We have reached our limit

So…

Last night we tried out limiting team sizes, for the first time, to eight members. The idea was to give some of the more underdog teams a chance against the perennial winning (and perennially supersize) squads, the Fantastic Fournicators, Strippers for Stephen Hawking and (slightly less so) Gerard Depardouche.

Well, nothing changed. Strippers won, Fournicators came in second. Honestly, I don't believe the issue here is the size of these teams, it's simply their trivia prowess (to phrase it nicely). As far as I know, they play fair. To be the man you gotta beat the man.

Some would argue that what I should do here is impose a stricter team size—say, six. I considered that. But there are two reasons I'm not eager to do this, both of which are the reasons I've resisted limited team sizes for years now: (1) The more teams have to split in two, the more teams there are. Thus, the more answer sheets there are, and the longer the game gets. We're all having fun, friends, but no one needs that. (2) I always try to give the fun of the Big Quiz Thing precedence over the hardcore competition. So if seven friends show up wanting to play a little trivia together, I'd rather not feel pressure to split them up for the sake of "the rules."

So we're sticking with eight as the team limit. See how that goes. Adjust in the future if need be.

Otherwise (or perhaps in spite of, or maybe because of), last night was another wonderful, wonderful show. We learned that Gumby has jungle fever, I can't write a question about sports unless it relates to Gilligan's Island, candy bars are a little disturbing-looking close up, several of you remember reading Fu Manchu stories in the 1920s, mercilessly few of you have seen Trapped in the Closet, and men do not like to record songs written by Prince. See, entertaining and educational.

Now the standings. Our last show of the year is on December 22, when we bid DJ GB a temporary goodbye so that she can pump out that kid:

1. Strippers for Stephen Hawking
2. Fantastic Fournicators
3. Incontinental Congress (thanks to the night's best Smart-Ass Point: "Q: One tenth of a dollar is a dime. One hundredth of a dollar is a cent. Although it exists only abstractly and in accounting, what is the four-letter word for one thousandth of a dollar?" They said "GM stock.")
4. Meatwood Flack/The Quizz-Knows (tie)

Next time our video round is called "The Absolute Greatest Trivia Game Ever Invented in the History of Mankind!!!" Perhaps hyperbole—it's just that I don't want you all to be able to prepare. But maybe it will be the best thing ever, who knows…