We are five weeks into the season in two different trivia leagues – Sporcle Live – and My Trivia Live. We’re attempting to qualify for the Sporcle Live end of season tournament by playing at a different spot this time, which is…

Original Gravity Brewing Co. (aka “OG”)

We’re no strangers to this trivia spot in Milan, MI, this will be the fifth season we’ve been in contention here since they started offering trivia in March, 2016. We only play during the non-winter seasons because of the longer drive (which happens to be a very pretty drive).

A church cemetery near Stony Creek/Willis Roads, which is along our route to OG. This area appears to have, at one time, been an incorporated “crossroads” village but now just has a church, a bank, and a convenience store.

For the first two seasons we played at OG, we were using “barhop” to get to the tournament, but last summer, we tried to qualify here for the first time in “earnest.” It wasn’t easy, but we won a spot at the end!  We also tried qualifying here in November 2017, but didn’t put that much effort into it (only played the minimum seven games), but wound up finishing third at the end of the season. Currently, we’re in third place, but have only had more than two players at one of the games. I am hoping to do at least one “girls night” here later this summer.

As for a little history of this bar’s trivia scene, one team (well, one person, really) has been a dominant force here since the beginning. This player has, under a couple of different team names, managed to claim four of the six tournament spots here since 2016. Two of those times, this “team” ceded their spot to the second place team because of his team having previously qualified.  The only two times this guy didn’t win was when he didn’t  play for a season, and when we won a spot last year. It’s very, very important to know the teams/players to beat when you’re trying to claim a tournament spot – and clearly this IS the person/team to beat at this bar! Their main player is a “local,” and for about four seasons or so, decimated the competition at this bar playing solo (though he was occasionally joined by other players). Last year, this player joined forces with the league team Big Heads Big Hearts, but he is clearly the “brains” of the operation. On Monday nights, this player also dominates the trivia scene at another Milan, MI bar in the My Trivia Live league. Last summer I brought my husband out to this bar to check out the trivia scene and it was kind of clear the place needed a LITTLE more competition! We were happy to oblige…

Another good team that has emerged at “OG” as of late is “This Is Sparta.” One of the players, Doug, previously played solo for a couple of seasons under the name “Suck it Trebek,” but is now joined by a least a couple of other players for weekly games. Though they are decent, I think when I bring a full team to do trivia battle, we can pretty easily hold our own if not take care of them! It’s great to have decent teams in the mix to keep us on our toes – but also have a level of competition that you and your team can handle. This was not the case when we tried qualifying for a tournament spot at a very competitive spot last season called the Corner Brewery. Miss a question for one point, and that could put you in a five-way tie for second! This is a good place to play if you have at least six good players or more every week, but didn’t work out so well for my smaller team (though we finished in fourth out of 13 qualified teams for the season, so not too bad). For us, three players is pretty much a “full team!”

A couple of other teams in the mix at “OG”  include Mott and Significant Others, Subaru Brothers and Where’s Trey. I don’t know a whole lot about any of these teams, but judging from how well they’ve done in previous seasons, I don’t see them as being too much of a threat for a tournament spot at the end. If we fail in our efforts at Original Gravity this season, we will again be using a “backup” trivia spot, which will be…

Oscar’s Sports and Grill

We’ve played here for a few seasons, and for a couple of seasons, have started using a “B” team on the Saturday night games. A “loaner” player named Evan has been able to play with us at a good number of these games, and has become a vital player for tournaments. His good attitude, love of trivia and solid trivia knowledge in diverse areas (many of which are weak for our team) and his younger age has made him a virtual godsend to our team. I hope to get him out to at least a couple of our games at Original Gravity this season when he is not playing with his own team on Thursday nights. My husband is not a huge fan of playing here because of the trivia host, but he will be joining us tonight (kind of a trade off for me having let him sit out last Thursday’s game at OG). Hopefully with three players we can make a little noise tonight and win at least one gift card!

That’s it for my little Sporcle Live Update. As for My Trivia Live, we’ve been playing Monday nights at Powell’s Pub in Ypsilanti. So far we’re in first place in the overall standings and barring any disasters, should be poised to get a semifinal spot for a second season in a row.