Went back to bar trivia last night, and at every score check, we were tied for first with the same team. This includes a post-final question score check. We were not tied after a tie-breaker, and sad to say we came out on the short end. Though as we soon learned (and as you shall, too), there was a good reason for this.

There was a substitute host for the night, and he was a little too efficient. Game ended right around 8, to late to catch the train that leaves at that time and well in advance of the 9:30 that was my next option. I got a lot of reading done, though.

Part of the reason for the surprising at the constant tie is that the questions were harder than normal - at least we missed more than the 1 or 2 we usually do. In any case, the questions (with added hints where I think they may help):

What single-named singer is married to Marissa Ribisi, the twin sister of actor Giovanni Ribisi? Beck (Greg) - she was actually called "actress Marissa Ribisi," though her career isn't quite measuring up to her brother's. In any case, we were stuck on Moby. Who isn't married. We were pretty sure he wasn't right, but couldn't come up with a better answer, never mind the correct one.

In The Naked Gun, Frank Drebin and Jane Spenser are seen laughing hysterically after seeing what decidedly non-comedic movie? Platoon (Scott) - we thought this or Apocalypse Now, but given the time period the newer movie made more sense.

A. C. Gilbert, the creator of the Erector Set, won an Olympic gold medal at the 1908 games in what event (hint: it's in track and field)? Pole vault (Scott) - we had no idea. We went with "swimming" hoping to get credit for being vague. The wife suggested tug of war, which we didn't go with, but wouldn't that have been great?

What Red Sox player holds the major league record for being the youngest player to reach the 100 home run mark? Tony Conigliaro (Greg) - Allyson came up with Tony C. immediately. I was dubious, based on the shortened nature of his career. Clearly, it wasn't that shortened. We threw around some of the obvious names, and went with Conigliaro based on Allyson's quick recall.

In Japanese, "tora" is the name for what animal? Tiger (Scott) - again, no real idea, but we tended towards predatory birds and went with eagle. We did talk about land animals for a bit, but went with birds based on the nature of the Pearl Harbor attack. Clearly, I've not seen Tora! Tora! Tora! recently enough.

Two elements are liquid at room temperature: mercury and what element whose name starts with the letter 'B'? bromine (Scott - who clearly would have had a big night last night) - we jumped at barium given the gag-worthy stuff you have to drink before whatever scan that is (CAT? PET?), as did most of the other teams, apparently.

What conflict was the first one fought on three continents, and was called the first world war by Winston Churchill? Seven Years' War (Paul) - We got this, and of course the team we'd been tied with all night got it. So we move on to a related tie-breaker: what year did the war start? For some reason 1763 pops into my head, but that seems too late, and we wind up going with 1758. The other team goes with 1756, which is exactly right. Turns out one of their members just finished reading the companion book to a PBS special about the war. Fortuitous timing.

(As for 1763, that of course was the year the war ended. Had we caught that and done the math...)