The Ryerson – Tuesdays @ 7:30 – Crown Heights

The Trivia: Four rounds of 3-4 questions with a semi-unique wagering system. Here’s how it works: Each round is three questions of various categories on which you can wager 1, 2, or 3 points. If you get it right, you earn the points you wagered, if you get it wrong, nothing happens (you don’t lose the points), but you can only wager each amount once, so wager more when you are more confident and less when you are less confident. The host tells you the categories of each question in the round beforehand, but you have to determine your wager one question at a time because he only asks one question at a time before revealing the answers. After asking the question, the host will play a song that will serve as a tangential (or very direct) hint, and he will collect your little pieces of paper before revealing the answer. You can keep track of your scores and wagers on a handy worksheet (I LOVE worksheets!). All told, the host gave us a whopping 15(!!!) pieces of paper. I’m no logistics professional, but I’m sure we could find a way to reduce that total.

With only four rounds of 3-4 questions each, this may be the fewest trivia questions I’ve ever seen asked at a trivia night (14). Stretched to over two hours, the host was averaging about one question every ten minutes, meaning the pace was excruciatingly slow. It didn’t help that there was a fully ten minute introduction in which the host explained the convoluted wagering system and the musical hint (or hindrance) system. Besides the clunky intro, the host was a capable clue reader with a charming and lively demeanor when presenting the questions. He did a commendable job filling the long space between questions, as there weren’t a lot of awkward silences or downtime, but the night did feel like it dragged, especially when we were directed to clap for ourselves and the bartenders twice before the final standings were read. If you come to trivia nights for the social aspect, this isn’t an issue at all, but if you want to answer trivia questions, there’s not a ton for your money here.

The questions you do get, however, are (mostly) very good. Some were even great. Many fun journeys were had connecting the questions and categories and trying to squeeze some juice out of the musical hint. Connecting Linkin Park to Lincoln’s Assassination was a great “eureka” moment, and picking a different song with do-do-do’s to clue Baby Shark was a thing of brilliance. I’ve already ranted about the one musical “non-hint” in my review of Putnam’s Pub, so I won’t repeat that here, but at least this time the host made it VERY clear that he was going to try and trick us on one of the musical clues that evening, so it wasn’t as frustrating when some teams were inevitably misled away from their correct answer. I wasn’t a fan of the first question of the night: “What is the brightest star in Earth’s sky?” …the Sun? Really? That’s more of a trick question than a trivia question… Additionally, too many of the questions were a little “current event”-y. My stance on current events questions is decidedly anti. If you can’t ask the same question a year from now and expect anybody to remember the answer, then it’s not really trivia. Stick with stuff that’s interesting and memorable for reasons other than that it just happened.

Winning team gets a $50 gift certificate. Second place gets a round of shots and third place gets a bottle of wine. Pretty good prize support all around.

The Venue: There is definitely a sit-down feel to the Ryerson, although the host informed us that the food menu was reduced to accommodate trivia night (why?). A variety of bar snacks (wings, chicken fingers, mac & cheese) at really good prices means the dinner-time start isn’t an inconvenience, and happy hour prices on drinks last the whole night.