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It’s funny, you know. The word “trivial” is defined as “of little worth or importance”; its noun meaning thereby defined as “unimportant matters.”
Whatever the case, trivia knowledge has racked up its share of money and fame, from the game show “Jeopardy!” and the original Trivial Pursuit game to the Live Trivia Nights that take place in various bars and pubs.
“So, What Is Trivia Night?” asks a piece at triviabliss.com. As explained, “it’s a competition that asks participants various trivia questions, either from an array of categories or according to a specific theme. Players, either working alone or on teams, try to come up with the correct answers to as many questions as possible to maximize point earnings.
“Trivia nights work differently at different venues, but they generally follow the same format. Players or groups choose a fun nickname or team name before they begin. Usually, trivia nights feature a host or emcee to read trivia questions, calculate team points, and keep gameplay running smoothly.”
Answers are given via pencil and paper or digitally. “At the end of the game, after every question from each category has been answered, the winning player or team is determined based on whoever has the greatest number of points,” with some kind of prize offered.
So why are trivia games so entertaining? Is it because knowing various unrelated bits of information — and being able to go into the fridges of our memories and pull them out — makes us geniuses in the eyes of our peers? Is it because dwelling on these random matters gives us a mental vacation from the oft-sobering/troubling/depressing important matters?
Jonathan Jackson, area manager for the Memphis-based Challenge Entertainment, which runs live trivia games in establishments throughout Central Arkansas and has been a trivia buff since 2006, says competition is the draw.
“People have a desire to learn knowledge and share it. And everybody’s got varied interests, every person’s different and enjoys different things. And when you hear something that you know and you get excited about it, it’s that little endorphin rush for you.”
Also, he says, “trivia players like routine and regularity, and a lot of them can be kind of socially awkward, so they’re comfortable with their friend groups and they’re all driven to knowledge, too. So it gives them a place to come and have fun and do what they’re good at.”
Jackson’s company runs 50-plus games a week, hosted by between 30 and 40 people. They are, for the most part, the same at the different venues.
“What makes it interesting are the people that go to those locations. Every location’s got their own clientele, and our goal is to give them a reason for that specific night to be there. We like to take their slower nights and make them busy.”
Caleb Wise (from left) and dad Donny Wise, both of Bauxite, along with D.J. Gates of Bryant, are among the teams that have turned out for ive trivia May 17 at American Pie Pizza’s Colonel Glenn Road location in Little Rock.
(Arkansas Democrat-Gazette — Helaine R. Williams)
Trivia and me
I’d participated in several trivia contests on my last cruise and actually won the game centering on disco music — and have the gold plastic Carnival-ship trophy to show for my victory. Still buoyed from that victory, I persuade my friend Pam to join me for trivia play at Dugan’s Pub in Little Rock’s River Market District, where a host from Challenge Entertainment Little Rock sets up at 7 p.m. Thursdays. Quite a few tables are already reserved for teams when we arrive about 30 minutes beforehand; we settle at an unmarked table in the back.
Right on time, the trivia host gets on the PA system and introduces himself and the game, and goes over the rules (no cellphone look-ups, no answer shout-outs, one team per table/group). The “official” score sheets, he is out of; we have to make do with jotting answers down on the plain sheets of paper doled out instead. However, there are official answer cards on which a designated team member jots down the team’s answer to a given question and puts in the number of points, then takes the card to the host.
Coming in as blind first-timers, we thought the whole game would be one category, but each round has three categories, none of which are repeated; and there are several point systems.
The six-round game, featuring three questions per round, goes about two hours. First round: movies, television, sports. Round Two: Food/drink, country music, French history. Round Three, world geography, business, “Rick and Morty” (the animated sci-fi sitcom). Round Four: U.S. history, pop stars, soft drinks. Round Five: Ad slogans, animals, Apple TV. Round Six: Video games, cocktails, science.
In some cases, when the host announces the categories, enthusiastic team members shout the category name back at him. “Sports” and “science” draw the biggest responses.
