Monday 20 August 2007

Trivia nights

Life's too short for 'em. There's the social aspect I suppose, but even then to really make it worthwhile you'd want to bring your laptop with wireless connection and spend the evening on facebook, just in case the people at your table turned out to be boring or ignorant.

Trivia's a fairly binary thing anyway. You either know it or you don't. If you know it, so what. If you don't know it, what in the name of tarnation is the point of getting to the stage of actually knowing it? Will people think more highly of you if you know it than if you don't? Or will their estimation of you perhaps even sink slightly, as you develop a reputation for being a crashing boor who knows a ballast load of stuff that no-one else could be bothered knowing. And if you betrayed even the faintest hint of smugness about it, it would be just one more nail in the coffin of your deserved social death.

I ask you.

10 comments:

Timothy Wonil Lee said...

I don't like trivia nights because most of the time, they are really all about trivial facts. Is that why you don't seem to like it either?

Anonymous said...

Hmmm... I really like trivia nights. Putting aside the "know it or you don't" thing don't you just get a buzz out of learning something new? Also, well-run trivia nights include questions that are mentally challenging. Something like a page of puzzles to figure out over the course of the whole evening.

Trivia nights can be fun.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for that. Our church has a trivia night this weekend.

Now I feel a little better about missing it.

Anonymous said...

I think you missed the point - they're supposed to be fun! What's a little competition between people anyway...

But it is good to intersperse trivia rounds with some other fun things - like acting games and the like.

Anonymous said...

Methinks you weren't on the winning table...

Murray said...

Crikey - bah humbug, eh? Scrooge Cheng?

Anonymous said...

I think they're good if the mix of questions is good, and the ones you don't definitely know are guessable ... otherwise it's not trivia, is "know it or not"

Unknown said...

I just helped run a fabulous (if I do say so myself) trivia night for our school. Heaps of fun for all, interesting questions, interspersed with fun and silly games and generally lots of laughs. Plus we raised over $800 for the school. Come along next year, if you want to head 5 hours up the Pacific Highway and we'll show you a REAL trivia night! Oh, and people who even try and use mobile phones, etc to cheat are fined, so no laptops allowed.

David McKay said...

I enjoy trivia nights, but my wife doesn't. They are often too long, though.

But a well-run one will include interesting facts about your town or school or church that are worth knowing, but which most people don't know.

We had one for our Conservatorium, which is situated in the Bathurst Courthouse, next to Machattie Park, in which there is a duck pond. At the trivia night we discovered that the duck pond is officially called Lake Spencer. Blows your mind, doesn't it!!

[My table often wins, which is one reason I enjoy 'em.]

Anonymous said...

I'll have to remember the laptop w/ wireless for the next one...

Thing is, I like trivia nights - of course, they need to be done well and not be too obscure, although you need a few stumpers in the midst of reasonable questions. And, like David, my table often wins (I think my record is nearly impeccable...)