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First and third Wednesday trivia nights!
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07/08/2024

AV-ATION CRUISES ON SWELTERING NIGHT

Apologies if the tone of this recap seems more edgy than normal. Your Trivia Master has reached the point in his personal COVID journey where it seems that, as Jack Torrence as always been the caretaker of the Overlook Hotel, he has always had COVID and always will.

Fortunately, The Most Famous Illness of the 21st-Century did not visit me until after we completed our ONLY July trivia session and on the bright side, I’ve had a valid reason to lay around in an air conditioned house during the past week. As a bonus, it turns out that the best way to watch the movie Wolf of Wall Street is to do so while delirious with a fever of 103.5. So there are upsides.

Here, then, is a recap of our July activities:

As anticipated, with everyone busy planning their Independence Day activities, we had a light turnout on July 3 — 25 participants divided into five teams. With the Death Star Superteam AWOL, this turned out to be AV-ation’s week. AV led wire-to-wire, kicking off with a perfect 10 in Current Events and matching it later in the new, Peggy-inspired Classic Rock in 5 Seconds or Less category. When the dust cleared (and the COVID arrived) after this challenging night of trivia, AV led its next closest rival by six points to take home the coveted $25 of Anchor Valley Bucks, leaving the real competition for places two through four. Only two points separated second and fourth place.

Robbed of a chance to defend their crown with the superteam, Death Star-adjacent players Erick, Ellery and Brad teamed up with remnants of the team from South Loop, including Roe and a jet-lagged Otto family. The resulting Back in the Winnie’s Lounge finished second with 40 points.

Right on their heels were the Norms, four strong and baby-crazy this week after spending most of the day in the maternity ward. Called “Norm’s Fearsome Foursome,” they struggled with Independence Day and Bible/Belt questions but played with an overall consistency that earned them the third slot, one point behind the Winnie’s.

One team to keep an eye on is the RaySpots. Since reaching a nadir last month, the Spots have found focus — and a solid rookie addition, Cindy. This week they finished fourth, one point out of third and two points away from second, despite once again lacking their signature mini white boards.

Finishing fifth but taking a back seat to no one as far as the impact they made on the room was (The Return of) Death by Date Night, who bolstered their ranks by adding Ron this week but still could not identify, between three team members, Fleetwood Mac’s “Gypsy” after hearing five seconds of the song’s intro. Several days later and hopefully most of the way through his personal COVID journey your Trivia Master still finds it surprising that team captain Jean claimed “very little knowledge” of the Fleetwood Mac oeuvre.

Here are this week’s awards:

THE POWER OF TRIVIA AWARD: To the Norms, who arrived on time and aglow despite spending their day waiting for a baby. Said baby did arrive, making new parents of team members Tanner and Kiara and freeing up the rest of the team to come to trivia. All the best to the new parents — and props to team member Julie for arriving toting a symbolic cup of ice cream.

WORST QUESTION OF THE WEEK: The Hickok Belt question. I had to repeat it at least a half-dozen times. That’s on me.

MORE POWERFUL THAN TRIVIA: For Norm’s team member Julie, it’s babies. Obviously inspired by the days events, Julie ditched the competition partway through, choosing instead to hail rival team member Seager around the room in a state of rapture, leaving an opening on Team Norm that was rapidly filled by newcomer Terry.

ROOKIE OF THE WEEK: The unquestioned winner is Cindy of the surging RaySpots. The Spots promised they had an ace up their sleeves. It was Cindy.

WONDERTEEN POWERS UNITE: It’s always good to have some youth in the house. This week it was concentrated in one spot. Even with Official Baby Seager roaming the room, Back in the Winnie’s Lounge dominated the all-important youth demo this week, with team members Kelsie and Brad providing crucial support in the Prince/Princess and Independence Day categories. Also, Roe is eternally youthful.

FLEX AWARD: To Seager, who spent his last session as the unquestioned and only Official Baby of AV Trivia demonstrating the power he has over its participants.

REASON #1 WHY THE WORLD OF AV TRIVIA IS BETTER THAN THE REAL WORLD: It is a world in which people believe Barbi Benton could have been Princess Leia.

