I keep in my wallet a handful of mementos — silly things that remind me of certain people or events. Among these items include a now-20-year-old five of diamonds that miraculously survived an overnight sojourn through a bonfire at a high school party, an iron-on patch that reads, "Old golfers never die, they just lose their balls," and a $1,000 Zimbabwean reserve note.
I'm not even sure how or when I received the currency, but I remember being struck by the denomination. Later, I'd learn about the devastating effects of Zimbabwean hyperinflation, an economic catastrophe that continues to this day. Even with the currently abysmal exchange rates for the U.S. dollar, my $1,000 Zimbabwean smackaroos are worth just $3.11 here in the States.
I bring all that up to introduce one of the night's bonus questions: "What is the largest denomination of the Zimbabwean dollar, a currency infamous for runaway hyper-inflation?".
Give yourself a hand if you know the correct answer is a jaw-dropping $100 trillion dollars. (I think the closest guess was one million.)
As for tonight's game, it was regression to the mean — the Fantastic 4's, having faltered for a week or two, put on a clinic. Hot out of the gate, they took Round 1 by a two-point margin. A solo Big Ole Dummies punctuated the evening with a single-point Round 2 triumph.
And then the Four went on to take Rounds 3 and 4 handedly, besting the same second-place finisher by four points and five points, respectively. A team on fire.
Itching for a dub, Coolest Cat stunned the competition with a perfect card Round 5, getting the better of a second-place Por by seven points.
Round 6 was a clash of the night's titans, with both teams putting up a perfect card 13 points. To break the tie, I called up from the bullpen a familiar pitcher: Guess the number of YouTube views some superstar has on one of their ultra-popular singles. In this case — fresh off of the announcement he'd be headlining the Super Bowl halftime show — it was Bad Bunny's "DÁKITI." Fantastic 4 stumbled with a comically low guess. (Something in the millions, if I recall correctly.) And coming out on top was Coolest Cat, missing the mark (1,647,250,887) by just a few million and taking their second round of the evening. Well played.
Please be nice to my friend and next week's guest host, Stephen, next week. I'll see you again on the 16th.
We had 11 teams this week, which I hope is a harbinger of more pleasant weather and trivia nights to come. Congratulations to all of the week's winners:
Do not forget to keep checking Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and right here at pgtrivia.com for bonus point opportunities, #didyouknow spectacularness and more.