The Roasters

The Jell-O Shooters

Team Double J

The BJ's (short for Brian Joseph)

Team TBA

Team Distinguished

It was a rocking good time out in The Spot In Golden last night for some hot brain-on-brain action with Mind Games Live.  For our first round (the appetizer) we had some Wuzzles.  Team Bartender was busy doing his job (bar-tending) but did manage to get five points.  Ahead of him were the Roasters, and then Skoolin’ U.  Team TBA and Distinguished managed to tie for third place with 8 points.  The BJ’s grabbed second with an impressive 8 1/2, but it was the crafty group of Jell-O Shooters who took the round with a perfect score.

For the entree round we had a dish of Famous Name Us.  A couple of new teams joined us late in the round: Suck It, Trebek and Team Double J.  Both answering the three questions they arrived for correctly.  The Roasters continued to rack up points, coming in third.  The BJ’s and Distinguished tied for second with fifteen points apiece, while Skoolin’ U and The Jell-O Shooters managed to share the top scores with just one more point.  These close scores are why it’s important to remember your e-mail extra!  A Play-Off ensued and Skoolin’ U managed to win the free pitcher by guessing closest to the right percentage of Caucasians in America.

Time for a Bonus Beer Question, and Dylan from Team Distinguished managed to get himself a little extra something to drink.

Four dessert we finished off with a course of Out Of Odrer, I mean Out Of Order.  Suck It Trebek got a lucky thirteen points this round.  The BJ’s coming up after them.  With 25, 26, and 27 points respectively were Skoolin’ U, The Jell-O Shooters and Team Distinguished.  But making up for the lost time were last round’s late arrivals Team Double J taking the round with 30 points.

The full three courses of MGL feasting over it was time to tally up the scores and see who won.  Once again, it all came down to one point with the Jell-O Shooters edging out Team Distinguished 51 to 50.  Don’t forget to bring in that Email Extra, folks!  And I will see you all again at the Spot real soon.

Golden Building Department

Team Porch

It was a good day at the Spot in Golden.  The sun was shining and people wanted to stay on the outside patio … where Team Porch preferred to sit, sending in a representative each question to take back to their team and to confer together for an answer.  They managed to out-do team Bartender, who managed to get a style point, but the first round was golden for team Golden Building Department, who managed to get a perfect score for Hink Pink.

While nine points is impressive when there are only nine available — Golden Building Department’s repeat of the exact same score was less than enough to top round two winners: Team Porch, who had 13 points in Balderdash.  And they even managed to do a pretty good vocal impression of a theremin.  Team Porch member Josh also managed to walk away with this week’s Bonus Beer Question.

By round three, Eye Know, the scores were tight and the competition was fierce.  There was some hubbub over the “16th Chapel” that did manage to get straightened out.  However, it was not enough and team Golden Building Department managed to edge out Team Porch by two whole points.  But if you think that was close… the overall scores for both teams were exactly 41; leading to the most intense play-off face-off about sheep gestation in the history of world.  Much to the dismay and perhaps even disgust of Team Porch, the Golden Building Department managed to get the number of days exactly right and won themselves a pretty sweet gift card, but I have a feeling that both teams will be back, bitter and ready to play as the Summer of Swag continues and the prizes are upped with the addition of a movie-pack!

AAI

It was a dark and stormy night at Bar Louie in Westminster on Thursday, but the battle for title of Mind Games Live victor was hot and heavy.  First off we had a round of Play On Words.  Luckily everyone had a good view of the the TV screen – as well a keen eye for observation and puzzles.  Jersey Shore managed to rack up a couple of points for their first round.  Behind them were AAI who joined us as we were already in progress but did a good job of quickly catching up.  Just Us Chickens had an impressive showing with eight points, but they were unable to topple Team Baker who walked away from the round with a perfect score.

Round two featured a new game entitled Pass The Popcorn – a chance to show off your cerebral cinema skill and speed.  Just Us Chickens once again found themselves just one point shy of besting the round winners Team Baker.  AAI managed to come in third this round, but did quickly make up for it by winning the BBQ (Bonus Beer Question).

Our final round of the evening was Likewise which involved guessing what everyone else would guess, as each team tried to get on each others’ wavelength.  AAI continued strong with several creative answers.  A new team, appropriately named New Ones joined us for this round and managed to come in third.  But as always second place belonged to Just Us Chickens while the evening’s title remained firmly – if barely – in the hands of Team Baker. Everyone promised to be extra careful driving home that night in the ice and snow so they could all come back next week to battle it out in some more Mind Games Live.

