Jul29

The One About Bar Trivia

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A few weeks back, we did bar trivia with another couple and won first place. We nearly didn’t, though. A tie breaker question was required. “What is the name of the company I work for?” the woman running the show asked.

Silence.

Then I thought, it must be on the screen somewhere. Of everyone in the room, I was seated closest, so I could easily read the small URL at the top, which included the words: Trivia Goat. Thus, I yelled it with gusto.

I kind of felt bad for the other would-be winners. Their table was much farther away.

Ah well.

The envelope, please.

Bolstered by the win and the $20 brewery gift card that could only be used on a subsequent visit, we returned a few weeks later with this same couple and wound up tying again!

For 8th/9th place. There was no tie-breaker to determine which of our two teams was the greater loser, but at least our beer was covered by our prior-won gift card.

Our foursome realized that being all of the same age-range was a detriment. We didn’t know 80s music or modern pop culture. What was required for maximum win-potential was a smattering of ages on our team. So whom did I reach out to for my Master Plan of Bar Trivia Domination?

Sensei and his family.

They were perfect: older than us with two kids younger than us. I proposed the idea and they, non-drinkers though they are, accepted, all but their youngest. Drat. He might’ve been handy the night we didn’t know the Final Fantasy VII character’s name or Aquaman’s wife. (If you’re silently shouting “Mera,” you are correct. Where were you a couple of weeks ago?)

So, with cups of water all around (including for Hubby and me, as we’re fighting colds), we started out strong. Sensei’s daughter, Coral, came through almost immediately with Ed Sheeran. (I’ve at least heard of the guy.) And later, she really took one for the team.

Our trivia facilitator promised 20 points to any team with a member willing to dance in front of everyone, to a song of their choice, for 20 seconds.

Looking around the table at my teammates staring into their clear plastic water cups, I feared I might have to do this myself. Was my dignity worth the potential promise of free beer? Dancing in front of my Sensei is a level of comfort I have not yet attained with him. Also, keep in mind, I was not drinking, so… you know.

But then Coral lifted her chin. “Okay,” she said with an expression of determination mixed with Crap, am I really doing this? “If she has the song ‘Take on Me,’ I’ll do it.”

“Of course she can play that song. Go, go, go!” I verbally pushed her off her chair, relief washing over me.

Then Coral had to wait behind several other people who danced at a vast array of skill levels, though all nonetheless entertaining in some fashion—a little less so the guy who went upside down, feet against the wall, and moved his butt in the air for 20 seconds too long. Just waiting in that line, I, personally, would have died.

But as the opening chords of Ah-ha’s “Take on Me” blared through the speakers, Coral busted out a tap dance routine she learned as a nine-year-old!

It was a thing of beauty, and I was disappointed when the 20 seconds were up.

Here’s a slideshow for you to click through.

Sadly, despite bouncing around in the top 3 (gift card range!) for most of the night, we wound up in, I think, 6th place, or so. I’ve noticed that the men on my team always insist on the maximum wager for the near-impossible “final jeopardy” question.

My advising against this madness is always met with the phrase “go big or go home” or “win big or lose big.”

And so we lost big, as we didn’t know the CEO of Louis Vuitton.

At this point, you may be wondering what the final question was the night we won and if we got it correct. Sadly, I can’t remember. Most likely, we didn’t, but no one else did either.

Despite our disappointing end to this night, Sensei and his wife are up to playing with us again, even without an interest in the beer gift card.

That’s right, folks: I’ve landed upon the perfect partners!

Sadly, Coral will not be joining us again, as she is off to med school. Her plan? To become a doctor in Africa. (I told you she was great.)

I guess I’d better work on my dance routine.

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94 responses »

  2. I could perform a belly dance to a country song. For 20 seconds. I think. You should bribe the emcee: 20 points for flipping five contestants in 20 seconds. See who volunteers first, you or Sensei.

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    • I think all the other contestants should earn 20 points for having to WATCH you do that, Flojo.
      If there were mats on the ground and my knee could take it, I’d flip people. Not sure Sensei knows how to do that. He’d be the first one I’d flip. Evil chuckle. 🙂

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  5. I love “Was my dignity worth the potential promise of free beer?” A very wise question and a great question to ask in advance of the dancing. Looks like Coral did a great job. So glad you found such good team members even if they bet it all! 🙂

    P.S. You can’t win every time otherwise all the others will stop showing up. 🙂

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  6. I would have LOVED to be on your team! And I’m great with 80’s music! How fabulous that Coral knows Take On Me to begin with. All hope is not lost in our future. I wish we had trivia near us. Or maybe I just need to do some searching.

