I may not be totally happy with how things have rolled over the past few months concerning myself and my trivia team – Miskatonic University Fighting Cephalopods – but as of right now? I couldn’t be happier! I’ll try to enjoy THAT while it lasts…

A few months ago, I had a decent player fall into my lap. No…not literally! On the eve of a tournament in August, I was messaged randomly by a player on my trivia team’s FB page asking if I wanted help in a tournament. “Yes, I said – what are your knowledge areas (yada yada).”  Long story short, I told him “Welcome aboard!” He joined my team in the tournament – and we came SO close to getting a first place prize that day! If only we had wagered…on the final question (sigh). I was not only impressed with his diverse knowledge areas, but also with the way he so flawlessly fit in with players he had never met before (myself included)! He teamed up particularly well with another “loaner” player named Kevin. I joked that they have rhyming names (Evan and Kevin).

Now that I have a better idea of Evan’s knowledge areas – after playing with him for a season  – I know better than to wager too low on a final question again!

Evan plays on a rival league team, but I feel that our teams together are stronger than our teams are separately. He has problems getting players out for regular games, and even more problems getting them to tournaments when they manage to qualify. I have a fairly strong team – and I can usually field a decent tournament team. But clearly something was missing – we were in dire need of some “fresh blood.” Our team’s youngest player was born in 1975! This new player is younger – ALMOST young enough to be my son (had I gotten started with motherhood in high school…perish the thought – that would make me too much like my mom, lol). So this younger player has a good finger on the pulse of pop culture categories that generally leave my team clueless. And in return, we’re strong in a variety of pop culture areas involving things that happened long before he was even born (and we’re stronger in certain other knowledge areas, too). He is also strong in plenty of other knowledge areas that are weaker for us. I’m constantly surprised to learn what this guy knows!

A funny generation gap moment between me and this guy happened at a game about a week ago. The question involved the song “Every Rose Has Its Thorn,” which was insanely popular when I was in high school. This guy said he knew about this band because of a reality TV show that the lead singer has appeared on. My comment was? “I LIVED this song, Evan!”

But it’s so much more than what he knows – which is obviously important when answering trivia questions (duh).  He also LOVES trivia and coming out for games. He brought it all home at a game last night when he said aloud, “I’m ready for some trivia!” Music to my ears! The game started almost a half hour late because the bar didn’t have a table ready for the host right away. That was not the host’s fault. Though I do kind of think that the game dragged out a bit TOO long due to a bit TOO much talking on the mic. On that note…it’s high time I wrap up this blog, isn’t it?

It helps that Evan also gets along great with my husband, who tags along to more trivia games than he cares to (he sometimes says I “drag him to games”). So this helps motivate my “sometimes” reluctant husband to play. And the fact that we have a good chance of winning prizes when we meld our minds keeps us ALL eager to keep on playing together!

In addition to all of that, things are going well with the longtime regulars on my team, too. We’re changing up our trivia routine this season, which seems to have made them happy.  I’ve secured my four-player roster for an upcoming tournament – this time I am using all “locals,” though one of them is not a regular (he helped greatly in our first MTL tournament in 2016). Hell, if my team’s happy, I’m happy! For now… 🙂