Pop culture trivia gets a lot more interesting when nobody really knows the rules yet.
In this episode of Maxwell’s Kitchen, Jesse and Phil compete in the first Pop Culture Trivia Game, with more than 30 categories covering movies, television, fast food, celebrities, music, history, random facts, and whatever else seemed worth turning into a question.
There are buzzers. There are drinks. There are points. There is a bowl full of random prompts. There is also a final round that can completely change the score.
The rules are not exactly airtight.
That becomes part of the game pretty quickly.
The First Maxwell’s Kitchen Pop Culture Trivia Game
The basic idea is simple: choose a category, answer five questions, hit the buzzer when you think you know the answer, and try to finish with more points than the other guy.
The actual categories are much less predictable.
The game starts with profanity trivia before moving into Taco Bell history, Quentin Tarantino movies, random knowledge, Steven Spielberg films, the Kardashians, TGIF sitcoms, movie quotes, McDonald’s celebrity meals, and a final round built around Canada, Colorado, and Mr. Sketch markers.
There are more than 30 categories available, so a huge part of the fun is not knowing where the game is going next.
Taco Bell History
One of the first big categories is Taco Bell.
The questions get into the original Taco Bell menu from 1962, when tostadas, burritos, frijoles, chili burgers, and tacos were all priced at 19 cents.
There is also trivia about Gidget, the Chihuahua from the “Yo quiero Taco Bell” commercials, the Kit Kat Chocoladilla, Baja Blast, and the evolution of Taco Bell sauce packets.
Naturally, this turns into a conversation about cheap bean burritos, late-night Taco Bell, old menu prices, and whether the food tasted better when everything cost less than a dollar.
Quentin Tarantino Movies
The Tarantino round covers Pulp Fiction, The Hateful Eight, Django Unchained, Samuel L. Jackson, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Inglourious Basterds.
One of the better questions involves the antique Martin guitar destroyed during The Hateful Eight. The instrument was supposed to be swapped for a prop before Kurt Russell smashed it, but the real guitar was destroyed instead.
There is also the story of Leonardo DiCaprio cutting his hand while filming Django Unchained and continuing the scene, plus the famous Inglourious Basterds moment where a character gives himself away by holding up three fingers the wrong way.
Random Trivia and the Moon Landing
The random category goes everywhere.
Elizabeth Taylor’s marriages. The number of people who have walked on the moon. The fact that six of the twelve men who walked on the moon were born in 1930. The four Gospels of the New Testament. A town in Texas called Cut and Shoot.
The moon questions also turn into a much longer conversation about why humans went to the moon several times in a short period and then stopped going for decades.
The trivia is technically still happening.
It just takes the scenic route sometimes.
Steven Spielberg Movies
The Steven Spielberg category covers some of the biggest movies and television projects of the last several decades.
There are questions about Jaws, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, The Goonies, Band of Brothers, and Hook.
That includes the famously difficult production of Jaws, Temple of Doom helping push the creation of the PG-13 rating, Spielberg producing The Goonies through Amblin Entertainment, and his work with Tom Hanks on Band of Brothers.
Kardashians and 90s TGIF
The Kardashians get their own category, including questions about Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker, Kim Kardashian’s connection to Paris Hilton, Kylie Jenner’s Instagram following, Robert Kardashian and O.J. Simpson, and Khloé Kardashian appearing on The Celebrity Apprentice.
Then the game jumps back to 1990s television.
The TGIF round gets into Full House, Dinosaurs, Step by Step, Family Matters, Steve Urkel, and Sister, Sister.
There is trivia about the original actor who played Danny Tanner in the unaired Full House pilot, the Sinclair family from Dinosaurs, the Step by Step opening credits at Six Flags Magic Mountain, and Steve Urkel becoming a breakout character after originally being written for a much smaller role.
Movie Quotes and McDonald’s Celebrity Meals
The movie quote round moves through 21 Jump Street, Forrest Gump, Half Baked, Billy Madison, and Fight Club.
Then McDonald’s celebrity meals become the next subject.
That includes the Travis Scott meal, J Balvin, BTS, and Saweetie, along with a discussion about why Sprite somehow keeps showing up in celebrity fast-food orders.
By this point, the trivia game has become a pretty accurate version of the podcast itself: start with a question, get distracted, argue about something completely different, and eventually find the way back.
The Final Trivia Showdown
The final round is built around three categories:
Canada.
Colorado.
Mr. Sketch.
The Canada question asks for the lead singer of Nickelback.
The Colorado question involves Coors creating Zima by removing the color and flavor from beer before turning it into a clear alcoholic drink.
And the Mr. Sketch question asks which scent belongs to the brown marker.
Somehow, that is enough to decide the winner of the first Maxwell’s Kitchen Pop Culture Trivia Game.
In This Episode
Pop culture trivia drinking game
Taco Bell history and old menu prices
The Taco Bell Chihuahua and Baja Blast
Quentin Tarantino movie trivia
Pulp Fiction, The Hateful Eight, Django Unchained, and Inglourious Basterds
Steven Spielberg movie trivia
Jaws, Indiana Jones, The Goonies, Band of Brothers, and Hook
Kardashian trivia
90s TGIF sitcom trivia
Full House, Dinosaurs, Step by Step, Family Matters, and Sister, Sister
Movie quote trivia
McDonald’s celebrity meals
Travis Scott, J Balvin, BTS, and Saweetie
Moon landing trivia
Nickelback, Zima, and Mr. Sketch
And a lot of conversations that were not supposed to become part of the game
