This week, the plan is music trivia Monday at Corner Brewery, and McShane’s later in the week.

A Sporcle Events spot *may* get a visit from us sometime this coming weekend (that needs to be discussed with my trivia pardner and is TBD).

As of now, I don’t plan to go to the MTL finals as a spectator, and I haven’t heard about any teams desperate enough to need me as a player! Unless I get a smoke signal – or text or other notification – I don’t plan to go.

But that’s “as of now!” I have been known to change my mind!

For now, we’re giving it a go at least once a week at McShane’s until at least Memorial Day Weekend. After that we’ll figure out what we want to do.

McShane’s is a fairly competitive trivia spot, and we’ve never played an entire season here. We really don’t know what to expect, and haven’t gotten all of the teams down yet.

So many of our previous local My Trivia Live spots have stopped doing trivia shows, which is one reason we’ve started playing at McShane’s. Wurst Bar, Tower Inn and Powell’s all stopped offering trivia nights in the past several years.

Even more in the Sporcle league – Maiz, Red Rock, Tower Inn, Wurst Bar, Johnny’s Grill, and BDubs, just to name spots we played more than a few times in the past.

Yes, Wurst Bar and Tower Inn played for “both teams,” lol!

What – you don’t remember that brief minute that Wurst Bar offered Sporcle trivia games? I want to say it was later in 2012.

Another defunct Ypsi trivia spot I played once was Cultivate, a coffeehouse/taphouse hybrid. I’d be lying if I said that it was the first time I’d ever waged a trivia battle in a tent (Canton Liberty Fest was the first time for that checklist item).

Cultivate had a covered tent in its outdoor beer garden with propane heaters and tables inside. It was not a good spot for trivia unless you had a team that could occupy an entire picnic table.

Funny – Cultivate started as a coffee joint, became a coffee slash taphouse with overpriced beers, closed – and is a coffee only joint again. The circle of gentrified life?

Not all coffeehouse/taphouse joints are overpriced. The Owl in Milan offers a good selection of decently priced beers, cocktails and ciders in addition to trivia nights. Also coffee drinks and tea. Too bad it’s a bit of a drive for us, and a certain person plays there regularly whom I’m not keen on sharing a room with (I have my reasons). It’s always something, isn’t it? 😀

Speaking of one and done trivia spots in Ypsilanti, The Mash Bar. No, it’s not a M.A.S.H. TV show themed bar, the name refers to whiskey. Or some kind of other fermented hooch? We played there once in late 2023, and it just…wasn’t for us. Too bad, because the location is perfect for at least three of us. It has weird low tables and seating, low lighting, weirder and very “interesting” acoustics, bar-only service and an overall “gentrified” vibe. I dig that they rehabbed a longtime vacant historic building dating back to the 19th century, but that doesn’t mean that I want to spend my time and money there. I don’t want to lean over a coffee table height table to write on, dammit! And that lighting is just too poor. I don’t mind lower “mood lighting” in bars, but not on trivia nights!

Don’t get me wrong, Mash seems like a nice enough place. It just wasn’t the right place for us.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – at its best, trivia brings people together! True trivia lovers will wander out of their comfort zones in the pursuit of trivia (within reason).

There is no place a true trivia lover won’t go to get their fixes as long as the lighting and seating is decent, the drinks aren’t too pricey, there aren’t players that you’d rather not see in the same room as you and… any number of other things! 😁