Trivia Time: Metroid Edition

[Johnny Unusual]

Happy New year! It's 20X1 and... wait, that can't be right... unless!

You are trivia teams trying to survive alien pirates on the planet Zebes. The planet is full of dangers... and bounties. Each question is a bounty. The hunter with the most notches in their exo-suit at the end of the day wins.

Here are the topics.

1. Metroid – Questions about NY Mets players who did performance enhancing drugs.
2. The Return of Samus – Questions about things called Samus.
3. Super Metroid – Is it a soup or a Metroid character?
4. Metroid Fusion – Questions about alloys
5. Zero Mission – Questions about the math of nothing
6. Other M – Questions about peanut M & Ms
7. Prime – Questions about amazon.com
8. Echoes – Pink Floyd’s Echoes
9. Corruption – Political corruption
10. Federation Force – Star Trek/Star Wars overlap!

1. Félix Heredia, a NY Mets player from the Dominican Republic, was the 11th MLB player suspended for steroid use. What nickname was he known by, which means “The Skinny Cat?”
2. Samus is the name of a genus of what porous, multicellular ocean-dwelling organism?
3. Rishtay.
4. What element makes up the bulk of bronze’s mass?
5. According to John von Neumann, if you have a box with nothing, then put smaller box inside it, how many things are in the larger box?
6. Which Oscar award winning actor currently voices the peanut M & M in commercials?
7. What was the first kind of items that Amazon was dedicated to selling?
8. Which album does Echoes originally appear in?
9. What was the more famous name of the Elk Hills Scandal that the Harding Administration was involved with?
10. Which is the first Star Trek film to utilize George Lucas founded special effects company Industrial Lights & Magic?

 

[Violentvixen]

Did part of 5 get cut off, or is it just a mindgame question?

 

[Johnny Unusual]

Sorry, I'll fix that one. But it is, in part a mind game question.

Must have been super tired when I wrote it, though.

 

[Violentvixen]

Thanks! It seemed feasible but also a little off so wanted to clarify.

And I really like category 3!

 

[Johnny Unusual]

Thanks. Note originally, it was brand but I changed my mind just to have it be soups in general, so please make a note of that. I edited my post to reflect that.

 

[Violentvixen]

Oh jeez almost forgot to submit our answers. Have a couple we're debating...

 

[Johnny Unusual]

1. Félix Heredia, a NY Mets player from the Dominican Republic, was the 11th MLB player suspended for steroid use. What nickname was he known by, which means “The Skinny Cat?” “El Gato Flaco”
2. Samus is the name of a genus of what porous, multicellular ocean-dwelling organism? Sea sponge
3. Rishtay. A whole lentil soup made with hand cut wheat noodles (similar to linguine) and flavored with fried garlic.
4. What element makes up the bulk of bronze’s mass? Copper
5. According to John von Neumann, if you have a box with nothing, then put smaller box inside it, how many things are in the larger box? Two things: the box and nothing
6. Which Oscar award winning actor currently voices the peanut M & M in commercials? JK Simmons
7. What was the first kind of items that Amazon was dedicated to selling? Books
8. Which album does Echoes originally appear in? Meddle Not one of the more famous titles, despite Echoes being one of their biggest (and longest) songs at 23 minutes. Its literally more than half the album by a few seconds.
9. What was the more famous name of the Elk Hills Scandal that the Harding Administration was involved with? The Teapot Domes Scandal, a historical event I'll only ever remember as The Thing Milhouse Reads About.
10. Which is the first Star Trek film to utilize George Lucas founded special effects company Industrial Lights & Magic? Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

Violent Vixen 7 1/2 (right words for #1 but in the wrong order, so partial credit)
Rascally Badger 7
CaptBlasto 5

Next up...

