Whether you are a kid, parent, or someone in the same room as someone watching a popular 80s sitcom starring Kirk Cameron…

Growing pains can be rough!

Buddy’s Pizza in Ann Arbor started offering My Trivia Live trivia nights about a month ago.

Buddy’s, founded in Detroit, is a Michigan-based pizza chain that has been around for decades. They claim to be the first restaurant to serve what is called “Detroit Style Pizza.”

It is rectangular in shape with a medium thick crust. Buddy’s uses Brick cheese, which is from Wisconsin, and is known for its smooth meltiness. Is that even a word? 🤔

My husband slash “trivia pardner” Mike and I decided to check the Buddy’s trivia scene out on a recent Monday night. We were led to the private room for larger groups.

Yes, we did have pizza! It’s rare when we eat during trivia games! Usually it’s just drinks.

In theory, a private room for larger parties in a restaurant that can accommodate about 40 people might seem like a great place to stash trivia players for a couple of hours!

In practice, though – perhaps Buddy’s might have to rethink where they want to host their weekly trivia nights!

The private room had six tables for the players and the host Jen.

All of the tables were large, accommodating six to eight players each. There was little space between the tables.

This meant that there had to be some sharing of tables, which, in a competitive trivia setting, can be… awkward.

We wound up sharing our table with another couple, though admittedly, we were initially reluctant to have to share the space.

I guess you could say what your boss says when something is unpleasant:

“It is what it is!”

Getting up to turn in answer slips was a challenge with the tables as crowded in as they were. Players had to try keeping their  voices down so that there was no sharing of answers between different teams occupying the same tables. We tried keeping our brainstorming on paper.

I think that there were eight teams playing on this night, all with 2-4 players on average.

That said, I hope that in future games at Buddy’s, players won’t need to have to share tables with other teams – or worse, be turned away for lack of space.

On a positive note, it’s great that the trivia nights seem to be taking off 😊!

From what I heard of the conversation among the staff, the trivia nights are proving to be popular at other Buddy’s locations too.

We’re not likely to return for another trivia night here for a while, since we’ll be playing elsewhere the next several Monday nights. But I do hope it works out well for the players who do plan to play there every Monday!

As for the game? We finished first with a $30 prize.

Now how about some abbreviated questions?

Round One

Alphabet – What three letter word can be made with the first three letters of the English alphabet?

Toys – Which doll was launched first, Raggedy Ann or Raggedy Andy?

Birds – What flightless bird has the largest eggs on Earth?

Round Two

Words – Merriam-Webster describes what word as a synonym for an antonym?

At the Movies – In 1990, what film rating did the MPAA replace with NC-17?

Wall Street – On Friday, October 13, 1989, there was a mini-crash of the stock market causing a drop in what industrial average?

Round Three

Accidents – The partial meltdown of what nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania was the worst in US nuclear power plant history?

My mama used to protest at these things! “Hell no, we won’t glow!” Oh the irony that she didn’t allow me to go with her because I was too young and there was profanity, yet the tough girl cousin she left me with for the day taught me how to… swear! 😂 I had such a good time with her that day, she was like a big sister to me! And she bought me a bag of Munchos! 😊

Countries – In 1979, what country granted sovereignty to the Basque region of Catalonia?

Anime – Boku is the lead character in what anime series?

Halftime Category – Geometry

What are the four resulting shapes of you slice a cone in half?

There were a lot more qualifiers for this question, sorry,  I didn’t write down this question in its entirety.

We got two correct shapes.

Halftime Scores:

Team 2 /King Cobra, 26; Spacecats, 29; Ballpoint Penguins/Two Trivias to Paradise/Date Night/Pods, 31; in first was Prions, 33.

Round Four

Fun with Flags & Which US state flag has a large red “C?”

Brand Names – What does the letter “B” stand for in the brand Oral-B? Miss, but oh so obvious when answer was revealed 🙄

Round

Today’s Singers – Singer Sabrina Carpenter played Maya Hart in what Disney Channel sequel? I wanted to put in a joke guess of “Dumpster Life of Zach and Cody” but we went with our freebie answer to avoid losing the points.

Round Five

Novel Characters – Author Frances Hodgson Burnett created what three word character described as a young prince with long blonde hair? Mike thankfully was all over this…

Trees –  The Dracaena Cinnabari tree is commonly called “Dragon’s (blank)” because of its crimson colored secretions? I watched a documentary series on Hulu about islands and thankfully remembered the episode about this!

Sesame Street – which character’s first name is Aloysius?

Round Six

At my normal trivia spot, players usually say this category name really loud when it is mentioned by our host Stacy. Nobody seemed to be doing this at Buddy’s, so I said it out loud (though not really loud)!

Science – HCL is the abbreviation for what chemical solution?

Online Phrases – What fiery two-word phrase describes a heated online exchange?

Snack Food – Chester Cheetah is the mascot for what Frito-Lay snack?

Scores heading into the final:

Team #2, 52; King Cobra, 56; Spacecats, 59; Two Trivias to Paradise, 61; Prions/Date Night/Ball Point Penguins, 63 and Pods (us), 65.

Final Question Category – Murder

Who was killed by Boston Corbett on April 26, 1865?

There was a tiebreaker for second and maybe third too- but there was some confusion. After some coaching from the peanut gallery, everything was figured out.

Game winners – Date Night, Ball Point Penguins, Pods.

Unless we decide to randomly play at McShane’s Thursday, our next trivia outing is semifinals Saturday, October 4 at McShane’s. As always, Go Pods, and stay classy, John Wilkes Booth!

Answers

R1 cab, raggedy Ann, ostrich

R2 opposite/obverse, x, dow Jones

R3 3 mile Island, Spain, Dragonball z

H circle, ellipse, parabola, hyperbola

R4 Colorado,brush, girl meets world

Rt little Lord Fauntleroy, blood, snuffy

R6 hydrochloric acid, flame war, Cheetos

F j Wilkes booth