MOST DISGUSTING OPENING QUESTION OF THE YEAR: The one about the guy who sneezed his large intestine out. Apologies but I couldn’t resist. I even wrote it down in the "notes" section of my phone so I wouldn't forget.

SCOFFING KING AWARD: We’ve had scoffers before but none with the consistency and commitment of Brian of AV-ation. I clocked his scoffing rate during Classic Rock in Five Seconds or Less at 40%. Honestly, I’m surprised it wasn’t higher. Dude knows his music.

HEP CAT HAT AND GLASSES OF THE WEEK: (The Return of) Death by Date Night team member John’s hat-and-glasses game is so strong your Trivia Master is tempted to just chuck it, set fire to all of his rudimentary baseball caps and start wearing contact lenses. Why even try? Continue to insist that your jazz/funk combos rehearse only on Tuesdays, John. We need you.

Thanks again to everyone for participating during a holiday week (and a pending heat wave). Our next trivia session will be August 7. Until then, have a great July and don’t forget that the best way to loosen those tired muscles is Anchor Valley Yoga. The next session is this Wednesday, July 10, at 5:30.

07/03/2024

It’s Wednesday and time for a little pre-holiday trivia! Tonight’s pending event makes me feel like a prince. Do you feel like a princess?

6 PM
Anchor Valley
150 S. Oregon
Jacksonville

06/24/2024

DEATH STAR RETURNS TO RECLAIM CROWN

On a record-setting night for Anchor Valley Trivia (43 participants!) we saw the return to the Champion’s Lounge of prodigal sons E = MC Hammer, who formed the first AV Trivia superteam with remnants of Winnie’s Winners and eventually walking away with a slim victory on a night where only eight points separated first from sixth place.

Undoubtedly the highlight of the evening was the comeback of Ryan and Jessica, back at their usual front-and-center table after a long stint on injured reserve. Add to that a return by teammates Chris and Rebecca (after a month of prior commitments) and the reformed I…I…I…I…Stayin’ Alive team was a huge metaphoric“yes!” for the entire AV Trivia community.

It’s fair to say that no one occupies the Champions Lounge in quite the manner of E = MC Hammer. Tonight, after a long layoff, the black hats returned, teaming up with Erick and Brad from the Winnie Universe to create “Winnie and the Death Star.” “I’ll take the villain role,” said team member Rick, hiding his surgically-repaired ankle under a pair of Levi’s, despite the sweltering weather, after the new squad’s victory.

It was a night of many returns — from the Death Star/E=McHammer to the Stayin’ Alives and (Norm) and the Caregivers’ Maureen, who was back in the house sampling the new cider and eagerly awaiting the arrival of her first grandchild. The RaySpots, who were RaySpots in name only last time, came back at full strength, scored a fifth-place finish and started a chain reaction by claiming the Front Window Lounge for themselves, sending the Winnie’s the length of the room, where they found the Death Star waiting with open arms.

Competition was stout and came down to the aforementioned six-team race between Three’s Company (44 points), the surprising ‘Spots (45), The Caregivers (and Norm) (46), Stayin’ Alive (49 points), A.V. Friends and Winnie and the Death Star, whose 52 points barely topped A.V’s 50.

Rounding out the scoring were Three Sheets to the Wind, who would’ve finished in the top three if we rewarded points for enthusiasm, The Orcas and Magneto, who were playing at half-strength but made up for it by being the only nuclear family-inclusive team in the house.

Here are the week’s awards:

IS BLOOD THICKER THAN WATER? This goes to Ellery, who breezed in late, The Official Baby of Anchor Valley Trivia in tow, snubbed her husband and joined her brother-in-law’s team instead.

WHY SO SERIOUS? The Caregivers (and Norm) are the light-hearted backbone of AV Trivia; tonight, sensing they were in the running but not quite close enough to get over the top, they fought for extra points (the Aston Martin DB5 did indeed appear in Casino Royale) and were so disgusted by their fourth-place finish that they refused to cheer for themselves. Norm is a legend but despite the return of Maureen they were clearly feeling the absence of inspiring team member Julie.

