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In our return to Hitch for our 134th event at our Black Label location, the longest-running current location of Trivia Club, we returned a week early on the east end so that we might be able to follow up our fifth anniversary Hitchens Cup with a post-Thanksgiving night of game shows followed by a little Halloween fun in a few weeks! Which of our Hitchens Cup returnees would look to win the first night of our sixth year at Hitch?

 Trivia Classic  saw the first round end with The Mangy Stevedores in the lead! Matt & Pat, also known as Smartly Pretty, were looking to repeat as Champs in this follow-up to their Hitchens Cup win in September! They would have The Good Folks from Laramie Cigarettes to worry about however, and that Good Folk held a one-point lead on Two Generation of PETE! Yes, for his first appearances at Hitch since Hi#081 at the end of 2016, PETE! was joined by his father! Still, four points ahead of The Good Folks in second place after the first round, were Wookiee Blue! Rounding out the Top Five (top five, top five) were the Fighting Mongoose(s) who were making their 24th consecutive appearance at Hitch in 2018 and 29th consecutive overall (which also includes 11 more appearances in 2018 at Farside and the Ace)!

The second round of  Game Show Games  brought back something old to try something new on the east-end, with Box Office Bulls-eye beginning things and seeing all five teams unable to grab any points, although the Fighting Mongooses were closest! Survey Says with next, with The Mangy Stevedores left pointless, but all other teams catching some points including the Fighting Mongoose(s) who took the TOP TEN! Finally in Countdown Takedown it was The Good Folks from Laramie Cigarettes who nabbed the TOP TEN to close out this new spin on the second round, while The Mangy Stevedores were able to get on the board with eight points!

In round three,  Tri-Pardo , we then saw the Fighting Mongooses roll for seven points on the first question, while The Good Folks rolled for five points on the second question, and Two Generations of PETE! rolled for eight points on the third question! This meant that across all three questions an impressively low-key twenty points were on the line! Four out of five teams would hit for the triple in Tri-Pardo as well, with the only team falling behind being the Fighting Mongooses... who still gained seven points from the first question!

This left The Mangy Stevedores with a four point lead on The Good Folks from Laramie Cigarettes heading into the  Trivia Finale , while Wookiee Blue held the slightest of leads on PETE! and family, for the third place spot! Wagering for the Finale question proved all over the place as well, and ultimately the answering was as unpredictable as the points on the line!

With 22 points at the end of the night, The Good Folks from Laramie Cigarettes are now half a point away from 3,000 points scored at Hitch, while Wookiee Blue end with their ninth duck of 2018! Finishing as runners-up on the night were Two Generations of PETE!, who may not have won but certainly made a memorable return to the place where PETE! had won the first Hitchens Cup in 2014! Winners on the night with 127 points and now FIVE-TIME GOLDEN VHS CHAMPS as Matt & Pat at Hitch... THE MANGY STEVEDORES!

 ACHEIVEMENT UNLOCKED:  FIVE-TIMERS CLUB!!!

This is the third and fourth team that Pat & Matt have won five Golden VHS tapes as part of, also including The Bastards, The Electric Mayhem, and The Electric Bastards now being joined by Smartly Pretty! Their repeat victory making it five for nine for Smartly Pretty is also the best record at this point for a Hitch team since Toilet Roll Barbies (an early Trusty Rumpet name) went six for their first nine appearances!