It doesn’t happen “quite” as often as the naming of a new Pope, and the event is not signified by smoke signals, and death is not typically a requirement for someone new getting the job. But…

Some people reading this may have already heard as much. However, if you haven’t already heard, (ahem) – Ypsilanti, Michigan’s “Corner Brewery” (officially called Arbor Brewing Company Microbrewery) will be getting a different trivia host after July 7! The current host Tim recently announced as much on his FB page that he uses for his public hosting purposes. He said he will be moving back to his home state of Ohio.

Turnover for hosts at this location has been remarkably low over the past 12 years trivia nights have been going on here, which is not exactly the norm. If my memory serves, Tim was the fourth permanent trivia host at this bar since it started offering trivia nights in 2012 (which is when me and my trivia team began playing here). The first host I recall was named Aaron, the second was Samantha, the third was Kuma and Tim took the job in the early months of 2016.

Though no trivia host, or human, for that matter – is perfect – I feel that Tim did a decent job of running what is arguably a challenging trivia “ship” to use pirate parlance. This trivia show typically draws between 80-100 players or more encompassing, at times, 20 or more teams. I’d say the average team size is 6-7 players, though teams of 8-10 are not uncommon. A trivia pal of mine years ago jokingly called them “megateams.” If you’re serious about playing here, it doesn’t hurt to show up as long as two hours before game time just to babysit a table (which can be dull, dull, dull)!

His shows regularly began AND ended on time, he was professional and courteous in between games, and I didn’t really hear anything bad about him from other players. He also did not drink on the job, sadly I’ve seen at least a couple of hosts lose their gigs because of excessive drinking! Most seem to exercise moderation well enough.

I can only hope that whomever takes over this show can do it flawlessly. It’s not a show for anyone but a focused and experienced host, though maybe there is a newer kid on the block who’ll surprise us all!

My team has not regularly played here since 2016, mainly because that is around when a good number of our players were moving or had already moved out of state, and we couldn’t really compete with much success against teams outnumbering us so greatly. I still try keeping an eye on this place, where I am a regular visitor. Occasionally I’ll still bring a team here since it’s so familiar and close to home for us.

I’ll try to get out here after the new host takes the reins to see how things go!