SMALL BUT MIGHTY: Three Sheets to the Wind team captain Jeanne is a yoga master who spent the evening folding herself into impossible seating positions and expressing great joy each time it turned out her team wasn’t in last place. And yes, Jeanne, if you send me ideas for women-centric categories I will consider using them.

COME AND KNOCK ON MY DOOR AWARD: Your team is gutted by work commitments and fill-in Sergeant-at-Arms commitments. You’re left with a trio and all of the great th*****me team names have been used. What do you do? You name your team Three’s Company, of course. Bravo Chrissy, Janet and Jack, and h/t to team member Mike for figuring out how to successfully pick up the tab.

HIGHBROW AWARD: To Phil, of the Orcas, who saw me at the gym a few weeks ago and suggested a bunch of sophisticated categories… that I haven’t used. Yet. You’ll just have to keep coming, Phil, to see when one might show up.

WORST QUESTION OF THE EVENING: The Jacqueline Cochran question scored a 7 on the Robert Goddard Scale, a 10 being “everyone gets the question wrong and the only thing breaking up the dead silence when you give the answer is someone shouting about how dumb the question is.”

CHOOSE YOUR OWN DESTINY AWARD: To the RaySpots, RaySpots in name only last time but back at full strength this time. They arrived early and strong, wrested the front window lounge from the Winnies and notched a solid fifth-place finish with or without their tiny personal whiteboards. They were sitting too far away to see if they had them.

ENCORE! AWARD: You can always count on A.V. Friends to (politely) request more music categories, cheer when you announce a music category, dance in their seats when music is played and then get really mad at themselves when they miss one of the music category questions because they had it! But they didn’t think it was right so they changed it.

REBECCA “YES!” MONITOR: Rebecca returned and had a perfect 100% “yes” score. In fact, everyone had a perfect 100% “yes” score. .”

JOHN WILLIAMS AWARD: This goes not to this week’s winners but to Peggy, who hit the Imperial March on the stereo the second the evening’s outcome was announced, creating the atmosphere we all craved without knowing it. All hail Peggy, DJ to the stars.

NOTE ABOUT JULY 3: Our minimum to hold a trivia session is 20 (decided by me), so if you could please let men now if you plan to be present on July 3 that would go a long way toward deciding if we're on not. Thanks.

06/21/2024

Wednesday featured triumphant returns, superteams, misheard song lyrics and a record-setting crowd!

Recap to follow.

06/19/2024

Yes, it's time for TRIVIA and while you're preparing, how about this one?

What do Danny Bonaduce, Julia Roberts and David Bowie (sometimes) have in common?

Find out tonight!

6 PM
Anchor Valley
Winner gets $25 in cold, hard Anchor Valley Bucks

06/10/2024

APOLOGIES for the lateness of this recap; life sometimes gets in the way, even when you’re the Trivia Master ™. Also, there is no photographic evidence of last week’s session because the Sgt.-at-Arms forgot to take pictures, so I’m posting a gif of Jon Hamm as the saxophone guy from The Lost Boys at the bottom of this in case you didn’t Google it when I mentioned it on Wednesday.

With mea culpas out of the way, lets take a look back at Anchor Valley Trivia #24:

This was one of our closest contests, a see-saw battle in which the Cari Powell question essentially determined the evening’s winning team.

Only four points separated the top five teams — AV Double Gold (45), The Caregivers (and Norm) (44), The Rebels (42), No Stress (41) and Window Wipers (41). The RaySpots, hastily assembled and comprised of Spot and the Irrepressible White Brothers (Beth was supposed to come but didn’t), finished in sixth place with 26 points. The RaySpots were in second place after the Current Events round. This proved to be the apex of their evening.

To underscore the tightness of this contest, note that we had a different leader after almost every round. Brimming in both team size and confidence, the Rebels jumped in front early, nailing Current Events, but stumbled during the musical Sax and Violins category to fall behind the Caregivers (and Norm). To be fair, this difficult category was likely made more challenging for the Rebels; finding consensus while nearby RaySpot team member Ron shouted “Are you obsessed with saxophones?” At the Trivia Master™ several times during the round could not have been easy.

