- Sheldon becomes so intent on demonstrating his intellectual superiority over the other guys that they kick him off the Physics Bowl team and replace him with his nemesis, Leslie.
- With the perennial winning team not participating this year, Leonard, Howard and Raj feel that their foursome are the sure winners of this year's edition of the university's physics bowl. They have to talk a reluctant Sheldon into entering with them, which they do manage to do. They regret doing so after Sheldon takes control of everything and as such has taken any fun out of the process. After the threesome kick Sheldon off their team, Sheldon vows revenge by forming his own team. Despite Leonard's discomfort with the idea, they decide to ask Leslie Winkle to be Sheldon's replacement, who declines until she learns that they are planning on destroying Sheldon in the process. During their match, Sheldon, who believes he is basically fielding a one man team (his teammates are a janitor, the lunch floor monitor and her son), has to decide what is the most important goal.—Huggo
- Howard gets word that the top team of the university's annual physics bowl is out of the running. So, Howard, Leonard, Raj and an initially reluctant Sheldon decide to form a team (Ultimately called "The Perpetual Motion Squad"). Yet, the team dynamic is threatened when Sheldon begins to dominate the others because he feels that he is superior to everyone else and can win the competition without them. They throw Sheldon off the team but, out of spite, he forms his own (called "The Army Ants"), made up of members of the custodial staff, while the guys fill their slot with Leslie Winkle, who is only joining for the opportunity to beat Sheldon.—Jerry Roberts
- The guys decide to compete in a university quiz called physics bowl after the strong competitors drop out, but Sheldon's showboating is too much. Sheldon wants his own team name. Howard had suggested the "PMS" or the Perpetual Motion Squad (we can go all night), while Sheldon wanted a name based on animals. Raj suggests the Bengal tigers, but Sheldon argues that pound for pound the ants are the most ferocious warriors in the animal kingdom. Raj mocks that at least no-one can incinerate a Bengal Tiger with a magnifying glass. He wont let anyone else on the team answer any questions. The group had asked Penny to host a mock competition for them to test their readiness, but it descends into a fight as Sheldon wont allow anyone else to answer any questions. He nominates himself as the team captain (he even suggests a Star Trek based theme uniform where Sheldon would don the Captain's Gold, while the rest would wear the crewman's red colored uniforms), and they eject him from the team.
Sheldon, upset, vows to form his own team and compete against them. The guys, in need of a fourth member, ask Leslie Winkle. She at first declines, but accepts on hearing they are opposing Sheldon, who has often criticized her research and gender. She calls Sheldon a misogynist who had suggested that Leslie leave her research for a career in housekeeping, laundry and child bearing The guys name themselves PMS (Perpetual Motion Squad, an unintentional pun on pre-menstrual syndrome). Howards gets printed shirts made for the entire team
Sheldon's team is named AA (Army Ants, an unintentional pun on Alcoholics Anonymous), and comprises Sheldon (who forbids answers from his teammates), the 3rd floor janitor, the lunch lady, and her son (or possibly her butcher). Penny also comes to witness the contest, but ends up dosing off.. The contest is really close (with both teams going head to head) and by the last question the PMS is leading the AA 1175 to 1150. The last question is worth 100 points.
The last question is an equation that needs to be solved to get the answer. Leonard presses the buzzer, but didn't know the answer. He guesses 8.4, which is wrong. All Sheldon's team had to do was to solve the equation to win the contest. But Sheldon himself was clueless on how to solve the equation. PMS win when Sheldon, unable to answer the last question, refuses to accept the janitor's answer, which is actually correct: he explains that despite working as a janitor in America, he was a physicist in the former Soviet Union. Sheldon would rather lose alone than win as part of a team. Howard is ecstatic at the win and descends into the crowd and tears off his shirt..
Title reference: The Batman cookie jar ("Bat Jar") given to Sheldon when he is kicked out of the original team. Sheldon is happy to receive the cookie jar, but is still unwilling to forgive Leonard for he sees as a betrayal
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