Just Us Chickens

New Ones

Team Baker

It was a clear but chilly Tuesday up in Longmont as several grizzled competitors came into Dickens Tavern for their weekly MindGames fix.  The first round featured Tribond.  While the Bar Boys, Bondomatic, and the Venus FlyTraps all did respectable jobs, B&S and the Zipper Heads both managed to end up with a perfect nine score.  The only way to answer this was a question regarding the number of Munchkins in the Wizard of Oz which B&S managed to win.

The second round got even hotter as teams were encouraged to buy drinks for their competitors in the hopes the inebriation might give them the edge.  This time we had a special Valentime’s Day theme with Love The One You’re With.  While most teams did pretty well, the eighth question was a real stumper and your host ended up giving a style point to anyone who turned in any answer at all — or even a blank sheet of paper.  In the end Zipper Heads and B&S were in what should’ve been a three-way tie for first place, but the mighty Venus FlyTraps turned in their Email Extra Question to take home the round and the free appetizer.

The Bonus Beer Question then showed just how badly everyone over-estimated the “I Love You” computer virus from 2000.  And by the third round we were joined by a team that looked far too young to be carrying the name of Killers.  Bondomatic continued to stay strong — especially considering that he was a one-man army.  B&S and Venus Flytraps both made good showings, but the Zipper Heads finally broke out of second to win not only the round but, with the help of their Email Extra Question, got enough points to win the cumulative total for the night.  More important than the free pitchers and gift certificates however was the fun and competition everyone enjoyed throughout the evening.

Zipper Heads

B & S

Bondomatic

Venus FlyTraps

The Camper Kings - who refused to hold hands for this picture.

There have been many great and interesting prizes awarded during the history of MindGames … T-Shirts, rounds of booze, gift certificates and even cash, but Thursday night at the Bar Louie in Westminster was a first: A BRAND NEW CHAIR!

That’s right an officially licensed Denver Broncos(TM) folding tail-gate chair.  I may have mistakenly announced that it was a lawn chair, but I was soon corrected.  It is a tail-gating chair.  If you put it on your lawn it will explode.  Clearly with prizes like this, the teams were extra bloodthirsty that night.

The first round featured Play On Words – which most teams seemed to have some difficulty grasping the concept of at first, but soon everyone got into it, and there were many correct answers given.  As well as many amusing incorrect answers.  EZ$$ and The Odd Couple entered into the fray at the very end of the round, but were still able to wrestle up a point apiece.  Camper Kings followed behind them.  Ahead of them by a point and a half were the entertainingly under-aged Chicken Wingz.  One point ahead of them  were Hokies 1, and ahead of them One & Done was tied with Team Awesome.  Where’s My Lap Dance? managed to pull into second place, but the round ended up being won by Baker.  For a change of pace those who couldn’t hear very well were at less of a disadvantage than those who couldn’t see very well.

Garage Band was the theme of the second round – and apparently we have some budding maestros in our MindGames midst.  Odd Couple, managed to best their one-point score from last round but still couldn’t crawl out of the cellar.  Baker, who did so well in the last round ended up second to last in this one.  Hokies 1, was just one point behind Camper Kings, who were one point behind EZ$$ who were tied with  One & Done.  Team James joined us this round – and managed to get third place by half point for convincingly arguing that David Bowie’s collaboration with Bing Crosby pre-dated his work with Queen.  Where’s My Lap Dance once again came in second – although they did earn their Brainy Points for the evening.  But the ultimate Garage Band winner this evening was Team Awesome.

After a round for the English dweebs and the Music geeks, it was only fair to throw a round to the Math nerds.  This time it was Triviathon.   Despite having a numeral in their team name, this was not Hokies 1’s round.  A new team, Slayer (no relation to the band) joined us this round and managed to get the same score that One & Done and Baker both did.  Once again Where’s My Lap Dance managed to reach second place, this time sharing the honors with Team James.  However it was Team Awesome who lived up to their name, taking the round as well as the big grand prize for the evening.   The chair.  Hopefully next week we will be competing for a matching sofa set and barcalounger (TM).

Team Awesome -- who now have a new place to sit.

Team One & Done -- although it seems like there are three of them and they are not yet finished.

Where's My Lap Dance? Lapland!

Team Chicken Wingz -- they had to leave early because it was past someone's bedtime... can you guess whose?

Team Baker -- who did not make me any pastries.

