Week 3 of the 2013-14 Ruck Trivia Tournament

So I understand it’s still the third week of the tournament, and there’s 16 weeks to play.  And although we did reasonably well last Monday at the Ruck, after two weeks of play we fell in the overall score from 7th to 17th place among all Catch The Mania teams participating – and, worse than that, we’re now in fourth place among all teams playing at the Ruck.  And only the top three teams at each bar are assured of participating in the final game in March.

And trust me.  My team is NOT playing for a wild card spot.  Uh-uh.  And my team is not going to stay below the dreaded cut line.

My “Nemesis” team arrived at the Ruck.  Tonight it was fortified by two members of the Tres Hombres trivia team – Dan and Jim.  Donna and Dylan were there as well.  And we were ready to play.

We got through the first round – the “Miscellaneous” round – without any trouble, scoring 9 out of 10.  The two teams we were trying to outpoint – More Cowbell and Unwed Fathers – matched us point for point.  We had another set of nines in the second round – at this rate we had more nines than in a German war  movie – but the Cowbells and the Unweds matched us stride for stride.

We took the lead on the music round, and did reasonably well on the next two categories.  In fact, we tied on the fourth category with one of the other trivia teams – and in order to break the tie and receive some free food at the Ruck… we had to play a tiebreaker with another team.

Now if this were a Trivia Nights Live game, a representative from each team would walk up to the announcing table, the opposing team reps would shake hands, a slip of paper would be handed to each team, and one trivia question would be asked – something like, “In what year was Kirk Douglas born?”  Closest answer wins.

In “Catch the Mania” trivia, however, a tie is broken in a less cerebral way.

Staring contest.

Yep.  I’m staring at my competition, while the host is playing some first-grade Velveeta chee zee music.  First person who blinks… loses.  So I gotta stare at some guy while the host is playing an Amy Grant song.  And let me tell you.  You’re allowed to use almost any distracting technique, short of touching the other person… so long as you’re not the first person to blink.

Luckily for me, I was four seconds away from blinking when the host said, “He blinked.  Nemesis wins.”

Ha.  So contrary to any nebulous comments out there, we don’t have to beat up any other trivia team.  We can just stare a hole in their brain and win.  Hee.

Oh, and I should mention that this was the second time a tiebreaker was required in the game; earlier in the night FIVE TEAMS matched with a perfect score of 10, so a one-round set of “Musical Chairs” was used to pick a winner for that round.  And in these tiebreakers, there is no extra points added for winning the tiebreaker.  You’re just playing at that point for food and drinks.

With five rounds in the books, we had a one-point lead over the Cowbells and were only three points behind the Unwed Fathers.

Round six.  And the host announces the category…

Country Music.

We pulled nine out of ten in that category, while the Cowbells clanged in the distance, and the Unwed Fathers whiffed on a few questions.  Now we’re in a dead tie with the Unweds.

It all comes down to the final category, where every question is worth two points.

The final category…

Cartoon Characters.

Scuse me while I roll up my sleeves and scrub in.  Time for some surgery.

We finished that round with a perfect 20-for-20, while the Unweds – only scored 18 out of 20.

Meaning that my Ruck-specific team of “We Are Your Nemesis … Fear Us!” finished the night with 80 out of a possible 90 points, claiming first place and $20 in “Ruck Bucks.”  Unwed Fathers took second, the Cowbells came in third…

And, hopefully when all the scoring for the week is tabulated, we will move back up the leader board and back above the dreaded cut line.

So much thanks to my Nemesis team.  We’re now hitting our stride.

And trust me… we’re only going to get stronger.