The Sporcle Live trivia league changed its league play format in 2019. Instead of three 13-week seasons annually – which was the “norm” for the league since about 2015 – the seasons are now 21-weeks long (two per year) and only the top 12 scores from teams playing at a venue regularly are counted.

This means that some teams already know that they’re not going to have a shot at being “venue leaders.” I’ve talked to a player on one of those teams, and he’s pretty discouraged! I can dig it – I’ve certainly been in that place with my own trivia team, too – you play to win – and in the end? You…don’t. He’s asked me for some advice – and I’ve made some suggestions to him about his game plan (giving a competing trivia league a shot), but I have no idea what he plans to do.

It’s tough “staffing” a trivia team when your players are spread out too much geographically. Players draw their own “lines in the sand” as to what they’re willing to commit to when coming out to games. Of course with your individual players, it all boils down to how much they actually LOVE playing trivia. Players in it for the love of the game will make those “little sacrifices” for their team. They’ll drive a bit farther to go to games, play the solo trivia nights just to keep the bench warm, try to win a lightly competitive venue by themselves, play on the extra nights and make sure they’re always available for tournaments, do crazy things in the name of “barhop” (Sporcle Live no longer allows barhop, though the competing My Trivia Live league still allows it). If their team needs a boost in scores, maybe they’ll come out to help for a game or two – see if they can make a difference. Then there are the other players – the ones in it for the socialization – or the ones who are “along for the ride.”

I only have one other player among my ranks whom I would say is in it for the love of the game – and that’s Evan. All of the others are in it for the… other reasons. I have the players that I have – and I love them all – I love them for coming out when I invite them to trivia nights, I love that they’re available for the tournaments when I need them (most of the time), and I love that on the whole, they’re “pretty good.” I’d like to think that I make the best use of the players that I have. My husband may not have any real “love” for trivia, but he’s certainly tolerated my trivia addiction and has been at my side for hundreds of trivia games – and loves it when we win some prize money!

I opted not to have my team try to “conquer” any bars in either trivia league in which I have been playing this year. I don’t know if that will change in the second half of the year (it very well could)! I may be in it for the love of trivia, but not everyone else on my team is! And I think they like the whole “just play for fun/ beer money” strategy we’ve been adhering to this year. After years of playing at a pretty competitive level, I needed to do what was best for everyone on my team (including myself). And that meant dialing it down a few notches! We’re not playing as many days a week, we’re playing to win individual games/beer money rather than entire seasons, not necessarily eyeing tournaments (though not ruling them out if the opportunities arise), calling off games when “life happens” and there is not enough interest and playing more “theme” trivia nights. Trivia is my passion – but for too long – it kind of became a “job.” An obligation – and that HAD to stop! Talk about drawing lines in the sand – it was time for ME to do that!

For the remaining four weeks, I’m going to see how things go at a new Monday trivia spot we’ve been playing – see if we wind up at the top of the heap and can get to semis without too much hassle. I’m keeping my options open!