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  8. What a fun night that was! A doctor in Africa, what an admirable woman. Isn’t it something how you can sign up for a class and end up socializing with your Sensei & his family? I bet you never saw that one when you first signed up.

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  9. Never went to a trivia night but I remember in the ’80s when the game Trivial Pursuit was popular. I always got the wedges filled before anybody else and then I’d get to the center square and the table would choose a sports question, which would I would invariably get wrong. Oh well.

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    • Oh yeah. The sports question when you get to the center. That’s my life too, tref. :/ Though once I got lucky with a question like which ball goes through a “napper” machine, or something. I worked out what seemed like a reasonable answer: a tennis ball. It happened to be right, and I won–on a sports question! If it can happen to me, tref, it can happen to you. Cue the 80s song reference: “Don’t – stop — belieeeeevin’!” 😉

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  11. This is delightful, the right mix of ages, the right mix of personalities, and *bam* you’re a contender. I haven’t done a trivia night in decades– and even when I did I never had the pleasure of seeing anyone within my group do “a tap dance routine she learned as a nine-year-old!”

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  12. Okay, for your pop-culture/trivia strategy, here’s what you need: A subscription to Disney/Hulu + Netflix + Paramount/Max; a Nintendo Switch + games, lots of videogames; a Spotify account, TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, Threads, Facebook (but don’t spend too much time on Facebook)–and make friends with influencers/concert-goers. 🙂

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  16. I was clicking through the slide show of Coral thinking, “Wow, Betsy must’ve really liked this dance because she took DOZENS of pictures”. Then I realized it was a seven-pic photo loop… Also, my browser tab cut off your blog title to read “The One About Bar…” and I thought, “Oh no, we’re gonna get a Barbie movie review.” Thank goodness. Bar trivia was a much better topic.

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    • There have been so many Barbie movie reviews lately, haven’t there, Dave? I’m glad I saved you from another. (Haven’t seen it. Don’t plan to.) And, yeah, sorry about the loop. I found myself doing the same thing. Well, maybe I got to the 9th pic before I realized. I was trying to see if it truly looked like she was dancing since I didn’t necessarily post the pics in order. Anyway, sorry about that! 😛

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  17. Something very similar happened in Rapid City. The trivia host worked for a local radio station, and at one point, he asked what their call letters were. Because we were seated right next to his table, which held a laptop and radio station sticker, we nailed that one.

    It’s just proof that location really IS everything.

    Tara and I may be at a disadvantage considering it’s just the two of us playing trivia, but it’s just that much more satisfying when we actually place in the top three against teams of 6 or 8.

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    • Oh, totally about if it were just Hubs and me playing. (Although, I think on this night, we would’ve done pretty well. Only a couple they knew that we didn’t.) So, yeah, props to you both!

      “Location location location” isn’t just for real estate!

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  20. Congrats on your win and ‘free’ beer is not bad for the next session! I loved looking at the dance routine slide and I can still rustle together a fair imitation of Bucks Fizz Eurovision Song win of ‘Making Your Mind Up’ – twirls and all!

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  21. Love the dance routine! My daughter and son-in-love do trivia night every week with our granddaughter. My husband and I are history addicts. They have invited us to join the group. If all the questions were about American history, geography and/or the Bible we would be a great asset. However, as old folks, we know nothing of popular culture songs, shows etc. So we have declined to join them.

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    • Haha! I was with you on that one, too! 😛 And I’ll forever feel guilty about not quickly changing that one answer to Madonna. There wasn’t enough time and I panicked! Who knew trivia could be so stressful?! 🙂

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      • I could try a beer….I really really tried to like beer in college but it never took….maybe now that I’m more “mature”, I’ll acquire a taste for it?

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      • I only like certain ones, which I describe as “girly.” That place we went to has fruit-flavored ones. I like those. They sound more manly by being called “sours,” but they’re not really sour. Perhaps you should try one. The bartenders do let you sample first. They even had a couple in slushie form. They were pink! And they didn’t taste like beer; they tasted like slushies!

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  30. I have a post in my drafts file entitled, “I have no business being on a trivia team.” Alas, we haven’t played trivia since before COVID, so it’s going to stay there for now. Very quick thinking with that URL answer! And if anyone gives you grief for not offering to dance for points, just point to that black thing around your knee!

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  32. Props to Coral for dancing for 20 seconds, plus she smiled the whole time! I’m suddenly reminded of a twirling routine I did to “Feelin’ Groovy.” I’m sorry you didn’t win this time, but it sounded like a lot of fun. As John Howell said, with Coral away, you’d better prepare yourself for some dancing. We can do anything if it’s for only 20 seconds, right?

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