World Tavern Trivia takes their Championship to Atlantic City!
Written by: Traci Penland
5/28/2009
Trivia comes the Taj!!
We arrived at the Taj Mahal on Saturday and for some reason the fog in Atlantic City
on our first night kind of symbolized our anxiety. For the very first time we were
going to be crowning the champions of World Tavern Trivia! Was everything ready?
All the “t’s” crossed? “I’s” dotted? I mean, this was more than just a weekly
game…this was the NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP!
Day 1 – Registration and Game One
The morning of registration was a totally different story…blue skies, bright
sunshine, crisp air…all of our anxiety turned into pure unadulterated EXCITEMENT!
As the first team walked up to the registration area, their smiles just blew us away.
Asher Weaver and Sandra Reagan were ready to get things underway. Driving in
from Virginia the night before, they were there bright and early to get their team,
Tonto, registered and ready for the afternoon’s competition.
As registration continued, we got to meet all of the six competing teams. It was so
nice to finally put faces with names!! Each team received a “swag” bag with a T-shirt,
coffee mug, mouse pad, and bottled water. Other than the team that got lost in the
casino and the whole Lynn Meola t-shirt SCANDAL (I told you I had your shirt Lynn)…
Registration went without a hitch!
Sunday afternoon we got the alcohol flowing at our Kick Off Party in the World
 Tavern Entertainment Suite we all got to introduce ourselves and get to know
each other...and yes…we played some trivia!!!
Diane Yaroslawski and her team, The Lounge Lizards from Great Bend, PA enjoyed
meeting everyone and sizing up their competition! This was a great way to take
some of the tension out and put a lot of FUN in! I enjoyed getting to know all of
teams and suddenly became torn because I wanted them ALL to win!!
Let the games begin…
Time for Game One of the National Championship!
Game One was held in the Ego Lounge right there at the Taj. Red curtains served as
the backdrop as the teams entered and found their pre-assigned tables. The format
was a little different from the regular weekly games but we started off with a warm
up round and a couple of audio/visual rounds for added difficulty. It was a nice way
to ease into the competition.
Gary Smith of the Gary In The Morning Internet Radio Show hosted all of the Games
for our Championship and we found out why the Fernwood Resort has such an
awesome game! Gary, who hosts the weekly games at Fernwood, had so much fun
with us and the teams and, disturbingly enough, with himself! He was a great host!
The teams were neck and neck throughout Game One and we all had a fun time!
Even the Chumbuckets out of Raleigh, NC had a blast and proudly proclaimed to be
the happiest team to EVER be in last place!
Day Two – Two Games, one GREAT party!
Game Two held a bit of a surprise for our teams. Each team was given a card that told
them when and where to show up for the beginning of Game Two and on Monday
morning…it was on.
The Amazing Trivia Race had started with The Chumbuckets showing up at the first
of five destinations. Each challenge was worth 100 points and ranged in difficulty.
From arranging the missing spaces from a life sized Monopoly Board on the Atlantic
City beachfront (or even re-arranging, right Simple Minds???) to the Technology
Timeline in the Ego Lounge, each team made their way through each challenge and
with little time to spare.
I thought it was so funny to see each team show up to Teresa Fillipelli’s “All About
The Numbers” challenge in the Taj’s Sports Lounge with mixed drinks at 10 in the
morning! They had just come from the “Hey Bartender” challenge where they had
to not only decipher a variety of mixed drink recipes but had to mix the actual
drink!! What other trivia league gets their players drinking before noon?? Oh yeah…
we SO rock!!
Going into Game Three, Jeff Morrissette and The Simple Minds team out of
Worcester, MA was in the lead. Closely following were Tonto, The Lounge Lizards,
and Purple Matter. The Wooddale Wieners had taken a hit during the Amazing
Trivia Race and fell a spot or two on the Championship Leader Board. They really
had to buckle down for Game Three and looking in their eyes…all you could see was
determination. The Chumbuckets kept NC alive and had actually left their last
place slot at the end of Game Two. Not even one team had conceded this
Championship and that made Round Three the most exciting game of all!
Once again, Gary, did a fantastic job of leading us through each round. All of the
teams were sailing right through…well, until Round 3 that is. “Finish The Lyrics”
will go down in World Tavern Trivia’s history as the hardest round ever! Mrs. Julie
Keltonic of Nashville, TN and member of the World Tavern Trivia Championship
staff, commanded the stage and sang 10 songs from different music genres. The
twist? When she stopped singing, each team had to finish the lyrics! Wow…that
was a hard round!
Looking around the room after Round 3 was like looking at a war torn country! It was
tough on ALL the teams….but hey…this IS the National Championship! The teams
were given their scores after each round of each game…right up until the last round
of Game 3. Those scores were sealed and the winner was to be announced on
stage at the House of Blues in just a couple of hours. After socializing a bit and
wishing each other the best of luck, each team headed out to get ready for the Finale
Party at the House of Blues.
The Finale Party – “And the winner is…”!
The House of Blues was AWESOME!
All members of the teams were treated to a delicious buffet dinner and free drinks!
With all that we had going on…being at the world famous House of Blues, the great
dinner and drinks, knowing that in just minutes we would crown our National
Champions…I can’t believe I didn’t faint!!
There is no way I can convey my excitement as Mike Matsinger, owner of World
Tavern Entertainment, called all of our teams to the stage. Team by team was
allowed to leave until we reached our 3rd place finishers….The Wooddale Wieners!!
They made one heck of a comeback in Game Three to take 3rd place and walk away
with $1,000 in cash. Finishing second was Purple Matter out of Bushkill, PA and our
very first National Championship Team: Simple Minds. Simple Minds came to
Atlantic City to represent The Greyhound Pub in Worcester, MA and walked away
$2,500 richer!
I can’t wait until next year’s championship. Not only to see the teams compete and
win some cash but to see all of the teams again! The Simple Minds have drawn that
line in the sand and say they will be back next year to defend their title! Man…
I love this league!
|