Citylights

So, sorry folks for letting the day pass by yesterday without news of how Wednesday’s Pub Quiz went down at the Pig & Whistle. Here’s the scoop:

This week, I went with just my friend Kathy (names in this blog will all be changed to protect the drunk and disorderly, even if these dear friends were in fact sober…) which was cool because if there is less than four folks on one team, that team has a special shot at the “small team” prize (the smaller teams always score less than teams with say, 15 people). But the night was not off to a great start. We arrived at the bar around 8, and although the quiz does not begin until 8:30, we were late. By late I mean we could not get our own table. We had to sit at the bar. This turned out to be a huge disadvantage because throughout the evening, we had to listen to folks continually shouting drink orders to the bar staff. The shouting usually came from mouths only millimeters from our ears. This made it difficult to hear the questions. It made it difficult to hear eachother. And, most of all, it made it difficult for us to keep peeping eyes off our answer page (think back to the third grade when there was always one kid who never studied for his spelling tests and all you could think about was keeping him from looking over to your paper).

In addition, we didn’t start off too well. Apparently, Kathy and I had read the newspaper, but had read the wrong current events articles. A couple of educated guesses kept us afloat, but barely. (Special thanks should also be given to our favorite bar maid for sneaking us a couple key answers!). It came to the music round. We knew we were sink or swim at this point. Kathy and I always do best here, and we knew if we failed, we were doomed for the night. (The music round is a series of clips from 8 random songs. Teams must identify the artist or group performing that version of the song). Luckily, we made it through with only one mis-step (seriously, can you blame us for hearing a song we had never heard before and guessing the Beatles only to discover it was in fact George Harrison?). Kathy called Prince’s “Little Red Corvette” in one note; I called Nirvana’s classic “In Bloom” at the first hint of a Cobain howl (A disclaimer to readers: I am a HUGE Nirvana fan and there is little to no Nirvana trivia, song, or detail I could not recall from memory at any given moment).

In the end, the themed round brought us down quite a bit (the theme was “generals” and both of us were not really good with remembering which generals participated in which wars/battles) and so we didn’t win best small team. I figure we didn’t embarrass ourselves, so the night was not a total loss. We did decide never to get there too late to grab an actual table ever again.

So, in sum, quiz night was a wash I guess. But for those of you still wondering just how it works, here’s the run down:

Ray, your host, is a quirky Englishman from the north-east corner of Britain. He hangs out little stapled stacks of paper, each numbered 1-8, and a pencil prior to 8:30. These are your team’s answer sheets. The first round is pretty easy general knowledge. Round two is current events (hint: he always asks what movie was #1 at the box office the weekend prior - something to check each week before you go). Round three is a full sheet of paper with eight celebrity faces, photocopied in black & white and generally strange shots of well-known folks, that you must identify. Round four is the music round (see summary above). Round five is a themed round. Ray will tell you the theme, and it can be anything. Pay attention to the instructions here. Before round six, Ray asks ridiculously difficult questions - i.e. “How many eggs does the average American eat in one year?” - and walks around, giving people the chance to guess answers until someone gets it right. The winners here get a free coupon for a drink or a t-shirt or movie passes if they have them that week. He asks two or three questions in this fashion before the final regular round. Round six features pretty challenging general knowledge questions. The winning team gets a meager cash prize (I think it’s $30, but it’s been so long since I have won, I couldn’t be sure) to split amongst the team. The second place team wins a round of drinks. And the best small team also wins a round of drinks. Not too bad.

So, next week, get out there and check out the Pig. Tell Ray I said hello. I’ll be back there in two weeks, on the 18th, to celebrate my birthday. Come then too and buy me a drink!

Trackback URI | Comments RSS