There were several teams who arrived ready for battle at Bar Louie in Westminster.  And even the lowest scoring of them should at least feel smarter than their MindGames host this week.  At least none of them managed to accidentally erase all the photos they took.  So bear with me as I try to paint you a mental picture instead…

Ok, so there was this one guy with short-ish brown hair and I think he was wearing glasses, but maybe not.  Alright, this is not my strong suit.  On to the games.

Round one we had Tri-Bond.  While the aptly named 3 Moms Wild Night Out, may have had the lowest score, they did earn half a point for a hilarious answer which I certainly could not re-post here for fear that young impressionable children might read it.  EZ$$ racked up five points before disappearing for the next round and a half.  We had a plethora of numerically themed team names including B2, 42, and 4 Caesars who all did quite respectably.  But if you have a problem, and if you can find them, you can always hire The A-Team… to help you with your three-way questions.  I love it when a plan comes together.

The second round is where some people certainly began to feel lost – which was apropos because the theme was Where In The World? Almost every team changed the answer at least a few times after the second clue was given.  But still Baker, The A-Team, 3 Moms Wild Night Out and 42 managed to find their way to a decent score.  However team If You Can Dodge A Wrench You Can Dodge A Ball must’ve had a built-in GPS system because they were able to navigate the highest score for the round.  Not only was their team name a mouthful to say every round, but they also managed to earn another 50 “brain-y points” towards earning their free prize.

Round three featured SqueezePlay – which ironically enough featured the tightest scoring I have ever seen in a round of MindGames.  EZ$$ returned to the fray only to find themselves tied with If You Can Dodge A Wrench You Can Dodge A Ball for last place … by only getting 26 of the 27 possible points.  Maybe If You… should’ve saved their e-mail extra question for this round instead.  I had to take half a points off of The A-Team’s and 42’s scores for spelling and just to add an element of drama.  However a perfect score allowed team Baker to win the round with 27 out of 27 points.  While that certainly was impressive, it was not enough in the final analysis to push If You… out of first place for the total scores that evening.  Which is good, because given their unerring sense of direction I wouldn’t want them to come looking for me.

It was a cold an icy night up North in the ‘burbs we call Westminister.  But a few hearty souls braved the weather, much like Robert Peary, and enjoyed a hearty round of MindGames.

The first round featured some “Hink Pink”, which most teams did very at well at.  These team like to rhyme.  They must do it all the time.  (Although you wouldn’t know it, I really am a poem writer).  But it was the large, loud and boisterous Team W.O.L.W.S.B. that won the ound and the fabulous T-Shirt.

Team W.O.L.W.S.B. showing off their newly won T-Shirt

As we plunged into the icy depths of round two we found ourselves exploring “Famous Name Us”.  Everyone seemed to know who we were talkin’ about (Willis).  But as close as the contest was, the Brainy Point-earning team Say It Ain’t Snow captured the title for the round.  As well as saying what we were all thinking that night.

Seoncd Round Winners: Say It Ain't Snow

While the final round, saw the intrepid Team W.O.L.W.S.B. abandoned at the base camp (or maybe they went to see a movie), a new team joined us, Oh, Canada! This round featured the ever-popular and well-loved game Fast Figure.  And while everyone knew their American Idols and Black-Eyed Peas last round, nobody could quite get the Bob Dylan question this time.  And while team One & Done came in at the middle of the first round this group of apparent mathematicians did so well with this game, not only did they win the round, they managed to accrue enough points to win the night overall.  Their winnings bulging out of their pockets and they bundled up and prepared to face the Arctic Circle that was the short walk across the parking lot to their cars.

Latecomers, but eventual winners, One & Done

T-BAGZ ... I am sure named for their love of sitting in the parlour room quietly sipping tea, and not for some obscene act.

TEAM NETTE ... fishing for answers

MESA posing with fellow team (and server) MEGHAN

THE GOODS also posing with MEGHAN. She apparently was the mascot or muse of several teams that night.

SMARMY OF ONE aims for the stars ... or at least aims for being the next Corey Hart

This week over at Bar Louie in Stapleton (or is it Northfield?) featured some of the closest and toughest MindGaming yet.  The first four teams were all within seven points of each other.  Everyone was clearly thinking threesomes for the first round, Tri-Bond.  Team Mesa failed to impress their waitress Meghan by scoring only point.  Meghan on the other hand managed to score three points, writing down answers whenever she wasn’t busy actually doing her job.  Nations of Beers started a little late but managed to rack up six points by the end of the round.  T-Bagz and The Goods each got eight points to create a tie for second place.  Both teams were astonishingly close when it can to guessing the number of Saturday Evening Posts that Norman Rockwell painted, but The Goods managed to secure the silver medal for the round.  Meanwhile FOUR (!) teams got perfect scores creating quite a bottleneck at first place.  Ram Rod, Smarmy Of One, Team AA and Team Nette were all there, none of them with nearly as good of guesses in the Norman Rockwell question, but Ram Rod did manage to come closest and win the round.

