Macarolina writes in…
PMcG’s comment re his trivia efforts last night made me think a blurb discussing Decatur and Atlanta’s trivia culture might raise some good comments on where best places to play in Decatur are, do people shop around or go to a regular spot, are there any places for solo players to join forces, etc? Is trivia more popular in the Atlanta area than in other places people have lived?
Scott
Davis
Rick Julian
Notgruntled
smalltowngal
Dr B
Nelliebelle1197
Nelliebelle1197
Deb
Bin Birru
Ridgelandistan
BethB
gri5thj
Warren Buffett
J_T
I’ve been to trivia at Twain’s and Thinking Man Tavern here in Decatur, but the best trivia I’ve found around Atlanta and my regular spot for trivia is George’s in Virginia-Highland on Tuesday nights.
That’s kind of relative. Lots of factors come into play. Do you like crowds that are “in it to win it”, or do you like “easy going, hang out with friends, and oh yeah, playing trivia”? Is food important? What about the music played during the game? Or, the “theme” of the trivia?
Back a few years ago, I used to play at the Mellow Mushroom on Briarcliff near Whole Foods. That was definitely an “in it to win it” crowd and if you were just there to eat, good like finding a table on trivia night. The host was the helicopter reporter from Fox5. Good music, I have eaten EVERYTHING on the Mellow Mushroom menu, and the game was TeamTrivia with some pretty tough questions.
Last night, we just stumbled upon the TriviaChallenge at The Square Pub. It was a relaxed atmosphere and good time to hang with friends. Questions were moderate, enough to think about, but we could still have our fun with friends in between questions. Music was a good mix of 90s and 00s. The food was really good too.
We found out that TriviaChallenge does “seasons” where teams can compete for a grand prize. Check out the standings:
http://triviachallengeatl.com/index.php?p=1_2_Scoreboard
(Notice how Decatur is not represented)
If you’re not in for the “season”, you can always try to win that evening. We won a $25 gift card for The Square Pub last night.
I’m out of the loop on the current trivia places, but I know Thinking Man’s, Marlay House, Mellow Mushroom, and James Joyce used to host trivia nights. And now The Square Pub. It might take a few visits to several places to find a place that suits your liking, but there is enough out there you’re sure to find something.
Anyone can join a trivia night, just find out what time it starts, get there early and pick up an answer sheet/score card from the host. And our group is always up for meeting new people, so don’t be shy.
As far as an Atlanta thing, it seems to be a southern thing. I don’t know for sure.
Our team’s favorite spot by far was at Trackside. Hope they bring it back.
We’ve been to Corner Tavern’s, Thinking Man’s, Raging Burrito’s, Mellow Mushroom’s, Twain’s & James Joyce’s trivia nights. The trivia at James Joyce & Mellow Mushroom is impossibly hard. The trivia at Twain’s is farily easy, but they have really smart teams there. If you don’t get every answer right, you don’t have a chance of placing. We got sick of the food at Corner Tavern & Thinking Man, but their nights were decent. We were attacked by an army of roaches out at the patio at Raging Burrito and haven’t been back since.
Gads. I just felt my gorge rise. *shudder*
i’m a fan of the themed trivia nights that they have every once in awhile. star wars and harry potter, etc.
My favorite is at the U Joint in Oakhurst (Tues nights)–the guy is funny & asks really good, creative questions. He usually throws in a musical “hint,” which is sometimes not a hint at all but rather a red herring to throw you off your answer. Good general knowledge questions & a few really hard ones thrown in. Prizes (1st-3rd) are gift certificates for food and/or drink at the U Joint.
I’m surprised that no one else has mentioned this one!
This is terrific! I’m glad to hear other opinions on places and it just goes to show that every place has different (better or worse) experiences. Each location offers something slightly different.
The guy at the U-Joint sounds like Bruce from the my times back in the James Joyce/Mellow Mushroom days. (Former Criminal Records, rocker kinda guy)
I used to love team trivia but don’t play much anymore.. too easy to cheat (caught two people last time I played). I like when there are a lot of locally-oriented questions (which in some cases makes it more difficult to cheat) because all the transplants get to learn something about Atlanta and environs.
Agh! Cheaters! Sure hope they knew you were onto them!
What”s up with the @&#! cheating mentality?! When I was a tot, my aunt’s then husband tried to run a flimflam on me with a FisherPrice toy! Quite an eye opening experience!
I used to go to trivia at Loco’s on Briarcliff for years, with a great local (well, Gwinnett) guy doing trivia (not one of the big trivia companies). Then when the rest of my group quit, that fizzled. I have been more recently at multiple locations, none of which I like as much a Bobby’s (Full Contact Trivia) back in the day (now he does at the Joyce, but doesn’t start until 9 PM since he isn’t “family friendly” and that’s a little late of a start for me on a school night.)
