Chilo’s Greenwood – South Slope – Wednesdays @ 8

The Trivia: Traditional Bar Trivia. Four themed rounds of ten questions each. The themes for this week included Pride, Summer Blockbusters, Fire Songs, and Flag Day; appropriate choices for mid-June. I love when a host chooses categories that are reflective of the times as it makes the night more memorable. Host Sarah writes her own questions and delivers them with infectious enthusiasm, even if that energy overloads the microphone from time to time. Her questions were challenging, but fair. The first round was maybe a bit too difficult for a first round, as we felt somewhat discouraged by our performance, but the rest of the rounds were right in the sweet spot for a casual night of trivia. The night’s questions skewed heavily towards pop culture, but with plenty of geography, history, and esoterica thrown in for good measure. Solid night of questions overall.

Contestants answer the questions by sending a text to a Google Voice number. I can see how this can be convenient for the host, but everybody in my group and the neighboring group agreed that we preferred to write our answers on paper. My favorite part of trivia night is the unplugged-ness of it all. Yes, we could simply look up the answers on our phone in any other circumstance, but for the night, we are simply relying on our memories and just thinking hard and long about something. Part of that is the paper, which over the course of the night becomes a monument to bad hunches and does-that-sound-familiar-s. The different handwritings can act as a record of eureka moments and the thrill of the team working as a collective brain, when the connections between our synapses seem to reach across the table. And the act of getting up to bring the piece of paper to the host is iconic in itself. That slight hesitation when you think you might have JUST thought of something as you walk away from the table, but decide no you’re gonna go with your gut. As a host, I always enjoyed the brief interactions from teams when they handed in the sheets. When they let me know how much a particular question had vexed the team (in a good way), or that they had a eureka moment at the last second, I could feel a growing bond with my players, which improved my question writing and hosting overall. For all hosts: bring back the paper.

$25 gift card to first place. Round of shots to second place.

The Venue: Chilo’s is a former parking lot turned into a bar. If you’ve been to their location in Bed-Stuy, this is more of the same. Lots of picnic tables, pitchers of frozen margaritas, and a taco truck on the premises serving tacos, tostadas, tortas, and chips & guac if you just want a snack. The food has always been delicious and the margaritas have always been strong. There are tons of tables outside under a big tent and umbrellas, as well as plenty of seating inside, where the TVs behind the bar will have sporting events. The venue hosts Bingo on Thursdays (also with Sarah) and events throughout the week. Check it out!