Las Vegas, Nev.
Carmen 70 years old and almost totally blind.
$500
Along with bitter and savory, all but which of these are generally recognized as one of the five basic tastes humans can detect?
A: Sweet B: Sour
C: Salty D: Slurpee
Spoiler
D: Slurpee
$1,000
A technique often employed by frustrated office workers, “percussive maintenance” is a euphemism for doing what to a piece of technology until it works?
A: Hitting it B: Smelling it
C: Taunting it D: Praying to it
Spoiler
A: Hitting it
$2,000
What actor’s stunt double is his look-alike cousin, a 6’ 2” Hawaiian-born man named Tanoal Reed?
A: Kevin Hart B: Dustin Hoffman
C: Daniel Radcliffe D: Dwayne Johnson
Spoiler
D: Dwayne Johnson
$3,000
While most casino table games are run by just one person, which game relies on a team of people, including a “boxman” and a “stickman”?
A: Baccarat B: Roulette
C: Craps D: Blackjack
Spoiler
Carmen’s boyfriend Greg. a Las Vegas native, knows it’s craps.
Spoiler
C: Craps
Commercial break
Carmen worked for the Braille Institute for 22 years. She’s also been a tap dancer, singer and songwriter.
$5,000
The Autostrada del Sole, or Highway of the Sun, runs through which two European cities?
A: Amsterdam and Antwerp B: Moscow and St. Petersburg
C: Berlin and Dusseldorf D: Milan and Rome
Spoiler
D: Milan and Rome
$7,000
The endangered Rüppell’s griffon vulture is considered the highest-flying bird in the world, having been spotted at a record altitude of approximately what?
A: 370 feet B: 3,700 feet
C: 37,000 feet D: 370,000 feet
Spoiler
Carmen doesn’t think it’s 37,000 or 370,000 feet, but those are the two that the 50/50 leaves.
Spoiler
C: 37,000 feet
Commercial break
$10,000
Which of these is a character from Gilbert and Sullivan’s “The Pirates of Penzance,” and NOT a character from the “Pirates of the Caribbean” film franchise?
A: Will Turner B: Captain Hector Barbossa
C: Governor Weatherby Swann D: Major-General Stanley
Spoiler
Carmen hums “I am the very model of a modern major general.” She’s never seen “Pirates of the Caribbean,” and hasn’t seen “The Pirates of Penzance” in 30 years, so she asks the audience.
A: 8% B: 6% C: 14% D: 72%
A: 8% B: 6% C: 14% D: 72%
Spoiler
D: Major-General Stanley
Commercial break
QotD
In a famous work, what philosopher called the life of man “nasty, brutish, and short”?
A: Friedrich Nietzsche B: Arthur Schopenhauer
C: Soren Kierkegaard D: Thomas Hobbes
Spoiler
D: Thomas Hobbes
$20,000
Spurred by the Clinton v. Jones case, in 1997 the Supreme Court ruled that a sitting president can be subjected to what while in office?
A: A Senate investigation B: An impeachment trial
C: A civil lawsuit D: A tax audit
Carmen knows
Spoiler
Andrew Johnson had an impeachment trial and Nixon had a Senate investigation
Spoiler
a civil lawsuit
Spoiler
C: A civil lawsuit
Carmen wins $10,000.
Carmen wins $10,000.