Take the crown at your next trivia night out
If you’re looking for something fun to do with friends on a weeknight, trivia nights are a popular pastime at many bars and pubs around the city. While it’s fun to just play, one might argue that it’s even more fun to win. However, accomplishing such a feat is more easily said than done. If your trivia team is falling short of first place, consider following these tips.
1. Pick the perfect team members
The perfect trivia team is one that is balanced and well-rounded. Depending on the rules at your local trivia night, there might be a maximum number of participants allowed in a single group. You’ll want to recruit people who are knowledgeable about a variety of subjects so that you have at least one team member that is well-versed in each category. You can expect most trivia questions to derive from categories about pop culture, TV and movies, sports, science, puzzles, popular music, etc. If your team often struggles with a certain category, such as music, you might want to invite your more musically-inclined friend to join your trivia team next time.
2. Prepare accordingly
As a general rule, using your phone or other mobile device to look up answers is considered cheating. However, reviewing any possibly relevant information beforehand is fair game. It doesn’t hurt to take a quick scroll through social media feeds such as Facebook or Twitter to check what major headlines are currently gaining a lot of attention. Additionally, if it happens to be a themed trivia night about a specific show, such as The Office, it could potentially be helpful to take a quick peek at its Wikipedia page ahead of time.
3. Take notes
While some answers may come instantaneously to you, other questions may take some time to soak in. Be prepared to take notes on a separate piece of paper or on the side of your answer sheet so that you can come back to the question later. A part of the team could even dedicate themselves to working on deciphering one of the more difficult puzzles while the rest of the team continues to answer subsequent questions. Be careful when you take notes though—a vaguely written scribble could cause a misunderstanding when you revisit the question later.
4. Go with your gut
Sometimes, a trivia team can be divided on a certain answer for a question. One team member might suggest the answer “Meredith” in response to the question “What is the middle name of Parks and Recreation character Ann Perkins?” All team members may be in agreement, until another team member suggests that the answer could be “Elizabeth” instead. The confusion following this potential discourse could cause unnecessary panic. The obvious solution to the problem would be to take a quick vote to see what the majority of team members believe to be the correct answer. If you were completely convinced that the first suggestion was the right answer, don’t let yourself be swayed by the newer option. Oftentimes, when answering a multiple choice question, the first answer that you choose is the correct one. However, this is only the case if the first answer was suggested with complete confidence and not as a hesitant guess. If the other option is brought up after new information is discovered by either a team member’s sudden epiphany or a hint in a subsequent trivia question, you might have better luck getting the question correct with the most recent answer.
5. Have fun
Though it’s fun to win, it’s usually only fun if you play with people you enjoy spending time with. Sure, you might gain a clear advantage in the sports category if you invite your roommate’s cousin’s sports-fanatic brother to join your team, but it’s probably not worth it to exclude an integral member of your friend group if you’ve already reached the maximum amount of members allowed on your team. An alternative idea is to form two teams that separately participate in trivia night: one for competitive playing and another for casually participating. That way, you get to hang out with your friends and potentially make new ones by inviting your roommate’s cousin’s brother. Remember that the point of going to trivia night is to have fun with your friends—it’s probably not worth ruining your lifelong friendships just to win a free plate of nachos.
Photo by Mariah Bridgeman/The Ontarion.