The Caregivers ceded the top spot during the next round (Explorers), vaulting No Stress to the top, a position they held through two rounds only to let it slip away in Round Five (Trust the Process/Most Important Meal of the Day). No Stress’ grasp of processed breakfast food was no match for that of the Norms and AV Double Gold, who headed into the bonus round tied at the top. Ultimately, AV Gold’s comprehensive knowledge of the Hemsworth Brothers’ film and TV oeuvre carried the day. This is AV’s second consecutive trivia win. Their continued snubbing of the Champion’s Lounge remains an enigma to all.

And now for your awards:

MISLEADING NAME AWARD: It did seem odd that the team called “No Stress” featured at least one member who arrived late, flustered and with a keen aversion to bucket hats.

SECRET WEAPON AWARD: With team member Mark in the house, the Caregivers (and Norm) scored more points than they did as two separate teams last time, when he was absent.

WORST QUESTION OF THE NIGHT: Nellie Bly.

COMMITMENT TO TRIVIA THAT EXCEEDS MY OWN #1: AV Double Gold member Molly approached the Trivia Master™ between rounds to say that she’s auditioning for The Floor, a trivia-centric game show is hosted by Rob Lowe.

COMMITMENT TO TRIVIA THAT EXCEEDS MY OWN #2: Kudos to Rebels team member Lori for emailing me the definition of “red herring” earlier in the day.

TESTOSTERONE AWARD: The hastily-assembled RaySpots made history when they became the first all-male team to compete in AV Trivia and the team with the highest beer instead of wine consumption percentage per capita in AV Trivia history.

FULL CIRCLE AWARD: By the end of the evening, the team from the Winnie Universe was calling itself Winnie Cooper after reverting all the way back to Winnie’s Winners for an earlier round. Could this be the end of Winnie-based puns?

AND YET; BEST WINNIE DERIVATIVE NAME: “Winnie’s Lounge.”

REBECCA “YES” UPDATE: Rebecca was not present at AV Trivia 24, due to parental obligations, but is slated to return for AV Trivia 25 on June 19. The mass shouting of “yes!” before multiple choice questions is expected to continue at that time.

SGT.-AT-ARMS UPDATE: The Sgt.-at-Arms will not be present for AV 25 as she will be out of the country. Her role will be filled by No Stress team member Kylie. Please treat her as you would the regular Sgt.-at-Arms.

06/05/2024

Tonight: Quench your thirst and test your knowledge of all the great explorers (including Dora) at Anchor Valley Trivia!

150 S. Oregon St., Jacksonville

Doors open 5:30 PM.

05/17/2024

1/5 WHEELS RECLAIM TRIVIA CROWN

Though they insist they will never occupy the Champions’ Lounge, longtime players 1/5 Wheels (once known as Menage a Trois) reclaimed their right to that exclusive piece of real estate Wednesday, coming from behind to defeat a fading 3 Amigos squad. 1/5 Wheels poured it on in the evening’s final three categories, scoring 29 out of 30 in Kid Lit Plot Summaries, Late Night TV and Skip to My Lou(s). The win was canny and strategic and included a regretful moment for your host, who at one point had to admit using shoddy sourcing regarding the first woman to host a late night TV show.

1/5 Wheels won by a slim two points over three teams tied for second (3 Amigos, Normless and the latest incarnation of the Winnie Universe) and four points over fifth-place finishers Corn (or Korn, if you’re a fan of 1990s nu-metal) Balls, who began their evening posting a woeful 4/10 in Current Events but later used their knowledge of the dark arts (horse racing, late night TV, NFL football, chain restaurants) to surge at the end. The reunited Magnetos and the fractured Short Bus (plus Norm) rounded out the scoring, finishing sixth and seventh, respectively.

Scoring this week was at steroid-era levels with all top five teams logging more than 40 points. Skip to my Lou(s), in particular, posed zero challenge to our savvy participants. Seven of four teams notched perfect scores in this category, with the remaining three getting all but one Lou correct.