The second round featured Just for Starters, a MindGamesLive original, as well as a wider range of scores.  While every team managed to get the answer to the second question correct, not a single one actually spelled Pinocchio correctly.  Luckily, I’m not a stickler for that kind of thing.  Meghan came in last this round, perhaps because she was actually busy bringing you guys your beers and food.  Team Nette and Mesa were tied just ahead of her.  Ram Rod made a decent showing ahead of them, but also had to go back to work instead of playing games all night.  Smarmy of One scrambled to fifith place.  Ahead of him by one point was Team AA.  And ahead of them by one point was T-Bagz.  Surging to second place was the illustrious (and probably drunk) Nations of Beers, but The Goods managed to maintain their perfect record, earning them first place.

The final round was based on Such and Such.  And such as it was…  the remaining four teams were fighting bitterly tooth and nail.  There was little room for frivolity or style points now.  Smarmy of One collected another thirty points despite having no one to confer with the whole evening.  T-Bagz managed to come up with 33 of the missing pairings, while the round and another 34 points went to Nations of Beers earning them their first round win of the evening.  The Goods‘ perfect streak was snapped, but they did score another 31 points.  That only got them third place in the round, but was enough to keep them the big victors of the night.  Although the biggest winner was probably Meghan who we hear got tipped well enough to put her kids through college.

Till next week keep gaming and playing.

-Scot

Even your friendly servers want in on the action. You want to give them a good tip? Try let them beat you next round.

So it was a new week, with a new round of games and new group of groups.  The first game up was Catch My Drift.  There was an obvious that people knew their slanguage.  Or at least were pretty astute when it came to guessing.  Although it seemed to some teams that every time they thought the answer would somehow relate to the criminal justice system it didn’t, and vice versa.  The Stealers did manage to get half of a point for saying that “seed” in fact meant “sperm”.  I guess Biblical Slang counts too.  Charlie’s Angels – 1 did make a godd showing but ended up in last.  Team JR managed to get ahead of The Stealers 5 to 4 1/2, but the first round laurels went to Team Short Bus, whose name I assume was ironic.  Like that movie, Short Bus, which I could only make it through the first five minutes of.

The second round was a new game called Squeeze Play.  Several of the teams felt confident that they were going to sweep

One would assume that The Stealers got their because they're fans of the Pittsburgh football team and not because they were planning to dine-and-dash.

the whole round easily.  That is until the Chester A. Arthur question.  Apparently people don’t know their presidents as well as their fast food slogans.  Although, employees of Bar Louie were obviously ineligible of winning, that didn’t mean they couldn’t play, and so they fielded their own team, called Ram Rod which began playing in this round scoring a respectable 17 points.  Cisco also joined the fray halfway through the round — in time score 6 points.  Team JR got 14 points this round, but The Stealers and Team Short Bus both did manage to get perfect scores of 18 points apiece.  A tie-breaker question was asked, and while Team Short Bus did manage to guess slightly closer to the correct answer, The Stealers claimed that The Price Is Right rules applied and they should win because they didn’t guess over the actual number.  To prevent rivalry from turning into animosity I declared that everyone was a winner.  In their hearts.  Yes, I seriously said that.

Round three featured the popular party game Outburst as its theme.  There were several good guesses and many more obscene ones on some the questions.  The knowledge that

Don't laugh at Team Short Bus -- they're special. And they're gonna kick your ass!

some of the teams demonstrated in terms of illegal drug use was frightening; especially considering how many law enforcement officers were in the audience.  Team JR did manage to score an addition three points this round before taking off.  Cisco claimed another 14 points catapulting them into fourth place.  The Stealers stole another 17 points giving them second place for the night.  Despite knowing that they couldn’t take home any of the prizes, Ram Rod racked up an impressive 20 points and third place overall.  They also tied with Team Short Bus for first place in Round Three.  This time there was no debate and Ram Rod won the round with a bonus question about the British version of Monopoly fair and square.  This did not bother the mighty Team Short Bus however, who still managed to take the overall win for the night.  But more importantly were the friendships made.  And then broken.  And then made again.

Team Cisco here insisted I wait until his lady friend returned from the restroom so that the picture would look beautiful. He's a smooth talker, that Cisco.

Until next week.

-Scot