Review: Pub Trivia

There are people who religiously attend their pub trivia and are dogmatic about rules, dogged in disputes between teams and would probably even be there if the beer taps were dry.

I am not one of those people.

I love my pub trivia because of the fact it doesn’t take itself seriously. We have an observation round, where the questions generally relate to the first two minutes of the fifteen minute clip we inevitably enjoy watching. There is a “Pick the Pub” round, where we are shown pictures of pubs stripped of their identifying signs and asked to work out what Melbourne pub it is.

Possibly most telling of all of the tone of the trivia, is the two questions each week with the title “Bush or No Bush”, where we are shown the upper half of a woman’s body and asked to guess at her modesty, grooming and even (on a few occasions) surrounding foliage via the two options. “Dangle or No Dangle” is similar in setup.

I’ve done the other kind of trivia, and it’s fun too. Not as much fun, and not as encouraging of the purchase of large amounts of Pale Ale and Cider for the table, but still a great experience with friends.

Pub Trivia is not about winning, although it’s nice to come back the next week and not have to pay for your drinks; it’s about making new friends, tying together your existing friends, and embracing the great Australian tradition of drinking copious amounts on a work night while showing off your ability to retain inane bullshit.

It is also mandatory to label anyone who places more than once within a month a “cheater”, because through the haze of alcohol, clearly any ability to maintain consistent intellectual ability must be either blind luck or the product of some bribery, or the fudging of scores.

Most modern pubs would probably die out if not for a regular flow of trivia participants on any given Tuesday. I’m not sure the five old guys who sit at the bar justify your local pub being open late on a Tuesday night.

Plus, if you’re lucky, you might get to see some well groomed genitalia - you will if you go to my trivia, at least.

4/5