As it turns out, my husband (who is off work all this week) wasn’t feeling too keen on just staying home with the kids tonight while I go out for the “girls” trivia night. JK, of course! We don’t have any kids! He was just unsure what he wanted to do, so I suggested he come along anyway and sign in to play solo. If nothing else, it would be another “team” the host could log for the night. He rejected that idea (not everyone has the required “sand” to handle a solo game, LOL). So I contacted Brad, and asked if he could be ready for us to pick up him by 6:30 and explained that he’d be joining Mike for trivia, he said yes. So they will play as a duo tonight (I’ll be interested to see how they do without me)! I think they will actually do…all right!

Splitting up will be a good thing for the host, since this is still kind of a new trivia show. I helped him hustle a couple of groups to sign up and play last week, and he joked that I should be on the MTL payroll! I wouldn’t want to be paid for doing that, but as “compensation” I’d love to have one round of questions per game that are all “me” questions in categories like Looney Tunes, Simpsons, Presidents, Zodiac, ’80s Movies, ’80s Music, celebrity deaths, etc. (hey I can dream).

Honestly, I don’t know if this place will be able to continue offering trivia. The bar/restaurant is never very busy, and doesn’t seem to have a solid group of “regulars” who could help support a trivia scene. If the place has to depend upon the 1-2 barhop teams who “might” show up and the two league teams presently signed up, then I don’t have a lot of confidence in its long-term viability as a trivia spot. I wonder how aware the Busch’s store employees are of the trivia nights in the bar that’s attached to the store in which they work? Might be good to plaster some fliers in the employee restrooms/break room wall by the time clock (hey what do I know about marketing)? I did ask the bartender last week about whether Busch’s employees stop in after work for drinks, and she said yes – they do. Maybe MTL DOES need to think about hiring me as a marketing whore (LOL)! Now to make that deal with Satan…(ahem)!

“Barflies” are essential for a bar to sustain a trivia scene, as well as a good number of trivia “junkies.” One thing I’ve noticed about trivia over the past several years of playing – is that a trivia night at a bar will be a magnet for true trivia “junkies.” A true trivia “junkie” will go into a dive bar for its trivia scene even if dive bars aren’t their favorite thing (example me and my team playing at Powell’s for about 2.3 seasons). Trivia junkies will also go into the more fancy places such as brewpubs and microbreweries for regular trivia nights, even if dive bars are more their normal “scenes.” The city of Milan is a good example – they don’t have a lot of bars in Milan, there is the brewpub Original Gravity, and there is a more “divey” bar called Fenders. Both places had trivia scenes for a while, but now only OG has the trivia nights. The two bars couldn’t be more different from each other (I’ve been in both bars and have played trivia in both places). I can think of some players who played in both bars’ trivia nights for a while.

I DID hear that a team that plays at Applebee’s in Canton on Thursdays might be switching over to this new trivia spot I’ve been playing (I really hope they do). One of the players is also a trivia host who hosts a couple of Ypsilanti shows and a show in Belleville.

I’m going to try to continue coming out to this place as long as it continues to serve up the trivia nights…but I also have to think about how viable it is as a semifinal qualifying spot, too. I’m not playing here to lose.

Recap of Wednesday’s game posted later this afternoon! I’ll be heading out for lunch in a bit.