Trivial Occurrences
Over the years I've enjoyed an occasional round of pub trivia, usually with some success. Selected highlights include:
- For three years in a row early in the 00s my work had a yearly pub quiz. My team won all three years in a row under the name the "Carnivorous Hand Puppets". It's been a long time, but I believe Eli, Gaela, Faith, Judie and Tim were all on those teams all three years, with assorted other popping in and out for a year or two. The last year we went so far as to have t-shirts and actual carnivorous hand puppets (I had an owl), which was really all Gaela's fault, as such things often are. The fourth year none of were able to make it, and then the event didn't happen again.
- A few years ago M and I played two rounds of trivia at Bomba in Rocky River. Our team "Lady Space People" was destroyed in the first game and then crushed all our opponents in the second game with a score of 82 of a possible 85.
- My immediate family plus pussygalore66 won a round of trivia in Denver back in 2018 as "The Out of Towners".
- When I visited pussygalore66 in New Mexico in 2011 we did trivia somewhere. I don't recall if she was the host or if we teamed up, but either way there was more drinking than trivia.
- The coworker who hosted the second two of our work trivia nights also used to host a regular trivia night out at various bars. I went a few times, mostly with coworkers (under the name "Hookers & Blow") and another time with M and her friend Kris, but without my larger CHP team never did terribly well.
These were all one-offs, but now M and I have done virtual trivia six weeks in a row. M's childhood friends Jess & Robert recently moved to New Mexico from Pennsylvania but have been doing virtual trivia from their old bar back in Pittsburgh. Would we like to join them doing virtual trivia on Tuesday nights? Yes, we would. Did I keep slightly obsessive stats about the outcomes of weeks we've done it? Excluding our April 13 debut (we tied for fifth), yes, I did. Here are the results for the team "Pandemic! at the Disco."
Date# on TeamScore in First Three RoundsScore in Second Three RoundsFinal ScoreFinal RankingPoints Off of FirstBar Snack
April 276182644Tied 4th-4Mozzarella Sticks
May 44182846Tied 5th-4Mozzarella Sticks
May 1161829472nd-3Jalapenos Poppers
May 18518.52745.5Tied 4th-3Fried Mushrooms
May 2561827451st!+2.5Macaroni & Cheese Bites
Apparently Drew the quiz master moved everything online once the pandemic started, requesting only that people kick some money in if they found it entertaining. There are quite a few recurring names in the 25-30 teams that turn up every Tuesday, so apparently most people do. The prizes for 3rd and higher are donations to Pittsburgh area charities (we gave to a diaper bank), so it's mostly just for pride. Perhaps most critically, we realized that we could use the air fryer to make bar snacks from the freezer section of the grocery store, so we have been leaning into that as hard as we can.
For those curious about format, there are six rounds, each with 7 questions. In the first five rounds, each question is worth one point. As to the virtual aspect, we're all in Zoom, and after asking the questions each team is thrown into a breakout room for seven minutes
Round 1 - General Trivia. Some sort of numerical trivial question is added as an "tiebreaker" question for future rounds, e.g., "How many feet long was the ship stuck in the Suez Canal?"
Round 2 - Team Choice - Each week, a team is selected at random and can suggest a theme for the third round of the next week.
Round 3 - Visual Round - A video is shown. Identify whatever category of things is called out in the round theme.
Round 4 - General Trivia.
Round 5 - Audio Round. A song is played. Identify something about it that is called out in the round theme, typically but not always the artist.
Round 6 - Lightning Round. Each question is worth two points. The seven answers are tied together by a theme; identifying it is worth another two points. The teams only get four minutes in the breakout room.
Of course, individual rounds are usually themed beyond that with various clever connections, but that's the general formula. The maximum possible score is 51.
It's unclear how much longer the virtual trivia will continue as it sounds like they may be moving back into the bar in the near future, but it's been a fun night "out" for the last few months.
- For three years in a row early in the 00s my work had a yearly pub quiz. My team won all three years in a row under the name the "Carnivorous Hand Puppets". It's been a long time, but I believe Eli, Gaela, Faith, Judie and Tim were all on those teams all three years, with assorted other popping in and out for a year or two. The last year we went so far as to have t-shirts and actual carnivorous hand puppets (I had an owl), which was really all Gaela's fault, as such things often are. The fourth year none of were able to make it, and then the event didn't happen again.
- A few years ago M and I played two rounds of trivia at Bomba in Rocky River. Our team "Lady Space People" was destroyed in the first game and then crushed all our opponents in the second game with a score of 82 of a possible 85.
- My immediate family plus pussygalore66 won a round of trivia in Denver back in 2018 as "The Out of Towners".
- When I visited pussygalore66 in New Mexico in 2011 we did trivia somewhere. I don't recall if she was the host or if we teamed up, but either way there was more drinking than trivia.
- The coworker who hosted the second two of our work trivia nights also used to host a regular trivia night out at various bars. I went a few times, mostly with coworkers (under the name "Hookers & Blow") and another time with M and her friend Kris, but without my larger CHP team never did terribly well.
These were all one-offs, but now M and I have done virtual trivia six weeks in a row. M's childhood friends Jess & Robert recently moved to New Mexico from Pennsylvania but have been doing virtual trivia from their old bar back in Pittsburgh. Would we like to join them doing virtual trivia on Tuesday nights? Yes, we would. Did I keep slightly obsessive stats about the outcomes of weeks we've done it? Excluding our April 13 debut (we tied for fifth), yes, I did. Here are the results for the team "Pandemic! at the Disco."
Date# on TeamScore in First Three RoundsScore in Second Three RoundsFinal ScoreFinal RankingPoints Off of FirstBar Snack
April 276182644Tied 4th-4Mozzarella Sticks
May 44182846Tied 5th-4Mozzarella Sticks
May 1161829472nd-3Jalapenos Poppers
May 18518.52745.5Tied 4th-3Fried Mushrooms
May 2561827451st!+2.5Macaroni & Cheese Bites
Apparently Drew the quiz master moved everything online once the pandemic started, requesting only that people kick some money in if they found it entertaining. There are quite a few recurring names in the 25-30 teams that turn up every Tuesday, so apparently most people do. The prizes for 3rd and higher are donations to Pittsburgh area charities (we gave to a diaper bank), so it's mostly just for pride. Perhaps most critically, we realized that we could use the air fryer to make bar snacks from the freezer section of the grocery store, so we have been leaning into that as hard as we can.
For those curious about format, there are six rounds, each with 7 questions. In the first five rounds, each question is worth one point. As to the virtual aspect, we're all in Zoom, and after asking the questions each team is thrown into a breakout room for seven minutes
Round 1 - General Trivia. Some sort of numerical trivial question is added as an "tiebreaker" question for future rounds, e.g., "How many feet long was the ship stuck in the Suez Canal?"
Round 2 - Team Choice - Each week, a team is selected at random and can suggest a theme for the third round of the next week.
Round 3 - Visual Round - A video is shown. Identify whatever category of things is called out in the round theme.
Round 4 - General Trivia.
Round 5 - Audio Round. A song is played. Identify something about it that is called out in the round theme, typically but not always the artist.
Round 6 - Lightning Round. Each question is worth two points. The seven answers are tied together by a theme; identifying it is worth another two points. The teams only get four minutes in the breakout room.
Of course, individual rounds are usually themed beyond that with various clever connections, but that's the general formula. The maximum possible score is 51.
It's unclear how much longer the virtual trivia will continue as it sounds like they may be moving back into the bar in the near future, but it's been a fun night "out" for the last few months.