Here are your weekly awards:

CHANGELING AWARD: with each name change, the team that arrived as Skinny Winnies gained momentum, gaining ground as How Much Can a Winchuck Chuck, Three Sheets to the Winnie, Sparkling White Winnie, Standing on a Corner in Winnie, Arizona (a blatant plea for favoritism from AV co-owner Bill Powell), and securing its second-place slot as Amy Winniehouse. The entire trivia world is wondering how long they can keep this up.

NO NORM, NO PROBLEM: The Caregivers (and Norm) arrived eight strong on Wednesday, which immediately drew the eye of the Sgt.-at-Arms/Producer. A short negotiation led to the dissolution of The Caregivers (and Norm) and the formation of two teams: Short Bus (and Norm) and Normless. Despite showing overwhelming enthusiasm, the Short Bus (and Norm) struggled to a seventh-place finish; Normless, however, was in contention all night and rode a late surge to finish in a three-way tie for second place.

BEST CATEGORY OF THE NIGHT: Kid Lit Plot Summary.

WORST QUESTION OF THE NIGHT: Robert Goddard created the first successfully launched liquid fuel rocket. Nobody in this room knows or cares.

EXCELLENT TIMING AWARD: Brad, of the Winnie Universe, chose to exit the room during the Late Night TV category. Questioned upon his return as to whether he was a fan of late night TV he said, curtly, “No.”

TRIVIA IS LIFE AWARD: To Lori of the Reunited Magnetos, who used the word “dank” during a recent family scrabble game; dank, of course, not being a synonym for “moist.”

YOU WOULDN’T WANT TO MAKE HIM MAD AWARD: Apologies to former “Incredible Hulk” star Lou Ferrigno, whose name was spelled “Farigno (twice),” “Ferrigamo,” “Ferringo,” “Furigno,”and “Ferigno” by participating teams. Apologies to Italian-Americans as well.

WOOF, WOOF, WOOF AWARD: Apologies to 1990s star and 21st-century casualty Arsenio Hall, whose name was spelled “Arcineal,” “Arsinio” and “Arsino (twice)” by participating teams. Kudos to Short Bus (and Norm), Corn/Korn Balls and The Winnie Universe for properly spelling “Arsenio.”

MOST VALUABLE LATE ARRIVAL: This goes to Courtney of the Corn/Korn Balls. Team member (and part-time vegan) Joe limped through Round One as a solo act, only to have his team balloon to eight members — and earn a scolding from the Sgt.-at-Arms/Producer; Courtney was one of the late arrivals, but upon her arrival took charge, transforming Corn/Korn from a loose collection of strangers into a streamlined trivia machine. Courtney is also an enthusiastic participant in yoga Wednesdays at AV.

MIC DROP AWARD: To Tom of Corn/Korn; It’s one thing to get a perfect score on a category, Tom. It’s another thing forget to write your team name on your answer sheet and still another thing to be so excited that you hurl your answer sheet onto the floor instead of handing it to the Sgt.-at-Arms/Producer.

DOING THE MOST WITH THE LEAST: Calling themselves the 3 Amigos out of desperation, the team from South Loop Road didn’t let the absence of half of their team take the wind out of their sails. They led for most of the night though sadly ran out of gas at the end. “I don’t know; we were just % #& killing it,” said team member Roe afterward.

SHOWSTOPPER AWARD: As usual, this award goes to young Seager, newest member of the Winnie Universe, who arrived on cue midway through the night, sending a significant number of trivia participants sprinting toward the front of the room, where they jostled for the right to hold him for no more than 15 seconds.

Thanks to all who came to play on Wednesday; remember, the next trivia session will be June 5 and don’t forget to check this space early on that day for an important clue that may lead to you knowing more than the Trivia Master later on. If you do, please take your lead from Sherri, and quietly approach him to plead your case after the round is over.

05/17/2024

Photos from Wednesday’s raucous AV trivia session are live!

05/15/2024

That’s right: it’s trivia time again!

See you tonight at Anchor Valley.

Doors open at 5:30, giving you plenty of time to consider how much time you’ve spent watching late night TV…

05/02/2024

AV Trivia 5/1 photo drop is live!

