On most Wednesday nights, I try in vain to stay away from a local bar called “The Corner Brewery” to locals – aka ABC Microbrewery. That’s because it’s trivia night, which means if questions are being read on the mic and shown via PowerPoint on the screen, I have a hard time resisting the urge to try answering them! Sometimes, to avoid this, my friends and I will sit outside in the beer garden so I don’t have to hear the questions. Trivia addiction ain’t nothin’ to trifle with! And when the final questions are read, I just HAVE to go inside to see what they are! My team and I have played many, many trivia seasons at this bar, but gave it up simply because we just don’t have enough players to hold our own here. Most teams playing here have at least 6-7 players, on average. Also, you have to start babysitting a table about an hour before the game begins (so annoying).

Tonight? All bets are off! I’m thinking of sitting in on the venue tournament action tonight! Maybe I will even see if there might be a team who needs a player! I would prefer to play with a team of the “underdog” variety just to (hopefully) give ’em a fighting chance rather than one of the veteran teams. But I don’t think I’ll be too picky! I’ll go where I’m needed…

I haven’t had many chances to “sit in” with other trivia teams. I tried helping the Corn Fritters team last summer when they tried qualifying at the YpsiAlehouse, but we failed in our attempt! It’s tough playing against a team with a five-time Jeopardy champion!

A little more than a year ago, I attended a “quiz bowl” style charity trivia game in Detroit’s “Downriver” area. I don’t remember what ‘burb it was…I was going to join my friend Kimberly, and a couple of her trivia teammates for this thing. It was a…marathon! The event ran nearly four hours! My husband was furious when I got home (he got over it). We wound up finishing second, after losing for first place on a tiebreaker, which asked what size foot the Statue of Liberty has. So with the money we’d won, that pretty much reimbursed my entry fee! I’ll never play one of these games again! I love trivia, mind you…but not four hours of trivia intertwined with raffle…after raffle…after raffle!

 

A couple of years ago, I sat in with a team called Betty Ford Rejects, who play their games at an Irish pub in Berkley, a suburb of Detroit located in Oakland County. One of my friends, Amy, kind of “recruited” me to come out to their trivia night, saying that I would be on their “B” team that night. Teams only get to have five players max, so sometimes larger teams will split off into “A” and “B” teams. I thought it would be kind of fun to sit at the “kids” table, lol!

Me with the “Betty Ford Rejects” in July, 2016…I am unsure what the hell I was doing with my right arm!

Turns out I was bamboozled! I showed up at this bar, which was close to an hour’s drive from my home, and Amy informed me that I would be playing with the  “A” team, and not the “B” team. One of their players had to call off last minute, so I would be playing for “reals!” Amy and my husband Mike split off and played as the “B” team.

This meant that I had to talk to the team captain, Ryan! I gave him kind of a rundown of my strong knowledge areas, and he clued me in what his players’ strengths were, too.

Long story short? I helped this team win a tournament spot! Luckily a good number of the questions were in my “wheelhouse” – with categories like “The Simpsons,” and a final question about presidents’ birth states and their populations – to view the questions for this game, click here. After the game, Ryan sent a text to Amy saying, “Thanks for sending me that ringer, Amy!” Way to make me feel like a superhero (LOL)!