Season 21 recap quiz

Plus a special offer for Season 23!

Hi everyone!

With this being one of the year’s four off weeks for the league, I thought it was a good time to finally do a Season 21 recap quiz. Before we get into it, Season 23 starts on Monday, November 6 and it would mean so much to me if you’d consider becoming a paid subscriber (if you haven’t already).

I’m proud to say that over the past 22 months, there have been 455 School of Trivia quizzes on 455 different themes. On a personal note, I turned 39 on Friday, and I honestly think I’m better at writing and hosting this league than anything I’ve done in my life. A lot of you probably know me from Jeopardy!, and I think I was pretty good at that, but I know there are other people who can do what I did on that stage.

But I’m not sure anyone else could have created this experience. Maybe that sounds dramatic, but what I really mean is that I think I’ve put something unique out there into the world. Based on all of the amazing feedback I’ve received after nearly two years of doing this, and the fact that so many of you keep coming back month after month, I know a lot of you agree. Thank you all for giving this a shot — it’s no small thing to give over your hard-earned money, and I know it’s a lot to ask to put your faith in me.

And maybe it’s even asking too much. So I want to try something new this season and offer you a free trial for Season 23. Click below! — I really think you’ll be happy you did.

(It says “30 day free trial,” but don’t worry — no matter when you sign up I’ll make sure the free trial is extended through the end of Season 23)

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Season 21

295 players participated in Season 21. In the season 20 recap, I mentioned how there hadn’t been as many super-difficult questions (the lowest get rate on any question that season was 19.4%). Well, I was back with some toughies in Season 21, this time with 8 questions at 20% or lower. Only 13.9% of the league knew this fact about a celebrated American military man. I wasn’t surprised to see the most common wrong answer, as that’s the country I most associate with the Battle of the Bulge.

1. IN ACCORDANCE WITH WISHES TO BE BURIED WITH HIS MEN, GENERAL GEORGE S. PATTON WAS LAID TO REST IN THIS COUNTRY, THE LOCATION OF HIS HEADQUARTERS DURING THE BATTLE OF THE BULGE

On Day 6, 64.9% of the league knew which MLB team Bo Jackson played the bulk of his baseball career with, but I wonder how many players were helped by the Easter egg hint I put in the question?

2. I DOUBT HE LORDED IT OVER HIS NFL TEAMMATES, BUT MULTI-SPORT STAR BO JACKSON ONLY SIGNED WITH THE RAIDERS ON THE CONDITION THAT HE COULD PLAY THE ENTIRE MLB SEASON WITH THIS BASEBALL TEAM, NO MATTER HOW MANY FOOTBALL GAMES HE WOULD MISS

The season’s biggest land mine came on the Day 10 quiz about baskets. One thing about the scoring system for School of Trivia is that it tests how well you know what you know and what you don’t. Many players were rewarded for placing low confidence points on this one; others weren’t so lucky. If you put the most common wrong answer here, you had plenty of company!

3. A WICKER BASKET CALLED A CREEL IS MOST COMMONLY USED FOR THIS OUTDOOR ACTIVITY

Speaking of land mines, if I told you I asked the league what movie “Hasta la vista, baby” is from and only 61.1% knew the answer, would that surprise you? This might have been a little sneaky, but in my defense, I did include the release year!

4. SENT NOT LONG AFTER THE RELEASE OF THIS 1991 MOVIE, THE FIRST EMAIL FROM OUTER SPACE INCLUDED THE PHRASE “HASTA LA VISTA, BABY”

To finish the recap quiz, I wanted to include this Day 14 question, mainly because I’ve heard both of these songs many times and never made the connection (I also made the video myself, so I might as well get one more use out of it!) 46.8% got this one, which I thought was pretty impressive — there have got to be at least 5 doo-wop groups named “The ______ers” and I always get them confused.

5. SOUNDING A LOT LIKE “UNDER THE BOARDWALK,” THE BILLY JOEL SONG “AN INNOCENT MAN” IS AN HOMAGE TO THIS DOO-WOP GROUP LED BY BEN E. KING

The final results are archived here (season21.schooloftrivia.com). Thanks to everyone who played and congrats to those who advanced!

Good luck! As always, feel free to reply to this email with any questions, feedback, etc. (ANSWER KEY BELOW!)

Alex

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Answer key:

1. LUXEMBOURG (most common wrong answer: “BELGIUM”)

2. ROYALS (most common wrong answer: “ANGELS”) [hint: LORDE, the pop star who sang “Royals”]

3. FISHING (most common wrong answer: “PICNICKING”)

4. TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY (most common wrong answer: “THE TERMINATOR”)

5. THE DRIFTERS (most common wrong answer: “THE TEMPTATIONS”)