1. Following being dropped from the Mets for steroid use, what Canadian team did Yusaku Iriki join as a minor league player for a time?
2. Samus is the female variant of what Celtic male given name?
3. Gandrayda.
4, Name one of the four metals that DON’T form amalgams with mercury.
5. What symbol represents an empty set or null set? You can make it with your keyboard!
6. When Peanuts M & Ms first appeared, they were only available in one color. What was it?
7. What government agency did Amazon sign a $600,000,000 contract with in 2013 for cloud computing storage?
8. In what ancient Italian city did Pink Floyd make a concert film where the performance was sandwiched by two halves of Echoes?
9. What was the name of the Affair in which ships sent from the US by President John Adams to the UK were held by the French and three French diplomats refused to negotiate unless they were bribed? (check your pants for this one)
10. Which were the only two years that a Star Wars and Star Trek film were both in theatres in the same year?

 

[Kirin]

Dangit, I need to set an alarm to remind me to submit these things. Would've had six of those. Ah well.

 

[Violentvixen]

@Johnny Unusual would it be a big headache for you to have the rounds start on Mondays or Tuesdays? Seems like a lot of people don't log in on weekends and/or forget over the weekend.

 

[Johnny Unusual]

I think I can do that. BTW, apparently Daikaiju sent the answers to JBear by mistake. Here's his team's score...

Violent Vixen 7 1/2 (right words for #1 but in the wrong order, so partial credit)
Rascally Badger 7
Team Rocket 6
CaptBlasto 5

 

[Johnny Unusual]

As suggested, I'm waiting till tomorrow to do the next round. Hope that's cool.

 

[Johnny Unusual]

So does the new day work better for people? I hope it helped. Here are the answers to the previous questions.

1. Following being dropped from the Mets for steroid use, what Canadian team did Yusaku Iriki join as a minor league payer for a time? The Toronto Blue Jays
2. Samus is the female variant of what Celtic male given name? Seamus. Variants like Sheamus also accepted
3. Gandrayda. Metroid.
4. Name one of the four metals that DON’T form amalgams with mercury. Iron, platinum, tungsten, and tantalum
5. What symbol represents an empty set or null set? You can make it with your keyboard! {} (or a circle with a line through it)
6. When peanuts M & Ms, they were only available in one color. What was it? Tan
7. What government agency did Amazon sign a $600,000,000 contract with in 2013 for cloud computing storage? The CIA. This was controversial not only for the regular reasons of throwing in with a government agency that can do questionable stuff but people were also upset because Amazon also has a newspaper, making people rightfully concerned with conflicts of interest.
8. In what ancient Italian city did Pink Floyd make a concert film where the performance was sandwiched by two halves of Echoes? Pompeii
9. What was the name of the Affair in which ships sent from the US by President John Adams to the UK were held by the French and three French diplomats refused to negotiate unless they were bribed? The XYZ Affair
10. Which were the only two years that a Star Wars and Star Trek film were both in theatres? 2002 (Attack of the Clones and Nemesis) and 2016 (Star Trek Beyond and Rogue One)

The Scores:
Violent Vixen 12 1/2 (right words for #1 but in the wrong order, so partial credit)
Rascally Badger 10
Team Rocket 10
CaptBlasto 5

1. Which Mets player became one of three players in league history to fail a drug test twice when it was shown he tested positive for Clenbuterol in 2012?
2. What ancient kingdom did the poet Samus (also known as Samius and Simmias) belong to?
3. Sop Saudara.
4. What alloy is comprised primarily of copper and zinc?
5. What is the difference between “zero” and “nothing”?
6. What was the first alternate version of peanut M & Ms to be introduced (I’m not counting peanut butter)?
7. What Star Trek phrase did Jeff Bezos originally want to call Amazon?
8. The Australian film Crystal Voyagers concludes with Echoes played in its entirety to first person footage of the sport the film is about. But… what sport is the movie about?
9. What Quebec construction company was at the center of a controversy when the Prime Minister’s Office allegedly tried to pressure the Attorney General into considering a deferred prosecution agreement during a Justice Department probe?
10. Which Star Trek actor appeared in a making of documentary for “The Return of the Jedi?”

 

[CaptBlasto]

With the PoE league release this slipped my mind to send in answers. I think I only missed out on 3 points though, as I would have guessed 1, knew 5, and knew 9. Oh well, I'll just have to make them up this week!

