For the past few trivia games at Powell’s Pub, we’ve had a “visiting” team in the mix. This team has been a challenge for us in our games, some of which we’ve won, and sometimes, they beat us. A few weeks ago, they knew the answer to an obscure question about authors that was off our radar, which was:

“What writer once said that he was the only person to have met John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, Lee Harvey Oswald and Sirhan Sirhan?” I could tell by looking at them and their discussion of answer possibilities that they were going to get it right (I can’t explain why, it’s just my trivial “sixth sense”). And with that, I KNEW we were sunk! You win this round! Well, actually Francis the bus driver won that round…

Francis is one of a couple of solo “barhop” players who are regularly in the mix on Monday’s trivia nights at Powell’s. Sometimes he even comes straight from work and wears his bus uniform to games. I actually think the bus uniforms are…kinda snazzy, in a way (sucker for a guy in uniform, lol). I just like the uniforms, well…uniforms in general (no matter who wears ’em). But I haven’t seen him wearing the bus uniform lately, so he’s either on vacation…or has retired. Usually if you can get him talking, he’ll put on his “quizmaster” hat and quiz you on recent questions he’s faced in trivia games (he’s out playing trivia games at least 5-6 nights a week). Which brings me to…”barhop.”

In the My Trivia Live trivia league, teams are allowed to “barhop” their way to finals, which means that if they play in enough spots throughout the season and stay among the top 10 teams doing this, they get a “free pass” to finals. I kind of chuckle at the word “free pass,” because like everything else in life, nothing is truly “free.” My own team has gotten into tournaments by “barhop” before, and it never felt like a “free” ride to me. It takes commitment! It’s a time commitment, a money commitment (have to pay bar tabs that your prizes don’t cover and pay for the gas) and by the time it’s all said and done, you could almost feel ready to get “committed” to an asylum, lol! Oh the crazy things my team and I have done in the name of “barhop…” I say “my team and I” but it’s REALLY all about me (the other blokes are really just along for the ride, when they’re willing to go). Let’s see…we played six nights in one week before, and we’ve driven to the outer limits just to “check off” a trivia spot. We’ll even play a trivia game the same night after coming back from a vacation out of state! Heck, why not do that a few times? We’ve driven hundreds of miles in a day and ended the day with a trivia game. Keep in mind you can do an 11-hour cross state drive in the state of Michigan, if you drive from the end of one peninsula to the other! Speaking of “commitment,” where’s  my straitjacket?

Alice Cooper (wearing a straitjacket) in the 2012 film Dark Shadows, which has become one of my favorite recent movies.

Despite the craziness, “barhop” DID have its benefits. It was kind of fun mixing it up with so many other teams, and doing so probably helped make us a bit stronger in the long run.  I still like to mix it up  from time to time and pop into places we don’t normally play, just to relieve the monotony of the weekly trivia games. And if all goes well, maybe our presence gives some other teams another teams a bit of a scare, or at the very least,  we give them another team to pummel into submission (it’s a win-win, really). Who doesn’t like “fresh meat?” Well, maybe vegetarians don’t (but that goes without saying).

I’m unsure what the “official” name of this team that’s been challenging us at Powell’s, but they have used the name “Golden Yaks” quite frequently. Their team has won prize money in a few recent tournaments, so they definitely have some “street cred,” even if I don’t happen to like all of them as individuals. I really don’t care for them as people, TBH, but I’ll respect them as far as their trivia abilities go. One of the guys on the team has said very inappropriate things to me in the past (and other females as well), and got a bit “too” friendly with me after a tournament last July (there’s “drunk” and there’s “stinking drunk” – he was the latter). And another of his teammates seems a bit too pompous for his own good. My husband jokingly refers to him as “The Pontificator.” Annoying or not, he is a consummate trivia lover and player – and he has never behaved inappropriately toward me. He obviously knows his stuff – and he’s more than happy to tell you ALL about it!

When they bring a whole team to our bar, they definitely improve the competitive scene! And that’s a good thing. Besides this team and another “barhop” team playing at our bar regularly (I’ll get to him more in a bit), there are really only a couple of regular teams we’ve been battling for supremacy for a couple of seasons now – “Dan Smith,” and “Ham Wallets,” who both typically bring about 5-6 players to each game. We’ve easily taken care of them as competition for going on two seasons now. So any visiting good teams out there are MORE than welcome to join in on the fun, I say!

Another “barhop” team playing at our bar is a team of “one,” but is more than good enough to hold his own in most weekly trivia battles! After last night’s game, he came over to us and said, “Well done” after we’d beaten him. Uh, thanks? Though this guy plays solo all season, he does invite others to play with him at the end-of-season tournament, and their track record for winning prize money has been very good! At least two top prizes within the past year have gone to this team, as I recall. I have known a couple of the other players he invites to his “party” for at least a few years and have played against them and their respective team too many times to count. One of those players helps keep me and my team on my toes every week at Original Gravity Brewing Co. Though he plays with one of the local teams at this bar, he is NOT to be underestimated when he plays by himself, either! He’ll just kind of quietly (more about the word “quiet,” in a bit, it’s an important plot point) stroll into a bar and…kick your ass – if all goes well for him.  He (imho) was clearly born in the wrong century, as I’ve speculated to myself before. He REALLY belongs in a “Wild West” saloon, if you ask me! I can see him fitting right in with that time period, instead of playing the trivia games, he would be perfectly at home at the poker tables, or sitting at the bar of a saloon quietly  drinking something…potent.  But maybe this is just me (pardon the digression)! Meh… I’ve seen too many westerns, haven’t I?

Val Kilmer as “Doc” Holliday in the movie Tombstone. Imagine a role reversal story where he would have to swap places with a trivia player from today and the trivia player had to learn to navigate a “Wild West” world…oh the shenanigans! Would “Doc” try to use his six-shooter to settle disputes about trivia scores or to confront players who were cheating during a game? Now THAT’s a scene I’d like to see!  Would the trivia player from today study the poker cards during a game  in case a trivia question about them comes up when he goes back to his own time? And would he subsequently get accused of cheating by the other poker players? Yeah, this script definitely needs work!

Last week when my husband and I were playing at Oscar’s sports bar (where this guy also occasionally plays), my husband said he hates it when he gets stuck sitting by a “chatty” guy at the bar during a trivia game. Then he said, “Hey, I could move down and sit by (name omitted), he knows how to keep his mouth shut.” I responded, “Yes, he’s good at playing ‘the quiet game.'” We didn’t actually end up moving and sitting next to him, but it was still good for a laugh!

Yes, you meet quite the interesting characters while venturing out into the pub trivia world!