Next Trivia Night: March 27

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NEXT TRIVIA NIGHT: We are back in the DC Improv Lounge on March 27. Don't pass us over. Be there.

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How It Works

Welcome to the online home for Happy Hour Trivia -- a one-hour bar trivia quiz held once a month at the DC Improv Lounge (1140 Connecticut Ave. NW, Washington, DC). Teams of hopeful brainiacs square off for glory and prizes, in one of the finest comedy venues in the country. The night is hosted by Chris White, a leader of the 1994 Penncrest High School championship Scott's Hi-Q Team.

It works like most bar trivia nights, only the production values are way higher and the questions are a little big tougher. Each game consists of four rounds. We usually have two standard "question and answer" rounds, where Chris reads questions over the microphone and you fill in your answer sheet. There's a timed "worksheet" round, and there's also always a video or audio round using the Improv's sweet projector. There are prizes for first, second and third place.

January 30 Recap

It's a bleak, harsh winter, and I see no reason why Happy Hour Trivia shouldn't match. Our January contest was a high-difficulty affair with a lot of new teams involved. Here's hoping they secretly love a challenge.

We started off with "Second to One," which is ostensibly a geography game: given a worksheet listing 14 countries, you put down the second-biggest city, in terms of population, for each one. It's a lot more brain-bending than you'd think. Our first question-and-answer round was "Shell Game," which had elements based on the names of Peanuts characters (i.e., who were the last two acts at Woodstock?). The second q-and-a was "Big Bangs," which centered on explosions, pops and booms (what are the small charges used to simulate bullet strikes in the movies?). And the video round was "Facial Recognition 2." Given a set of three faces (all from prominent, though not necessarily widely famous people), you have to identify what those people have in common -- like cult leadership.

Just about everyone took on the arts challenge, which was to write an awful acceptance speech for a big film awards ceremony. LieStrong ended up with 31 points on the evening for third place. The Real Lennay Kekua and the Four King Idiots both finished with 34 points, but the Idiots won a very ... uh, workmanlike dance-off to get the top prize. Here they are in order of finish.

November 14 Recap

We missed out on trivia in October because of a broken water pipe on the sixth floor, which destroyed the Lounge. But we were back in November in a rebuilt, fully operational battle station. Only we had a happier ending than "Return of the Jedi," with lots of dead Ewoks. I was stuck inside writing trivia questions during Superstorm Sandy, which is why we got "Stormy Weather" as a standard question round. The other one was "Lucky 113th," which was loosely based on facts about the recently elected Congress. We brought back "Bus School" for the video round -- post-modern rebuses that spell out all sorts of names and slogans. And the worksheet had people identifying the language of 20 different ways to say "thank you" around the world. Our performance bonus had people writing Thanksgiving blessings and delivering them. The Fiscal Cliff Huxtables were your big winners, with 39 points. Second place went to the Fiscal Cliff Divers (38) and third went to the Golden Triangle Gun Club (37). A very tight match to close out our 2012 season.

September 13 Recap

It's been hectic at HHT global HQ, but we always try to find the time to please the trivia masses. Lots of new faces at HHT this month, and a nice smattering of our regulars as well. This one turned out to be a fun and very competitive game. "Map Quest 2" was one of those worksheets that can make or break you; teams had to identify countries from a silhouette of the country. It may shock you to know that some people suck at that. "Red Planet" was 10 questions about things that are red, like wagons and skies and Foxx. We had a music round this month, "Express Yourself," which challenged people to name the titles and performers of songs that have some method of expression in the title ("Make 'em Laugh," for example). And "Happy Jew Year!" celebrated the upcoming high holidays with 10 questions about or based on famous Jews. More nice results from the performance bonus game: teams got to write and recite concession speeches for failed political campaigns. My personal favorite was the pedophile who didn't get elected to the school board. Classic. Golden Triangle Gun Club won its third in a row, with 30 points. One or our new teams, Touched by an Uncle, scored 29 for second place. We had an epic battle for third, as Obscure Latin Legal Phrase and the Four King Idiots both had 28 points. The dance-off was tremendous -- FKI's participant went for shirt removal (he did have an undershirt) and OLLP sent forth a woman who did the worm. The worm prevailed.

August 16 Recap

August is a slow month in Washington, as Congress leaves town and the many parasites that live off Congress go with them. That leaves mostly the region's natural parasites -- mosquitos, because DC is built on a malarial swamp -- and people who want to play Happy Hour Trivia. "Swamp Things" was a Q and A round all about our fine local habitat. "Paul, Ryan!" celebrated the VP choice with five questions about Pauls and five about Ryans. Our worksheet round was "The Biggest Losers." It had pictures of 10 people who won the first ever edition of a reality show, and teams had to name the show. And "Fill in the Blanks 4" was our video round, where once again teams had to identify what had been blanked out of various pictures. The arts challenge this month was in honor of the recently completed Olympics. Teams had the option of writing and performing either a coach's pep talk for the event of their choosing, or a minute of NBC color commentary. Kudos to the team that gave a pep talk to the horse in the stupid horse-dancing event. The Golden Triangle Gun Club locked up first place with 34 points, the Stockholm Syndrome Sufferers got second with 31, and the Four King Idiots got back in the swing of things with 30 points, good for third place.

June 20 Recap

We took May off so the organizer could attend an international trivia conference in Australia (in case the IRS asks). But the pent-up demand meant a packed house for June! It was a crackalackin' crowd at the DC Improv Lounge, and they had their work cut out for them: e started off with "By the Numbers," a worksheet where teams had to fill in the right numeric values for various things (like the size of an active NBA roster, states in the Confederacy, and bones in a normal human body). Since my dad's birthday was on June 19, we did some Dave L. White-based trivia -- basically, questions related to things my dad likes, such as soccer, Gettysburg and smoking. "1812 Overtures" honored the 200-year anniversary of the start of the War of 1812. And our video round, "Things We Did on Our Summer Vacation," was a cheap way for me to repurpose my vacation pictures from Australia into a tax writeoff. Our arts challenge was particularly fun -- teams got five bonus points for writing and delivering their version of a truly awful wedding toast. There were tons of great efforts, but from a straight-up creative standpoint, the winners had to be the team that gave a toast as one half of conjoined twins. They even had one girls stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the speaker. That's commitment. The Golden Triangle Gun Club got back to the top of the mountain with 33 points and dance-off victory. Your dance-off losers (but not by much) were the E Street Bandits. And These Are Clown Questions, Bro scored a 32 (and won another tiebreaker, naming truly awful first dance songs for a wedding) to nab third place.

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