02/19/2026
Wow. What a killer night at The Snug PDX! A few fun surprising things happened too!
For one we had the return of one of my most-ever favoritist teams (and I've had many, trust me - yeah I'm a quizslut, what of it?) return in *Smarty Gras,* thankfully, the only damn team that chose to not use a homophone. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE clever wordplay, but when you say everything out loud, it means I'm required to explain the joke, and NO ONE likes explaining jokes. It makes them far less funny!
The second thing? Starting this quiz, we are now doing Taco Tuesday every Trivia! I'm trying to think of an alliterative slogan now. Umm, Trivia, Tipples & Tacos?
The third thing? A very old-schooler who I used to work with at a trivia bar many moons ago showed up, and we were both like, "How do we know each other?" It took a half hour - I've been doing this sh*t too long.
And also? One of our best patrons brought in a King Cake for Mardi Gras! And the ONE thing you don't do is f**k with the tradition. Someone abandoned that baby faster than you can say, "Basket at the fire station."
But the quiz! What fun! Team *Four-Ward Bound* brought in some ringers, and I love new quizzers, especially when they are that cheeky!
Our first round was all about B-r words, with folks forgetting about what a Boilermaker is! Also when I had to use the word "breechloader," I went down a VERY deep rabbit hole on breechloading guns, and how they fully changed the military landscape. Who knew?
Round 2 saw New Orleans brass bands covering all your favorite hits. Why I didn't bring beads?!?! Or at least one of those stupid glowing neon dumbcups?
Round 3 asked you all to discern the difference between Kendrick Lamar and Kenny Loggins, and well, who knew how hard it was to tell the difference? If I would have been told that in 2025 one of them told Trump to stop using his music, I would NOT have been able to tell you which either.
Round 4 reminded us that not everything is permanent. If "Denali" only means a large GMC SUV, well, dammit. And R.I.P., East Germany, AKA GDR. (Not really, but R.I.P. VEB Trabant!)
So I'm not gonna lie - it wasn't until I did the research for the random round did I know that Jeffrey Dahmer was murdered in prison. Seriously! I've never been into murder p**n, so I know very little about serial killers (except for the Green River Killer, but that's a story for another day.) Also, did you know that YOU were 2006 Time’s Person of the Year? Yeah, I guess I saw enough profiles with people claiming it that I thought it was tacky. And the final thought? 55 years ago TODAY, pure Portland legendi Bill Schonely (AKA "The Schonz") coined the term "Rip City."
Never forget.
As the quiz shook out with this snarky group of individuals, we had nothing left but the standings. In 5th was *Krewe Voodoo* (which included our King Cake donor, who also happened to be from Louisiana), so I was able to learn more about Mardi Gras tradition (including what a "Krewe" is)! I do miss beignets though... In 4th was my old-school friend and her trivia partner in "We Said 'Know'" (the first of those many homophone names), and in third was the newly-drafted *Four-Ward Bound*. This left us between silver and gold. *Smarty Gras* held the pole position up until the end, but in the final round *Biathelete Couples Counseling* crushed that final round, bringing them up to the podium for the gold.
Such a fun quiz, and so many great people. I can't wait to see you in two weeks, on March 3rd (my lucky day). I’ll see you then!
