Round 1 at the Old Pequliar on April 1, 2008.
Average score: 6.76/11 (21 teams)
1) What country is described in the Onion’s Our Dumb World atlas as “a shortcut with its own national anthem”?
2) What Pacific Northwest region centered around Spokane shares its name with a region in California, as well as a David Lynch film?
3) If someone asks “Will it play in Peoria?” what state are they concerned about?
4) Washington, Utah, California, Vermont, Kentucky, Cyprus, and Mars are each home to a mountain with what name?
5) The only Celtic Nation on the European mainland is what former kingdom and current French province?
6) The Dead Sea borders Israel and what other country?
7) Texel, Vlieland, Terschelling, and Schiermonnikoog are four of the Frisian Islands that are part of what country?
8) For the first half of the civil war, Mesilla, New Mexico, was the capital of what Confederate territory?
9) Two US state mottoes are in French: Union, justice, et confiance and L’étoile du Nord. For one point each, which states have those mottoes?
10) What Asian country is described by Our Dumb World as “where a kid can be a kid prostitute”?
Answers:
1) Panama (17 teams got it; 3 guessed Belgium; 1 guessed Liechtenstein)
2) the Inland Empire (8 teams got it right; wrong guesses were all over the map, but my favorite was Dune)
3) Illinois (everyone got it)
4) Olympus (17 teams got it; wrong answers were Baker, Etna, Adams, and no guess)
5) Brittany (9 teams got it; 4 guessed Normandy; others were Champagne, Gallatia, Burgundy, Britton, Gaul, Saxony, Aragon, and blank)
6) Jordan (14 teams got it; 3 Lebanon, 2 Egypt, 1 Iran, 1 blank)
7) The Netherlands (8 got it; 4 Denmark, 3 Norway, 1 each Iceland, Sweden, New Zealand, Turkey, blank, and — my favorite — Your Momistan. Kind of interesting: no one guessed Germany, the only other country that owns some Frisian Islands.)
8) Arizona Territory (5 got it; 6 guessed Texas, 2 New Mexico, 2 Louisiana, 1 each Oklahoma, Utah, Nevada, Sonorra, Western, and Indian Territory)
9) Louisiana, Minnesota (20 got Louisiana; 4 got Minnesota; other guesses included 3 Alaska, 3 North Dakota, 4 Maine, 2 Vermont, and 1 each for Wisconsin, North Carolina, Wyoming, Michigan, and blank)
10) Thailand (19 got it; 1 guess each for Vietnam and the Philippines)