When I walked into a bar called “Sticks” for a trivia game Thursday, there was a player sitting at a table next to us whom I hadn’t seen at a trivia game at that bar for quite a few years. It didn’t take me long to figure out why he was there, and a short time later he came over to explain to me what I already knew.

“If Mike wins a trivia spot here tonight, this means he doesn’t have to win the game Saturday at Oscar’s,” he said to me, referring to Mike, a player who usually plays solo games, but for that night had assembled a “dream team” to help him advance. Honestly…I knew that was what was going on the very SECOND I walked into the bar (I ain’t no spring chicken, after all). In short, if Mike won this game, he wouldn’t be one of the teams for me to beat on Saturday. So them winning would actually help ME out.

“Yeah, I know,” I said. Unfortunately, I knew this meant that the other teams that night…were screwed! I actually felt kind of bad for them… I even went over to one of the other teams, which had a player who has helped out my own team over the past several months.

“Hey Evan,” I said, “It looks like Mike brought a team to help him out tonight and they’re probably going to win. That guy in the glasses is really, really good.” I’ve known the guy for a few years, and knew him to be a “ringer.”

Evan didn’t really seem fazed, but thanked me for the warning! My husband and I were actually prepared to play with Evan’s team if he didn’t have a team show up, but he did, so we just kind of sat out the game and had some drinks. Evan’s team actually did quite well in game two, and were only two points behind Team Mike, but they were too far behind to be able to overtake them.

This, of course, put me in kind of a strange position. Of course I wanted Evan’s team to win! But if Mike’s team won, it would be a benefit to my own team, so in the end, I was pretty much looking out for Numero Uno! When scores were read for game one, I cheered on “Team Mike.” I knew most of the players on that team, so all was good, right?

Wrong! A female player sitting at a table next to me shot me the DIRTIEST look. Only a British woman could have shot an icier stare than that one!

Out of all of my Facebook profile photos, this was the ONLY one where I was doing an “icy stare.” The zombie effects are ALL PhotoShopped by my husband (no makeup). The hat hair is all real (this shot was taken after a winter hike).

And I totally understood why. Here we had a team that on every other game of the season featured a guy who played by himself (which he does quite well on most trivia nights). And in the last game he assembles a “dream team” to destroy the competition. Twist in the knife, if you will. Seriously…those other teams didn’t have a CHANCE! I’ve been on both sides of the competitive trivia “coin,” if you will, so believe me, I can empathize! I play on a team that is good enough to scare other teams off on trivia nights, but we’re not SO awesome that we don’t still get our asses handed to us! I’d like to think that overall it keeps us pretty humble!

Interestingly enough, it was this very trivia spot where I first got a real taste of being on the “flip” side of the competitive trivia coin! Rewind to the summer of 2012, we had previously played for a couple of seasons at a joint called Corner Brewery, and pretty much dominated the scene there. So we thought we’d take our act on the road, and check out this watering hole. Boy were WE in for a surprise! There was a team playing here featuring the “guy with glasses,” among others, and they were really, really good. They pretty much wiped the floor with us most of the time, unless we happened to get crafty with a wager on a final question or something. It wasn’t totally un-fruitful, we wound up winning enough gift card prizes to keep us coming back. And our “millennial” player at the time, Alex, was kind of hooked on the “bottomless” fries that were part of the menu (watching him squirt dabs of ketchup on individual fries and eat them was kind of a mesmerizing experience, lol).

In the process, the players on our two teams got to know each other pretty well. Our team has improved greatly since those early days of getting trounced regularly at Sticks, and the team that kicked our asses is still one of the most formidable local trivia teams out there! They regularly win top prizes in regional tournaments, and they STILL keep us on our toes! Both as individuals, and when they assemble as a team. Players on that team have also occasionally helped out my own team, so even though the competition can be fierce, there is still mutual respect!

Let’s rewind to that angry woman who shot me the dirty look for cheering on the “dream team.” And also rewind a bit further back two years ago to a trivia game that also likely pissed off the trivia teams in the room – for a different reason.

In this game in November, 2016, the game’s top team would advance to a regional tournament. Two of the “teams” in the room were actually individual players, neither of whom actually “needed” to play in the game for a tournament spot since they’d already locked in their spots in other ways. Let’s just say they wanted to play “just for fun.” I was one of those players, and deliberately played by myself just to “see how I would do.” I had players offer to come out to that game, and I told ’em to take the night off. This was my “white whale,” and I wanted to try slaying it!  The other “single player” was a player from the really good team I’ve already mentioned (not the guy with glasses, a different guy, but just as good of a player).  A trivia host described this player as an “assassin” before, when he went to a semifinal game and won a tournament spot by himself. Since I know that guy kind of well, I will say that “assassin” is NOT an inaccurate description of him! Even playing by himself, underestimating him in a trivia game is very, very ill advised….

The result? Those two single-player teams wound up winning first and second place respectively (I finished second). Now think a bit about how you would feel if you were on one of the other “teams” in the room. You put together a group of people you hope to give you the best shot at trivia glory – only to be taken down by two “lone gunmen?” The tournament spot wound up going to the third-place team, so there was probably no real ill will over that. Winning a tournament game by myself is still on my bucket list, lol…someday…someday! Someday my prince will come, like that “Snow White” song? Nah! I want something even better than THAT!

So, angry glaring woman at Sticks? I know how you feel! I’ve BEEN there, girlfriend 😉