 

[Violentvixen]

Dammit! My spouse talked me out of Tan for the M&Ms. Bah.

 

[Kirin]

JWTS I appreciate the schedule shift in principle and think it will help me in the future, but since I missed the first round and January has just turned out to be generally busy for me, I'm gonna sit this month out. Still popping in to read the fun questions though!

 

[Johnny Unusual]

1. Which Mets player became one of three players in league history to fail a drug test twice when it was shown he tested positive for Clenbuterol in 2012? Guillermo Mota
2. What ancient kingdom did the poet Samus (also known as Samius and Simmias) belong to? Macedon/Macedonia
3. Sop Saudara. Spicy beef soup contains bits of beef and offals (usually fried cow's lungs), rice vermicelli, perkedel (fried potato patty) and hard boiled egg.
4. What alloy is comprised primarily of copper and zinc? Brass
5. What is the difference between “zero” and “nothing”? Zero is a number, nothing is an empty set
6. What was the first alternate version of peanut M & Ms to be introduced (I’m not counting peanut butter)? Dark Chocolate Peanut (2005)
7. What Star Trek phrase did Jeff Bezos originally want to call Amazon? Makeitso.com
8. The Australian film Crystal Voyagers concludes with Echoes played in its entirety to first person footage of the sport the film is about. But… what sport is the movie about? Surfing
9. What Quebec construction company was at the center of a controversy when the Prime Minister’s Office allegedly tried to pressure the Attorney General into considering a deferred prosecution agreement during a Justice Department probe? SNC-Lavalin
10. Which Star Trek actor appeared in a making of documentary for “The Return of the Jedi?” Leonard Nimoy


Violent Vixen 16 1/2 (right words for #1 but in the wrong order, so partial credit)
Team Rocket 15
Rascally Badger 10
CaptBlasto 9

1. Who was the first MLB player to be permanently suspended for failing his drug test three times?
2. SAMUS is a peer-reviewed academic journal from South Africa. What is the subject? (Here’s a clue, S.A. is South African, the second S is Studies and MU represents a single word)
3. Joumou.
4. What is the primary element used in pewter?
5. In linear algebra, what corny name is the null space of a linear mapping also known as?
6. Why did M&Ms co-creator Franklin Clarence Mars never eat a peanut M&M?
7. What was the name of the senate bill introduced by Bernie Sanders and Ro Khanna whose name is a dig at Amazon.com and was designed for large employers to pay for the government assistance their employees receive?
8. What film does Echoes supposedly sync up with in its final act?
9. What big budget movie was revealed to have been funded by the government-run company 1Malaysia Development Berhad?
10. What Star Wars garb was William Shatner wearing when he performed “Girl Crush” with Carrie Underwood and Brad Paisley in 2015?

 

[Johnny Unusual]

I only got one response for last week so I'll leave it open another week, then depending on the response may continue or put it on hiatus due to lack of interest.

 

[Violentvixen]

Aw, phooey. It did sound like a couple people were sitting January out intentionally and planned to re-join in February. I really like this and hope you keep it up.

Edit: Is there a way to make the board email people when a thread is updated? Like maybe people could opt-in to get reminders about this thread or something?

 

[Johnny Unusual]

I'll keep that in mind.

 

[Kirin]

Coming back for February was my intention! But it's fine if you want to take a month off, too.

 

[Torzelbaum]

Is there a way to make the board email people when a thread is updated? Like maybe people could opt-in to get reminders about this thread or something?

I think you can watch the thread and set a preference to get email notifications when something happens in a watched thread but I think that happens for all threads a person is watching. If you don't have the email notification turned on then I think you get a notice for watched threads in the top bar but I have not set a watch on any thread so I don't exactly know how it works.

 

[Lady]

I for one just love reading the questions. the free-association aspect from the theme to the categories is awesome

 

[CaptBlasto]

We had a snowstorm in the East here, which caused me to forget all about submitting answers. I'll throw mine up today.

As for the email, that assumes you would immediately submit your answers. Personally, I usually think about them for a couple days, but then its just forgetting about submitting at the end of the week.

