ONE LAST ROUND at Hitch: 2001: A Mongoose Odyssey, February 10th 2020 TRIVIA CLUB CHAMPS

February 12, 2020

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This past Monday, 2,345 days after our first event we held our final event at our Home Away of Hitch. With the 163rd edition at our Black Label location we also brought to an end the early life of Trivia in locations, if not in participation. With the first event in November 13th, 2013 we brought Trivia Club to Monday night for the first time and east of the DVP for the first time as well. Hitch was the third location to welcome Trivia Club into its doors, and would eventually outlast our Original Home of Cardinal Rule as the longest running location, while also surpassing now fellow prior legacy location for second-most events as well. Hitch was a local from the first day to the last, welcoming Trivia Club regulars who would make the journey on a Monday, but most importantly establishing a legacy all its own of close-knit yet intense events!

 Trivia Classic  ended with the Fighting Mongooses in the lead, on this night known as 2001: A Mongoose Odyssey, with the team (and more specifically Travis!) making their 58th consecutive appearance at Hitch since November of 2017. They had a two and a half point lead on Going Off Without a Hitch, an appropriate team name from a solo Matt Smith. A point behind the last two reigning Champs in third was a multi-person Wookiees of the Year, with our man behind the bar these last few years Neil, joined by his better half! Four and a half points back in fourth were Team Name, looking to win this milestone end just as they had won the 150th! Half a point behind making his 75th Laramie appearance (one of only seven teams to make at least 75 appearances at a single location) but likely somewhere close to 100 or more with his Trusty Rumpets teams was The TRUSTY Folk from Laramie Cigarettes! In sixth was Fuck Billy Zane, former regulars at Farside making their first appearance at the last Hitch to nod their caps, and rounding out the field was another newcomer who fit right in as Obligatory Semisonic Reference!

2001: A Mongoose Odyssey hit on the first of our  Game Show Games  with the TOP TEN in Countdown Takedown, but keeping close by was Going Off Without a Hitch who nabbed eight points, while Wookiees of the Year picked up six, Fuck Billy Zane got four, and Team Name took two points to their name. Then in our second round two game, Survey Says, it was Going Off Without a Hitch who grabbed the TOP TEN, but only to regain the round one gap as the Fighting Mongooses grabbed eight points. With six points in the game were Obligatory Semisonic Reference, while The TRUSTY Folk gained four points, making sure everyone walked away from round two with points!

Our last  Tri-Pardo  at Hitch began with Going Off Without a Hitch choosing The Final Frontier and rolling for thirteen points, followed by Obligatory Semisonic Reference choosing Closing Time, because what else could he do, and rolling for seventeen points, followed by Team Name choosing The Last Word and rolling for eighteen points! This meant that a big forty-eight points were on the line, and rolling for that triple and gaining all forty-eight was The TRUSTY Folk from Laramie Cigarettes! This brought Arnis closer to our top two teams, but both Going Off Without a Hitch and the lead team the Fighting Mongooses gained thirty-five points from the second and third questions, as did Fuck Billy Zane! Gaining twenty-two points with correct second and third answers, but an incorrect answer to the first question, were Wookiees of the Year, and Team Name, while Obligatory Semisonic Reference grabbed twelve points with a correct first and second answer but incorrect third answer!

This meant that heading into the final  Trivia Finale  at Hitch, 2001: A Mongoose Odyssey still held the two and a half point lead that they had gained in round one over Going Off Without a Hitch, while The TRUSTY Folk from Laramie wasn't far behind with just nine and a half points off the lead! Every team would then go all in, except for two instances. Fuck Billy Zane would leave two points on the board, while the Fighting Mongooses would leave five important points on the board.

Why were they so important?

Well, at One Last Round at Hitch... it would mean one last round.

Thought it was a tricky Tri-Pardo, it would prove a Finale question in which every team was able to answer correctly! Finishing with 75 points on the last night would be Obligatory Semisonic Reference, while Team Name would end the night with 104 points, and Fuck Billy Zane would finish with 116 points. Wookiees of the Year would finish their Hitch run in fourth place with a strong 121 points, while in third place with an excellent 159 points were The TRUSTY Folk from Laramie Cigarettes having swept the Pardo categories!

