My trivia team has been playing in two different trivia leagues for the past couple of years – one is Sporcle Live, which we’ve played since 2012, and the other is My Trivia Live, which we’ve played since 2016.

To start things off? Things are going well for us in the MTL league as of now! We’re in first place in the bar’s standings, which if we stay there, will earn us a semifinal spot down the road. As for the Sporcle Live league? Things aren’t going quite so well for us this season! We’ve been playing fairly well, and I’m confident that with a little luck and some effort we could secure a tournament spot if we really wanted to. But that’s not going to happen this season.

This was the only image I had saved on my drive under the word “surrender.” Meh, that’ll do!

For the first time in my team’s history…we’ve decided to NOT be in contention in the upcoming Sporcle Live finals Sunday, April 15. We have two possible semifinal games we can play to qualify, and I’ve opted instead to just take a break this time and not go for it. I am open to the idea of letting another team use our spot if they need a tournament spot, but I’m not actively trying to field my own team for finals. Yes, I am stating all of this with a very heavy heart, and it goes against every competitive blood droplet in my body! But it’s the right thing to do. I just don’t have the players to back me up in a big tournament anymore. Two of my players are not available to play on weekends, another player just bought a new puppy and said he can’t commit to being able to leave the dog on tournament day. As for me? My heart just hasn’t been in it these days. Though I still enjoy the Sporcle Live games, I’ve become kind of disenchanted with the league as of late. Not so much because of the league itself, but because of the trivia nights we’ve been playing this season. One of the spots is SO popular that teams have to arrive an hour before game time just to get a table! Also, the spot is so competitive that the host routinely makes the final questions more difficult JUST for our bar! The other trivia spot we have been playing has also gotten more popular, but my distaste for its trivia scene is for a completely…different reason. I’ve never been happy with the host, but my displeasure with this host has hit an apex over the past several games. Lots of negative attitude from the host toward the players has made the trivia nights uncomfortable…and very, very unpleasant.

I’ve also kind of become disenchanted with some players on my own team – particularly one who is stubborn and inflexible, and will only play at certain places and on certain nights. And cannot provide his own transportation to games if the trivia spot is not walking or biking distance (or if weather is shitty).  If only one player is happy playing on Wednesdays? That doesn’t justify scheduling games there every week.

Trivia games have always been something I enjoy doing, but all of these factors have sapped that joy from me over the past couple of months. And I think the only way to get my “groove” back is to step back a bit and hit the “reset” button! A change of scenery just might do me some good…