Battle wits from the bar stool
Trivia nights gain popularity at local bars
The Allston-Brighton TAB - December 16-22, 1997
by Jeremy Pawloski
Empty "Hot Toddies" and half-finished pints of Guinness litter the tables at the Kinvara Pub in Allston. It's almost 9:30 on a Wednesday night, and drink-imbibing regulars are busily bequeathing their teams with monikers such as Alcoholidays, Staff infection and Jeepers Creepers - all in preparation for another night of team trivia.
The clash of beer-soaked intellects reverberates throughout the bar as the quizmaster asks his first question. Raucous arguments over which Beatles song was the first to hit number one in the United States rise above the din of the Chumbawamba song "Tubthumper" as it blares over the sound system.
In bars throughout Boston and Cambridge, weekly trivia quiz nights are sweeping the area.
"I'm kind of trivia-obsessed," confides Brenda Zimelman, a school teacher and regular member of Skeleton Crew, the perennial third-place finishing team at Kinvara.
"It's a good excuse to drink," adds Andy Meuse, a member of Jeepers Creepers. "But it's also more cerebral than other bar activities."
...Team sizes, question formats and prizes vary widely from pub to pub, but the atmosphere at Kinvara on a Wednesday night is typical of the quiz-night experience.
"Going out to a bar usually involves three options: social drinking, darts or karaoke," said Michael O'Neill, quizmaster at Kinvara. "It's different from anything else you can do in a bar, and it doesn't revolve around drinking. The thing about quiz night is that it's both a thinking activity and a social activity."
At Kinvara, O'Neill will typically announce a question to the assembled teams
- What vitamin is essential to the clotting of blood? In what U.S. state did the pope and President Ronald Reagan meet in 1984? (Vitamin K and Alaska, in case you were wondering) - giving them a specific length of time to decide on an answer.
During the interval, O'Neill spins a song or two from his turntable. Arguments and drink-fueled debates are commonplace.
"We disagree more than we agree," said Jim McIssac, a member of the T's Pub team, which usually places among the top finishers at Kinvara.
The winning team at Kinvara is awarded $25 cash. Second place is a $20 gift certificate to the bar and third prize is usually T-shirts.
According to Zimelman, the counter help at Reilly's Roast Beef are the proud owners of several of her team's beer-brand emblazoned white T's.
"It used to bother me," said Kate Noonan, another member of Skeleton Crew, of her team's regular third place finishes. "But lately, we're consistently coming in much lower, so I kind of long for those days."
But says O'Neill, "It's not the money or the prizes, it's the trivia. Some people are really into it and driven by it." ...Attendees at Kinvara say the convivial attitude among quiz night regulars is a welcome respite from the "meat market" type of atmosphere at many bars.
"A lot of the people that I know who come here like it because there are no pretenses that you're trying to pick people up," said Phil O'Keefe, a member of Alcoholidays.
"I've met a lot of nice, friendly people here," agreed Zimelman. "It's easy to talk to people who you normally wouldn't have."
And trivia winners, such as Jeepers Creepers, who will split $25 five ways after finishing a hard-fought game, clearly revel in the glory of victory.
"I owe it all to the genius of my teammates," said a modest spokesman Liam Flaherty. "We are putting our useless knowledge to good work."