On the last night at Hitch, for the first time ever, we would end the night with a TIE!

Due to the five points that the Mongooses had left behind, it would be 173 points each for both Going Off Without a Hitch, and 2001: A Mongoose Odyssey. This meant that standing in the way of the Fighting Mongooses themselves breaking even with the Trusty Rumpets as the winningest team in the history of Hitch (even if they have surpassed them as the most successful team of Hitch overall, by other metrics), was one of the winningest individuals all-time at Trivia Club, one Matt Smith! Looking to break the tie, both teams were given the Fifth Pardo question as a tie-breaker, which they both answered correctly! 

This then brought us to the Sudden Victory Bulls-eye, one last question to ensure a winner at our One Last Round at Hitch... and after 2,345 days to bring the first and last tie to an end. For this Box Office Bulls-eye it felt fitting to ask these two teams about one movie, and one movie only... 2005's "Hitch". Both teams could go over or under, they just needed to get as close as possible.

After some deliberation, Going Off Without a Hitch would guess $219 million for the domestic box office, not adjusted for inflation, while 2001: A Mongoose Odyssey would guess $179 million. The number of dollars that "Hitch" brought in? 175.

Winning their TWENTY-FOURTH GOLDEN VHS and the final one at Hitch, after fifty-eight consecutive appearances at the Black Label location... 2001: A MONGOOSE ODYSSEY! Not only are the fifty-eight consecutive appearances a record, along with the twenty-four Golden VHS tapes a Hitch a tie for most ever at the location, but with 173 points, the Fighting Mongooses become just the sixth team to score 5,000 points or more at a single location, joining the Electric Mayhem, Cunning Stunts, and Team Name at Cardinal Rule, and The Bastards, and Cunning Stunts at Lou Dawgs.

Congrats one more time at Hitch to the Fighting Mongooses or on this night 2001: A Mongoose Odyssey, on their win, and a special well played to Going Off Without a Hitch for coming as close as he did on the finish while also creating some bonus questions on the last night! Matt Smith is in fact the only person to have competed at the final night at Hitch, Cardinal Rule, and Lou Dawgs, now our three prior Legacy Locations! Thank you to everyone who played on Monday. One last thank you to the Fighting Mongooses, The Good Folks at Laramie Cigarettes, and Wookiee(s) of the Year for being the cornerstones at Hitch these last few years! Thank you to Matt and Smartly Pretty, to The Sinking Ship, The Man with the Candy, and the M. Night Shaym-Aliens as well! Thank you to PETE!, Team Name, Lt. Dance, and the Cunning Stunts! To hey dummy, Bob Loblaw Law Blog, 5 Fast 5 Furious, and SHARK! Thank you to Five Neat Guys, to Girl Gon Git It, and to Tiny Tim's...! Thank you to the Trusty Rumpets, under any name. Thank you to every team who made it out on a Monday night to play Trivia Club at Hitch. Thank you every single person who ever worked behind the bar during Trivia Club as well, but especially to Mike Reynolds in the first few years, and to Neil Rankin these last few years, adding a wonderful layer unlike any other Trivia Club location. Thank to you to Lori and Doug, for believing in Trivia Club in the beginning, and trusting enough in me to keep it going for six years, five months, and a day.

Now at our Home Away it's time for home, where my thoughts escape me...
Trivia Club will still be in the east end, and the legacy of Hitch will continue in other ways, but 1216 Queen St E will be missed as our Home Away.

Thank you for learning along the way with me.
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Support Trivia Club on PatreonRussel Harder produces Trivia Club in seven cities across Canada for The Rec Room, and hosts Trivia Club at The Rec Room Roundhouse (255 Bremner Blvd) weekly every TUESDAY in Toronto, every 1st & 3rd WEDNESDAY at Farside (600 Gerrard St E), and as a POP-UP event at Black Lab Brewing (818 Eastern Ave) in 2020! Trivia Club's Pause & Play podcast, a portable version of our live event, is available on SoundCloud & iTunes!

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