05/02/2024

AV TRIVIA SETS NEW RECORDS

A record-setting crowd of 40 witnessed/participated in another nail-biter Wednesday, as teams fought — and I do mean fought, more on this later — down to the wire. When the dust cleared, we had a new winner: the Loopty Loopers, 83.3% comprised of residents of S. Loop Road, plus Lois’ niece, who disappointingly did not try to carry eight cups of water at a single time this week but whose plaid shirt game remained impressively strong.

The Loopers started strong, notching a 9/10 in the opening Current Events category, and led wire-to-wire, winning 49-47 after late surges created a second-place tie between Fore for Four and the scrappy Winnie-bago squad. From their perch in the Champions Lounge, one-and-a-half-time defending champs Burn the House Down (team name origins unexplained), cruised to a fourth-place win, explaining later that they were “having more fun than the (other contenders)”

A single point separated fifth- and sixth-place finishers — and bitter rivals — RaySpots and Phil & the Busters, with the ‘Spots earning “Most Improved” honors by raising their category low from one point to five. Note also that the Phils were mired in an eighth-place tie for most of the evening before breaking free in the final two categories.

Rounding out the scoring were rookies Oceans 6, who brought great enthusiasm to the evening, so much so that they had to refrain from shouting out answers after an early-evening talking to from the Sergeant-at-Arms, and The Caregivers (and Norm). The Caregivers have scaled the highest highs but on this evening, hampered by the absence of ringer team member Mark, they limped to an eighth-place finish.

Here are your bi-weekly awards:

LATCH KEY KIDS AWARD: This goes to Fore for Four, who unironically got a perfect 10/10 on the TV themes category, correctly ID’ing TV themes from shows spanning five decades. They will receive a lifetime supply of Swanson’s TV dinners as a reward for their excellence.

MARK-SHAPED HOLE AWARD: To the Caregivers, who arrived at 50% strength and may have set a record by throwing their hands up in the air in frustration at a majority of the questions asked. Fortunately, they still have Norm and Kiara seemed to be enjoying her ice cream cone as much as ever.

HATFIELDS AND MCCOYS: Phil & the Busters, a reconstituted version of last week’s partial winners, should always be seated next to the RaySpots, but maybe the Sergeant-at-Arms should position herself nearby in case actual fisticuffs erupt. Secondary award to RaySpots team member Beth for visibly recoiling after each Anatomy question. I’m right there with you, Beth.

UNCLEAR ON THE CONCEPT AWARD: Forgive first-timers Oceans 6, for they know not what they do. Or rather, they didn’t. I’m pretty sure they now understand that shouting TOM CRUISE when Tom Cruise is the answer isn’t the way to endear yourself with your host. “We were just so excited!” is, however, an acceptable excuse.

TMI AWARD: To Burn the House Down member Mike, who, perhaps feeling overlooked because nobody forced him to dance this week, suddenly announced to his team, “I have no uvula,” during the Anatomy category. And speaking of the Anatomy category…

WATCH YOUR STEP AWARD: This goes to father-son team Erick and Brad of the Winnie Universe, but mostly to Brad, who called out your host twice during the hated Anatomy category. Brad earned his team two points, which was almost enough to push them to victory. As a follow-up, your quizmaster has fired his entire research team and vows to never use anatomy as a category again. Also, the next time he thinks of inserting “dog” as a throwaway for a multiple choice question he will use “giraffe” instead.

DICK’S SPORTING GOODS GEAR-UP AWARD: It's only their second time at trivia, but the members of RaySpot set a new standard for preparedness when they arrived clutching small, personal white boards and dry-erase markers. After every question they’d compare white boards, choosing the best answer from what they’d each written.

SOMETHING I’LL NEVER DO AGAIN: Say the word “coccyx” into a microphone in front of 37 adults, two teenagers, one baby and two dogs.

WORST QUESTION OF THE WEEK: The human nose has zero bones. Or three. Or maybe two. Maybe 12.

REBECCA YES-O-METER: Rebecca had a perfect 100% score this week, responding “yes!” In a timely fashion each time a multiple choice question was announced. That she did this despite having to leave the proceedings to pick up her youngest child from what undoubtedly was a sports practice of some kind makes it even more impressive. Rebecca is the heart and soul of the Loopty Loopers. All hail the new champions!

