament

This is it, kiddiwinks.  The final week in the Elbo Room tournament, and while six teams – Stern Fans, Schooled, Street Academy, Sneaky Petes, the Flabbies and Just the Tips – are locked in for next week’s finals, this is the last week for five teams to snag the final two playoff spots.  So with one week left, here are the permutations each team needed to get on the board.

SKIDMARKS – To lock themselves in for next week, the  Skidmarks need to finish in the top three this week, or hope for a first-place by any team in the top 6. The only way the Skidmarks can miss the finals is if Woo Hoo a Go Go gets a first place win next week AND Get that Poison Out or Da Bears takes a second place.

GET THAT POISON OUT – To lock themselves in for next week, Get That Poison Out needs a first or second place, OR Da Bears, Woo Hoo a Go Go and The Super Winners finishing this week out of the top three.

DA BEARS – To lock themselves in for next week, Da Bears need a first or second place, OR Get That Poison Out, Woo Hoo a Go Go and The Super Winners finishing the week out of the top three.

WOO HOO A GO GO – They’re currently on the outside looking in, so Woo Hoo a Go Go needs a first place, or a second place without Get That Poison Out or Da Bears taking a first place.

THE SUPER WINNERS – The Super Winners need a LOT of help.  They must take a first place win, and hope that neither Skidmarks, Get That Poison Out, Da Bears or Woo Hoo a Go Go finish this week in the top three.

And while the Super Winners essentially threw in the towel and decided not to show up last night, the other four teams were in force and ready to fight for a playoff spot.  Even Da Bears, who had to take some time off from trivia, were back and ready to take that final spot if they could.

As for Street Academy, we started out rough in the first quarter – missed an 8-pointer in that we thought Ecuardor was the westernmost South American country, when apparently it’s Peru; and we whiffed on a 10-pointer by only knowing four of the five Presidents whose surnames begin with “H” (how could we have forgotten Rutherford B. Hayes?).

But we redeemed ourselves, and knew the country where NASCAR held exhibition races in the 1990’s (Japan), we knew the number of films featuring Pee-Wee Herman in the 1990’s (two), as well as the author of the Sleepy Hollow book (Washington Irving).

Now comes the strategy of the final trivia question.  We had 106 points and were tied with Woo Hoo a Go Go for second place.  Get That Poison Out had 134 points and a commanding lead.

We chose to hedge our bet and put 95 points down on the score sheet.  That would give Woo Hoo and Get That Poison Out a chance, if they bet it all and had the right answer, to lock themselves into the finals.

The category was “Cheap Thrills.”

“It’s probably about the Janis Joplin album,” said my teammate Dennis Truax.

I thought maybe it had to do with what type of penny bubble gum has comic strips in it, or how much did a comic book cost in the 1950’s.

“At the turn of the century, what Northeastern state had a converted coal mine ride called the Gravity Road, which was the first roller coaster?”

Well, if they’re going to say “coal mine ride,” it would have to be some place that had coal to mine.  That’s either Pennsylvania or West Virginia, and I’m going to err on the side of HersheyPark, Kennywood and Knoebel’s.  We wrote down Pennsylvania and handed in the slip.

The answer was Pennsylvania, and everyone in the place – with the exception of Team Schooled, who said New Jersey – got the answer correct.

Woo Hoo a Go Go bet the farm – all their 106 points – and got the answer correct, moving them into 7th place in the standings.

Get that Poison Out had the right answer – but only bet 25 points.  And since the Sneaky Petes bet it all (they had 104 points), and Street Academy bet a sizeable amount, Get That Poison Out got locked out.  Da Bears were also locked out as well.  And the Skidmarks – barely – snagged the eighth and final playoff position.

So here’s the final standings.  The top eight teams will play next week in the championship round.  Anybody below the cut line will just have to wait for the next tournament to come around.  Sorry.

Elbo Room Trivia Standings – Week 22

	Trivia Team	Points	Totals	FINALS
1	Stern Fans		39	★
2	Schooled		36	★
3	Street Academy	1	28	★
4	Sneaky Pete’s	3	22	★
5	Just the Tips		18	★
6	Flabbies		12	★
7	Woo Hoo a Go Go	5	11	★
8	Skidmarks		10	★
THE CUT LINE
T-9	Get That Poison Out		8
T-9	Da Bears		8
11	The Super Winners		3
T-12	Snack for my…		1
T-12	The Pumps		1
T-12	Crabcakes		1

Next week.  February 17, 2011.  It will be time for the top eight squads to play one round of competitive team trivia – with a boatload of money on the table.