I’ve decided that this coming trivia season I’m only going to be attempting to get to “finals” in one  trivia league instead of both of the leagues that I’ve been playing for about the past 2.5 years. So it comes down to choosing between Sporcle Live, the league I’ve been playing in since 2012 – or My Trivia Live, the league I’ve been playing since February, 2016. I’m only planning to do this for the current trivia season, I may go back to doing both leagues in the winter season. I haven’t thought THAT far ahead yet!

Why only one? Well, this month, both trivia leagues had their tournaments. This means there were three tournaments spread over three different weekends in August! Only when the last one was approaching (which happened Aug. 25) did I start to feel the throes of “trivia madness.” All I could think about was getting it “over with.”  In other words? My cup had… runneth over. By the time it was all done, all I wanted to do was crash! Which is basically what I did all day Sunday. It was nice, we binge watched some episodes of Legion (which is a seriously f—ed up TV show), and I finally got around to seeing Get Out. I really enjoyed it! Jordan Peele became the first African American to receive the Oscar for best original screenplay for this film and also the first African American to be nominated for best picture (as a producer), and best director all in the same year. Interestingly enough, I did a blog back in February of this year where I used a set of D&D dice to “randomly” pick Oscar winners for 2018. And sure enough – my “bones” called for Get Out to win best original screenplay! Apparently, the “bones” don’t lie! Well, they don’t lie ALL of the time! Hey…I’ve used D&D dice during trivia games to help determine point wagers and I’ve tossed a coin on either/or trivia questions. When your brain fails you, why not see if probability does you a solid?

A bizarre scene from Get Out. I don’t want to reveal TOO much, but it’s kind of like The Stepford Wives only it’s ANOTHER group of people who have had their minds…toyed with. Seriously… just go see it! Or go to IMDB and read all of the spoilers or read the wiki page! 🙂

My “spidey senses” are telling me that all of the next trivia tournaments  will be in December.  Since Sporcle is doing theirs on a Saturday instead of Sunday, there is also the chance that TWO trivia tournaments will be scheduled the same day and around the same time (this happened in December, 2016). Even if they’re not scheduled the same day, tournaments in December will be a nightmare on a lot of levels. One, people’s weekends tend to get tied up around the holidays, and it can be difficult to “put butts in seats.” Two, it’s a busy time of year for me at work and I’m not allowed to request time off. Three, there’s a potential for “inclement weather.” I remember having a trivia tournament in East Lansing in December, 2017 and I was so worried about potentially crappy weather that I wound up booking a motel room nearby “just in case!” I canceled the reservation when the extended forecast turned out to be pretty favorable.

So which league am I choosing? Well, let’s talk about the “pros” and the “cons” of both leagues!

Sporcle Live – Pros

• Slightly easier to qualify for finals if you pick the right bar in which to do so
• Tournament dates are laid out well in advance
• Keeps players Dave and Evan in the game (both are strong Sporcle Live players)
• Five chances to win money instead of three
• Can win a qualifying spot even without playing all of the games

Sporcle Live – Cons

• Five player max makes it difficult to fill seats at some tournaments
• Sometimes the questions are too “pop culture” heavy for the players on my team who possess a lot of nerdy “book” style knowledge – lots of weak pop culture categories
• Prizes are lesser even though there are five money spots instead of three
• Our players are all 40 and older (except the “loaner” Evan), so sometimes we’re just a bit too “old” for the questions (especially if they are about recent music, reality TV, etc.)
• Difficult to win prizes in the weekly games without at least three players or more (though sometimes we get lucky)
• Must wager points on questions knowing only the category – and if you lose points by missing the question, those are the points that are reported to the league
• My team’s track record in winning money in their league championships is not good. We’ve only managed to win cash prizes in finals three times since 2012!

My Trivia Live – Pros

• Four players max instead of five makes it easier to fill tournament seats
• Questions tend to be more “friendly” for my older teammates
• My team tends to do better in their tournaments (we have finished in the top 10 in three “finals” championships out of five that we have managed to qualify for (May, 2016; December, 2016; July, 2017). We won the $2,500/first place prize in July, 2017
• Easier to do “more with less” in terms of players (we’ve managed to qualify for semifinals two seasons in a row with just two players (on average) per night
• Can wager on questions accordingly after hearing the question first – and even if you miss it, your score before the final wager is what gets reported to the league
• (This is minor) – Less paper required for taking notes on questions!

My Trivia Live – Cons

• Semifinals can be rough and either make or break a team. We have only managed to get to a finals five times out of eight tries based on performance in semifinal games (our pattern tends to be “every other”)
• Sometimes the questions are worded very, very strangely and cause a good deal of confusion
• Some of the MTL bars tend to be a bit more “seedy” than Sporcle Live bars (we’re currently playing in a “dive bar” on Monday nights for MTL).
• MTL tournament dates/locations often aren’t known until a month beforehand. That can make it difficult if you’ve already made plans the weekend of a tournament, like, say, a trip you planned for your wedding anniversary (ahem)

And The Winner Is….

We will be focusing more on qualifying in the MTL league this upcoming season than Sporcle Live. Though we still plan to go out and play Sporcle Live games! Beer money is beer money! I think there are advantages in playing in both leagues, even if not both leagues in “contention.” Questions are shared between the two leagues quite often, after all!

For something different to do this season, I am giving some thought to using Evan’s team number when I play out at Oscar’s, just to give his team a shot at the league championship, since his team’s chances of even playing the minimum games at Sticks aren’t very good! And of course, if his team needs a player or two, who knows??? Let HIM bear the responsibility of assembling a team. I can certainly use a break from “herding cats!” As for Original Gravity, I would love for another team besides ours to have a shot at the league championship this time. I put a lot of work into qualifying there on two non-consecutive seasons, and it’s a good time for us to step down! This will not only be a good thing for the other teams, but more importantly, it will be good for my sanity (heh, what’s LEFT of it, anyway)! I’m surprised I’m not in a looney bin after THIS crazy month (the month’s not over yet, bwa ha ha)!