Quizzo This Week, Including a Pop-Up in South Philly on Friday!

We start it on Wednesday at Dock Street at 8 PM. We’ve had a lot of fun these past two weeks. No reason to think this Wednesday will be any different. Then on Friday, trying something new…wanna do some pop-ups this summer so we can all try out some different bars. We start at the Black Cat Tavern at 12th and Oregon. They’re famous for their pierogies, and they’ll have $5 pierogie plates on Friday night. Action starts at 7:30. Can’t wait to see you guys this week!

UPDATE: Thursday quizzo at Birra canceled this week due to tornado warning. We’ll be back in action on Friday night. Hope to see you then!

A Quick Thank You Note

2020 was, in many ways, the year when everything went horribly wrong. There’s no need to rehash it. You LIVED it. But a few things went really right too. And one of those things was taking our weekly trivia cult out of the bars and into each other’s living rooms. It all seems so “normal” now, but at the time it was frightening, bizarre, and somewhat random.

Last March, as Carl, Art, and I discussed what an “Online quiz” should look like and how it should play, Carl said something that quickly directed the focus: “The most important aspect of this is people hanging out with their friends. Everything else we decide should revolve around that.” And so instead of a ton of teams playing at once, or a bunch of technical bells and whistles, we focused on small, intimate (as intimate as it can be on a computer), gatherings with a single quizmaster and a single team.

It worked. Carl went from a guy hosting once a week at Birra to becoming the backbone of the whole operation. (Yeah OK and the brains too. Whatever. I’m STILL the beer belly of this damn thing!) J. Michael went from weekly regular to beloved host. Chip and Blake stepped in and quickly garnered weekly regulars. Every time we faced a hitch in scheduling, Erin or Mike would step up big. The whole thing just kind of…came together. And after each quizzo season Carl and I would have the same discussion: how many can we expect for the next season? And every season we underestimated.

As summer turned to fall which turned to winter, we kept getting teams willing to sign up again. And there was a certain magic to it. The Narcotyzing Dysfunktion, a team that had played weekly at the Bards in the mid 2000s when they were in grad school at Penn, got the band back together despite living all over the United States. Jeremy and Sharon of There’s No I played from Tokyo while working overseas. Tiffany of Synchronized Trampoline drank some sort of red concoction out of a Mason jar every week. Beth of Duane’s World mocked my pronunciations online instead of in person. The Drunk Parents lived up to their name. Not Last Place seemed to always finish JUST AHEAD of last place.

We quizzed through the madness of 2020, the eerie silence of March and April, through the protests, riots, the nightly “fireworks” and explosions of last summer, the daily madness of a deranged President, through an election, an attempted insurrection, and through a year+ that we might like to forget but a year that may well define our lives. And while I can’t speak for you guys I can speak for myself: it kept me sane at times I thought I was losing it, it made me smile when things were grim, and it made me laugh when absolutely nothing else was funny. It kept a roof over my family’s head, and it made me realize that we’ve got something here that is a whole lot bigger than bar trivia. And for that I just want to say thank you. Thank you. Thank you. -JGT

Sons of Sam Pull Off Upset, Win the Summer Sizzler

A thriller in the Sizzler, as the Sons of Sam (aka the Zodiac Killers) pulled off an improbable 92-91 win over the Trivia Mercenaries. Even more improbable: the Texas City Player’s Club, who were 40th in April Madness, finishing their magical season with a 3rd place finish. It was a wild game, with the scores bouncing around all game long. I’ll have the questions posted tomorrow. But a hell of a win for the Sons of Sam, Anthrax Ames’s first monster win since Quizzo Bowl II. Congrats to the Sons of Sam and thank you to ALL of our teams who played this past season.

Our Elite 8 is Set, Will Air Live on Sunday Night

It was an epic Sweet 16 that all but laid waste to our regular season. Four of our top 5 regular season teams were eliminated, while our 12th, 13th, 14th, and 17th place teams all moved on.

To start with, Boyz II Menehune won a spectacular 99-98 victory over two time champion Quarantine Spirit, thus spoiling Jon S’s 40th birthday.

Sofa Kingdom and Stone Cold Jane Austen were 8th and 9th in scoring during the Sizzler regular season, respectively, and that parity was born out in the Sweet 16, as they finished in an 82-82 tie. In OT, they were much closer on Seneca Falls elevation, and moved into the Elite 8.

Queefer Sutherland, who didn’t even make it out of the first round in April Madness, regained their composure and made their way into the final 8 with a surprisingly easy 80-67 win over Quizteama Aguilera.

Underground Bard, even playing without their superstar Anne, found themselves in another Elite 8 with a narrow 88-84 victory over Del-COVID 19.

The Winter Warz champs Trivia Mercenaries cruised into the finals with a 98-65 shellacking of Au Bon Pandemic.

Things were a bit tighter in the next bracket over in the Dork Division, where Stay Sexy and Don’t Get Answers knocked off Hallmark Hot 89-84.

By far our biggest stunner of the Sweet 16 was one of our biggest upsets in the past 16 months, as the Texas City Players Club stunned the defending champs, Brood X Karens, 94-92. This was a team that finished 40th in April Madness. Despite playing much better in Summer Sizzler (they finished 14th) this is a tremendous upset.

Our luckiest team was undoubtedly Sons of Sam, who scored worse than five teams that lost in the sweet 16, but had a favorable matchup with a Quick Questions squad that had scored a big upset over FFSF in the Round of 32 but couldn’t keep the magic going vs Sam.

The Final is set for Sunday night at 7:30 and will air live on Facebook. Chip and I will provide commentary, we’ll have some drinks, we’ll have some laughs, and we’ll crown a champ.

Our next season, Fall Brawl II, will kick off in September. We’ll have details on that soon.

Fireworks, Rock Music, Pizza, and Beer

The Philadelphia Phoenix return home this Friday after a thrilling 23-22 victory in Boston over the Glory on Saturday. The win moves them to 3-4 and 5th place in the Atlantic Division. On tap: a monster showdown with the 4-1 Atlanta Hustle. They played the Hustle in Atlanta a few weeks ago, and actually led by 2 at the half before falling, 24-17. A win on Friday night would be a big upset, and a huge shot in the arm for the Phoenix playoff chances.

As part of a partnership with Slice, our first 150 fans through the gates with the Slice app on their phone will receive a free slice of pizza. First 500 fans get a free disc.

Annnnnnnd there’s more. We’ll have a band called Dan the Movie performing before the game and at halftime. Second District Brewing will be selling great beer, Porco’s will be selling pizza inspired sandwiches, and we’ll have dessert from Poppa’s Custard as well.

Got restless kids who might wanna come? No problem…we have our Kid Zone in one corner of the stadium where the children will be monitored by a local teacher, so you can drop them off and grab yourself a bite or a drink.

Oh, and the Phillies are doing one of their epic fireworks displays right next door, which should start right after we wrap up.

Gates are at 6:30, the 4K starts at 6:45, and the game starts at 7:30. You can purchase tickets here. Price before Friday is a mere $12. We’re going to have a blast on Friday…hope to see you there!

To keep up to date on everything Phoenix, follow us on Instagram and twitter.

Playoffs Start Tonight!

We’re headed into the playoffs, and oh boy do we have some first round doozies! We’ve got Boyz II Menehune vs Lambda, Au Bon Pandemic vs Babysitters Fight Club, and Sofa Kingdom up against their old City Tap House foes, Ukraine in the Membrane. If you wanna see who you’re up against this week, go here and click the “Bracket” tab at the bottom. Excited to kick it off tonight!