B61 Bar – Cobble Hill/Waterfront – Thursdays @ 7 pm
The Trivia: Traditional Pub Trivia. Five rounds of eight questions, each following a theme. Bonus question at the end with variable points depending on how many clues you hear. Host/quizmaster John Chaneski is a professional question writer with an impressive game show resume including Who Wants to Be A Millionaire?, The Chase, Ask Me Another, and Bullshit (on Netflix). He’s also been writing and hosting pub quizzes for the better part of a decade. His long and varied experience is apparent, as the questions are thoughtfully and expertly crafted and draw on a wide variety of knowledge bases, cultural eras, and esoterica. To quote the host, “this ain’t trivia for dummies”. Don’t let that scare you, though! Clues in the questions allow multiple avenues of entry, meaning everybody on the team can contribute. Although the five categories tonight were relatively straightforward, he often mixes in picture and music rounds. The night moves at a pretty fast pace, fitting in a little over 40 questions in two hours, so there’s not a ton of time to socialize between questions. However, the host repeats the questions several times and will repeat them again if asked, so feel free to go to the bar and get a drink.
The final question of the night is worth up to 6 points depending on how many clues you need before you submit. The host provided clues about Rudolph (he of the red nose) starting with describing the (apparently bonkers) sequel to the original Rankin/Bass film, followed by his origins as a Montgomery Ward department store marketing character, and ultimately making it more and more obvious. Teams that submitted after Clue 1 got 6 points (nobody), 4 points if you submitted after clue 2, and then the points are reduced by 1 each extra clue after that. Submit too soon (i.e. wrong answer) and you get nothing, so there’s a fun game of risk/reward at play, and an exciting way to end the night with some potentially big point swings!
$40 bar tab to first place, plus you get your team name on a card that gets placed in the window for the week. So if your team name is your blog, you get some free advertising!
The Venue: B61 is located in Alma, a Mexican restaurant with tacos, enchiladas, burritos, etc. You’ll have access to pretty much the whole menu, so there are plenty of food options for the 7 pm dinner-time start. Lots of drink options, as well: margaritas, craft beers & ciders, mezcals, tequilas, and more. Also there’s a weird mannequin sitting on top of the bathroom that stares at you while you play trivia. Way too lifelike. Scared the crap out of me the first time I saw it.