(“They’re just excited,” Jackson explains later. “If everybody’s doing it, you kind of want to do it too. So … you’re shouting ‘Science!’ and everybody else is shouting ‘Science!’ … Whenever I’m out hosting somewhere, if we have a science or a sports question, somebody’s going to shout it at me.”)
As the host is a bit hard to hear at the back of the place, Pam and I also don’t realize until after the game begins that we are supposed to be taking our answers to the host — but as bad as we are doing, unofficial play is for the best. We hadn’t even come with a team name. The “official” teams bear such creative monikers as Three Girls, Two Nuts; Tiny Answers; The Short Bus.
The host states each question twice; a generous amount of time — the lengths of various songs played — is allotted for teams to come up with their answers.
Caleb Wise (from left) and dad Donny Wise, both of Bauxite, along with D.J. Gates of Bryant, are among the teams that have turned out for ive trivia May 17 at American Pie Pizza’s Colonel Glenn Road location in Little Rock.
(Arkansas Democrat-Gazette — Helaine R. Williams)
Out of our league
To say we’re out of our league is an understatement. We ace about 10 questions the entire game. Among our most egregious wrong answers: I lead us into flubbing the identity of the second U.S. president (we go with Jefferson, not Adams). We guess our way into a wrong answer to the question about whose team came out the victor when Magic Johnson and Larry Bird matched up in the legendary NCAA basketball championship game in 1979 (Johnson’s did). And, thanks to moi, we jot down an outdated answer per the name of the device sold in the “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up” commercials (Life Alert. I say it’s LifeCall, the defunct-since-1993 originator of the phrase). If not for Pam, who’s a big history buff (she figured the second prez was Adams), and who remembers an impressive amount of random stuff, we would have done even worse than we did. She and I come up with the correct answers — “World War I” and “Charles De Gaulle” — for a couple of history questions. But we are clueless on the “identify this pop singer who … ” question. Ugh.
In addition to the six rounds, there’s a halftime exercise — a TV characters/bosses matchup — and a “wager of death” exercise — “Put these events in chronological order.” Per the latter, teams could wager points they would then lose if they mess up. Pam’s excellent guesses lead to successful completion of both exercises.
However, at game’s end we can only offer congratulatory applause to the night’s third-place winners of a $15 gift certificate: Three Girls, Two Nuts, with 116 points. Tiny Answers comes in as second-place winners of a $25 gift certificate, with 127 points. And an outfit calling itself 18 Inch Hand-Tossed Hawaiian is the first-placer; 139 points gets them a $50 gift certificate.
Back to my earlier crack about our bar mates appearing to have studied for this: it is possible to study for such a competition, according to an article on the game show “Jeopardy!” at website Denofgeek.com: “Preparing for such an experience seems like it would be an impossible task. But over the years, a passionate community of Jeopardy! enthusiasts … have found some ways to prep contestants for the trivia experience of a lifetime. Many Jeopardy! contestants do study for the show.” The article goes on to give tips.
And, as stated at the triviabliss.com piece: The best way to get good at trivia is to keep at it. “Once you get used to the atmosphere of one specific trivia night, such as the host’s rhythm and the types of questions that are doled out, it will become easier to learn how to win. The weekly trivia quiz will only sharpen your wits and increase your knowledge base. You might even make new trivia-loving friends that can join your team and strengthen your chances of winning!”
Gavin Jackson, son of Challenge Entertainment area manager Jonathan Jackson, conducts the Saturday night live trivia game May 17 at American Pie Pizza’s Colonel Glenn Road location in Little Rock.
(Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Helaine R. Williams)
Where the games are
Regular weekly games by Challenge Entertainment games are timed after the dinner rush, hence the 7 p.m. start time for most. Here are some of the venues listed in posts on its Facebook page (facebook.com/littlerocktrivia; call ahead to the various locales to see if you can reserve seats for your team):
◼️ American Pie Pizza, 4830 North Hills Blvd., North Little Rock; 7 p.m. Mondays, (501) 753-0081; 9709 Maumelle Blvd., North Little Rock; 7 p.m. Thursdays; (501) 758-8800; and 10912 Colonel Glenn Road, Little Rock; 6:30 p.m. Saturdays; (501) 225-1900. americanpiepizza.net
◼️ Bark Bar, 1201 S. Spring St., Little Rock, 7 p.m. Wednesdays; (501) 295-3989; barkbar.com
◼️ Bear’s Den Pizza, 235 Farris Road, Conway; 7 p.m. Saturdays; (501) 328-5556; bearsdenpizza.net
◼️ Brewski’s Pub & Grub, 315 Main St., Little Rock, 7 p.m. Tuesdays; (501) 372-2739; 2800 Lakewood Village Drive, North Little Rock; 7 p.m. Wednesdays. (501) 379-8875; brewskispubandgrub.com
◼️ Camp Taco at Lost Forty, 822 E. Sixth St., Little Rock; 7 p.m. Tuesdays. (501) 353-0884; camptaco.com
◼️ Caverns & Forests Board Game Cafe, 711A Main St., North Little Rock; 7 p.m. Wednesdays. (501) 480-2081; cavernsandforests.com
◼️ Count Porkula, 10840 Maumelle Blvd., North Little Rock; 7 p.m Wednesdays. (501) 246-5669; countporkula.com
◼️ Crazee’s Cafe, 7626 Cantrell Road, Little Rock; 7 p.m. Wednesdays. (501) 221-9696; crazeescafe.com
◼️ Dugan’s Pub, 401 E. Third St., Little Rock, 7 p.m. Thursdays. (501) 244-0542; duganspublr.com
◼️ El Sur Street Food Co., 1214 Main St., Little Rock; 7 p.m. Thursdays. (501) 812-3066; elsurstreetfoodco.com
◼️ Fassler Hall Little Rock, 311 E. Capitol Ave., Little Rock, (501) 246-4757; 7 p.m. Wednesdays. fasslerhall.com
◼️ Flyway Brewing, 314 Maple St., North Little Rock; 7 p.m. Mondays. (501) 812-3192; flywaybrewing.com
◼️ Hogg’s Meat Market & Catering, 3901 John F. Kennedy Blvd., North Little Rock, 6 p.m. Thursdays. (501) 758-7700; hoggsmeatmarket.com
◼️ JJ’s Grill Little Rock, 12111 W. Markham St., Little Rock; 7 p.m. Wednesdays. (501) 414-0848; jjsgrill.com
◼️ Overtime Cabot, 14 Prospect Court, Cabot; 7 p.m. Tuesdays. (501) 446-1000; overtimecabot.com
◼️ Skinny J’s Argenta, 314A Main St., North Little Rock; 7 p.m. Tuesdays. (501) 916-2658; skinnyjs.com
◼️ Sterling Market, 515 Shall Ave., Little Rock; 7 p.m. Wednesdays. (501) 300-6938; sterlingmarket.com
◼️ Stone’s Throw Brewing, 402 E. Ninth St., Little Rock; 6:30 p.m. Thursdays. (501) 244-9154; linktr.ee/stonesthrowbrewing
◼️ Tacos Godoy, 14710 Cantrell Road, Little Rock; 7 p.m. Thursdays. (501) 367-8631; tacosgodoylr.com
◼️ Vino’s, 923 W. Seventh St., Little Rock, 7 p.m. Mondays. (501) 375-8466; vinosbrewpub.com
◼️ An independent Trivia Night is offered at Flying Saucer Draught Emporium, 323 President Clinton Ave.; 7 p.m. Tuesdays. (501) 372-8032; beerknurd.com.
Lindsay Black of Bentonville and her sister, Rebekah Black of Maumelle, play for a $50 gift certificate at the live trivia game May 17 at American Pie Pizza’s Colonel Glenn Road location in Little Rock.
(Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Helaine R. Williams)