 

[Rascally Badger]

I've just been busy at work the last few weeks and have failed to get my answers in.

 

[Johnny Unusual]

1. Who was the first MLB player to be permanently suspended for failing his drug test three times? Jenrry Mejía
2. SAMUS is a peer-reviewed academic journal from South Africa. What is the subject? (Here’s a clue, S.A. is South African, the second S is Studies and MU represents a single word) Music/Musicology
3. Joumou. Spicy Haitian pumpkin soup.
4. What is the primary element used in pewter? Tin
5. In linear algebra, what corny name is the null space of a linear mapping also known as? Kernel
6. Why did M&Ms co-creator Franklin Clarence Mars never eat a peanut M&M? He was allergic.
7. What was the name of the senate bill introduced by Bernie Sanders and Ro Khanna whose name is a dig at Amazon.com and was designed for large employers to pay for the government assistance their employees receive? The Stop Bad Employers by Zeroing Out Subsidies Act AKA the Stop B.E.Z.O.S. Act
8. What film does Echoes supposedly sync up with in its final act? 2001: A Space Odyssey
9. What big budget movie was revealed to have been funded by the government-run company 1Malaysia Development Berhad? The Wolf of Wall Street
10. What Star Wars garb was William Shatner wearing when he performed “Girl Crush” with Carrie Underwood and Brad Paisley in 2015? Imperial Stormtrooper

Violent Vixen 22 1/2 (right words for #1 but in the wrong order, so partial credit)
Rascally Badger 16
Team Rocket 15
CaptBlasto 13

The final round!

1. How many games has Robinson Canó been suspended for, making him ineligible to play in the 2021 season?
2. Which other noted nerdcore rapper did Sammus tour with during her “Rappers with Arm Cannons” tour?
3. Íslensk Kjötsúpa.
4. What is an alloy designed to bond metals called?
5. What is a proposition that no effect or relationship exists between populations and phenomena called in statistics?
6. Who voiced the Peanut M&M first?
7. What kind of anthropomorphic thing is “Danbo”, Amazon Japan’s mascot?
8. What Andrew Lloyd Webber musical does Roger Waters claim stole heavily from Echoes?
9. Which Governor attempted to sell Obama’s vacated senate seat, describing it as “fucking golden”?
10. During an appearance at a Star Trek convention, which character delivered a letter to Gene Roddenberry from George Lucas to honor him?

 

[Johnny Unusual]

I'll wait another week to see if Team Rocket and Badger join in.

 

[Johnny Unusual]

And that's the end. I'll start the new one next week which will be back to the old schedule but here are the answers.

1. How many games has Robinson Canó been suspended for, making him ineligible to play in the 2021 season? 162. Same as the number of games per season.
2. Which other noted nerdcore rapper did Sammus tour with during her “Rappers with Arm Cannons” tour? Mega Ran
3. Íslensk Kjötsúpa. Icelandic lamb and veggie soup.
4. What is an alloy designed to bond metals called? Solder
5. What is a proposition that no effect or relationship exists between populations and phenomena called in statistics? Null hypothesis
6. Who voiced the Peanut M&M first? John Goodman
7. What kind of anthropomorphic thing is “Danbo”, Amazon Japan’s mascot? A cardboard box
8. What Andrew Lloyd Webber musical does Roger Waters claim stole heavily from Echoes? The Phantom of the Opera
9. Which Governor attempted to sell Obama’s vacated senate seat, describing it as “fucking golden”? Rod Blagojevich
10. During an appearance at a Star Trek convention, which character delivered a letter to Gene Roddenberry from George Lucas to honor him? Darth Vader

Violent Vixen 30 1/2 (right words for #1 but in the wrong order, so partial credit)
Rascally Badger 22
CaptBlasto 17
Team Rocket 15
Kirin 5

Congrats to Violent Vixen and Lumber! You won the biggest bounty!

 

[Violentvixen]

Whoo! Thanks!

We'd love to keep doing this, but seems like it's hard for others to remember. Bummer.

 

[Kirin]

I just submitted a few answers for the last round because they were fun, but I hope to be able to get back in at the start for the next one to actually compete!