I recently learned that a high school graduation party for my niece is going to happen on Memorial Day weekend. I had initially thought that such a party would be scheduled sometime in the month of June, which would mean potential conflicts with semifinals and the state championship in the Sporcle Live trivia league (both events will occur in June).

This means that a tournament run for our team is definitely NOT out of the question! We’re not going to qualify by being the “venue winner” at a single bar, though had we tried doing that at Tower Inn in Ypsilanti, we might have been able to do that. But my team has opted instead to try a “beer money or bust” strategy, which involves visiting the trivia spots we want to visit – when we want to visit them – even if they are not the same trivia spots every week. Playing all of our games at Tower Inn would not have kept us “sharp.” I believe my team benefits from regularly going out and “mixing it up” with other teams. By doing that, I’m actually kind of taking a page from the 2006 movie Beerfest. In that movie, a group of guys are “training” for an Olympics-style beer drinking contest in Munich, Germany and one of the things they do during their training is crash a local party to test their drinking “mettle.”

“Landfill” in Beerfest chugs some beer with some “randoms” at a party.

Mixing up the trivia routines keeps things interesting – and keeps us on our toes. One week we might play at Original Gravity, the next week we might play at Sticks – or Oscars – or skip Sporcle games altogether (have only done that one week this past season). Once in a blue moon if I can hustle enough players, we might even play at the very competitive Corner Brewery.  I recently started taking players out to My Trivia Live games, too – and we’ve been kind of “rotating” between McShane’s Pub and Powell’s Pub. Both of those places definitely feature players who help keep us on our toes! And I’d like to think we do the same thing in return.

Per the Sporcle Live league rules, there are other ways trivia teams can attempt to qualify for semifinals…

1. Any regular-season venue champion or team that has played at least fifteen games at any combination of venues throughout the season

2. Any regular-season champion and any team that has played a minimum of eight games at any combination of venues throughout the season.

We’ll definitely hit the 15 venues threshold by the time this season is done! If my team does qualify for semifinals – and we can get in (it’s a first-come, first serve thing – and venue leaders will be able RSVP first) – I say “trivia tournament ho! Avast ye scurvy trivia dogs – prepare to be boarded!”

I know Evan will be happy to hear this news! He’s played with my team in several tournaments since the summer of 2017, and he’s been a real asset for our team. Since he started playing in tournament games with us, we’ve managed to finish in the top 10 in regional tournaments three times – and in the top 20 once. Our best finish was in fourth place in April, 2018 (which got us a little bit of prize money). I know a good trivia player when I see one! As a plus, he’s truly in it for the love of the game – and not just along for the ride (like all of the others on my team). Don’t get me wrong – I appreciate that I have players who are fairly loyal and would follow me into Hell if I asked them to – but it’s nice to not have to beg players to play in tournaments. Or have them carpool with us (LOL)! No strings attached trivia! Is that SO much to ask, guys? Just show up and play already – no whining, no complaining! What is this…amateur hour (rant over)!

We’ll have to see if we get to RSVP! Always an adventure, Go Pods! Our next “trivia sea adventure” will be at McShane’s Pub tonight…