05/01/2024

It’s trivia day, a day to ask yourself: how much do I know about the human body?

See you tonight!

04/29/2024

Hey! It’s trivia week.

04/19/2024

Your long wait is over! Here's the recap from yesterday's action!

APRIL 17, 2024 — TRIVIA RECAP

Would-be trivia players began streaming into Anchor Valley minutes after the doors opened at 5:30 Wednesday, sending a message: this would be an evening unlike any of the prior 19. By the 6 PM bell, the tables were full and the 20th edition of Anchor Valley Trivia Night had set a new record for participants:37.

Naturally, with this many elite players the competition was fierce. Tonight would be no cakewalk, either for the defending champs Missing Parts (previously Back From Down Under) or for Peggy, who at one point was moving so fast all of her tattoos blurred into one continuous explosion of color; even her new one.

The categories tonight were overly clever by half, as Trivia Master Rosen had decided earlier in the week to tie them together by theme — sort of. We were three categories in when Brian and Molly of Superteam Winnesota (the combined forces of Ménage a and Winnie’s Winners) slyly guessed the theme — David Bowie albums. The confusing part, of course, was that the evening lacked a single Bowie question until the bonus round.

By then the teams were so closely bunched that the highly coveted $25 gift certificate was anyone’s for the taking. Going into that final round, a mere four points separated the leading Gorillas/Guerillas and the fifth-place Caregivers (and Norm). It took a comprehensive knowledge of sports billionaires (reputedly driven by team member Rick) to pull the defending champion Missing Parts into an evening-ending tie; Gorillas/Guerillas and Missing Parts would each receive a winner’s share. It’s anyone’s guess who claims the Champions Lounge next time.

As for the Bowie question, disappointingly not a single team had ever heard of Angela Bowie, David’s first wife and author of the tell-all autobiography Backstage Passes: Life On the Wild Side with David Bowie. Fortunately, the teams’ stunning comprehensive knowledge of just about everything else (except dogs) more than made up for this dire oversight.

Here are some awards from the evening:

HAPPIEST KID IN THE WORLD AWARD: To Kiara, of the Caregivers (and Norm). Norm gets all the ink but is there anything better (or more reliable) than Kiara entering the room at 5:45 with her ice cream cone?

I’D LIKE TO SELL YOU A BRIDGE IN BROOKLYN AWARD: Given to Missing Parts team members Steve and Roe, who somehow convinced new teammate Mike that you’re supposed to dance when “Jump Around” comes on.

HEART-BREAKER AWARD: We really missed Exceeding Mediocrity Since ‘76 last time and they haven’t been at full strength in several weeks. This week they showed up teeming with life only to change their name (in frustration?) to “Exceedingly Mediocre Since ’76) late in the evening. When asked about the change, team member Jeff simply looked sad and shrugged. Jeff receives the heart-breaker award.

TEAM SPIRIT AWARD: To the RaySpots, who in their first stab at AV Trivia tied an all-time record by scoring a single point in a category, in this case, Diamond Dogs, and thinking it was the funniest thing any of them had ever heard.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME? AWARD: Presented to David of Gorilla/Guerilla for twice scoffing at questions for being too easy. (They were.) Asked later if he was “a ringer,” David said “no,” but paused significantly before answering.

CONSISTENT NAME CHANGER AWARD: As always, this award goes to whatever version we’re getting of Winnie’s Winners. On Wednesday the evolution of their team name went as follows: 1) Winnesota 2) Winnie’s Warriors 3) Horses Winnie and Cows Moo! 4) 7th Winnie-ing Stretch 5) Winnialation 6) You Winnie Some, You Lose Some.

ALTERNATE WINNERS LOUNGE AWARD: This goes to rookie team Fearsome Fivesome. They showed up, they claimed the front-of-the-house lounge, they were boisterous whether they dominated a category or were dominated by it and they finished just off the leaderboard at fifth, six points behind the winners.

VOICE OF GOD AWARD: That goes to me, and to Joe Moxley, for buying the new mic that makes me sound like an omnipowerful being.

Thanks again for a great night. See you all on May 1 and tell your friends!

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