Like PMcG said, it depends what you want out of it. Though I had a really fun time socializing last night at Square Pub, I also like a little more challenge than knowing almost all the questions without even having to guess. So I like one that’s challenging, but not just obscure facts, something you can think about a little to get a reasonable guess (even if not always right).
(Besides last night’s Square Pub) I’ve recently mostly been to James Joyce, Decatur’s Mellow Mushroom (coincidently both with the same guy) and Raging Burrito only once (which I liked better, but my friends are regulars at the Joyce, so we go there normally).
I’m interested to check out U Joint’s.
Bobby’s Full Contact Trivia on Wednesday is now at Brewhouse in Little 5 Points and it’s just recently been changed to 8:00!
What team were you? I was on the old Fulmer’s Fat Ass/Untited team from Athens.
Oops. United. Good thing spelling doesn’t count.
My friend and I were Mississippi Goddamn, who merged with Papaya to create Goddamn Papaya, and then we occasionally also joined with Utter Chaos, even though they were our (playfully) arch-enemy for most of the years. We occaionally did Bobby’s tournament, but only a few years.
Thanks about where he is on Wednesday now. I keep up occasionally with him on Facebook, but not regularly.
Another Oakhurst option is at Matador’s Cantina. TeamTrivia runs a game on Thursdays at 8:00. I’ve played there a couple times but thought the DJ had no personality and the cheaters drove me nuts. What’s the point of playing if you just want to look up the answers? I’m not an “in-it-to-win” kinda person but please don’t play if you will cheat. Just makes it no fun for me who gets really excited when I know an answer on my own. Sad to say I still drive to the burbs once or twice a month to play with “I Hear You Knockin’”, my old team and great friends. We’re 8 – 12 strong, most in our 50′s/60′s, and usually finish in the top 4 without cheating.
Avondale Pizza Cafe has really good trivia on Tuesday nights. It’s done by a local guy (not a large trivia company) and it’s especially nice for music snobs since the guy plays really good music. The questions are just hard enough to be interesting, and get harder towards the end of the game. I used to go every week with my father (who would place every week, even if he was by himself). Lately though, the teams are getting bigger. So my little team of 4 is no match for the team of 20.
I tried James Joyce trivia once, and the questions were super hard, and I saw most of the teams cheating. So I guess it was more “Google Challenge” and less “trivia.”
I wish there was a place that started around 7 – I’d probably go every week. But they all seem to start at 8 or later…
Mojo’s has team trivia on Wednesday nights, along with $3 pints of Terrapin. And they serve pitchers there. I have not been, but I figured it was worth mentioning for the budget-conscious.
Husband & I are regulars at Twain’s Monday Trivia. We like the host (Larry) a lot, he plays good music, there’s local beer, and we do seem to win fairly often. We play for fun and we never cheat! I’m no good for questions about sports, celebrities or the periodic table though. I wish there was Liberal Arts Trivia somewhere with a lot of art history questions; I’d clean up. Questions start out easy, get harder as the game advances; there are two rounds so two chances to win per evening.
I just wish Twain’s served a regular old Gardenburger and not a squashy black bean burger/pate thing. Sigh.
I love hearing about all the spots to go!
I don’t love hearing about the cheating- yuck. Are people so blatant about it that you can really tell they are cheating? I’ve been to a few trivia nights where I’m checking my blackberry regularly for email (so I can be at trivia and not chained to my desk), but I don’t have web access– so it could look like I’m trying to google an answer, but instead am replying to a client. So maybe there are a few others out there doing similar, and it just looks like they are attempting to e the answer (at least I hope).
Trivia is everywhere here– I don’t remember it being that way in CA. I have a few west coast friends who play, but it really seems like Atlanta has a huge trivia culture. Have others come across any other trivia culture pockets in the country?
Of course, that’s part of the problem: you can’t really tell if they are cheating or checking email. The last time I played I walked by and saw the answer on a person’s iphone, and the other instance I saw someone looking up an answer in the bathroom and then told his teammates what it was when he returned to the table. I just don’t get why people would cheat at something that is supposed to be fun. To win some bar money? If they need bar money that bad, they probably shouldn’t even be in a bar.
Trivia, is it open?
how long if it ever /till it opens?
who was eating their last week?
how long has the neon been on?
what is the question?
Is this a bonus round?
How does our team rank in the game?
Should I bet the farm?
There’s a guy who does trivia at the West Side Bar & Cafe (Tuesdays? Thursdays?) that’s worth seeking out. He used to run the trivia at the Bone Garden Cantina. I really like that it’s just a random guy who sits around his apartment thinking up trivia questions, rather than being outsourced to one of the Trivia Corporations. The question topics are pretty diverse and I think he stays at a good level of difficulty. His music choices strike a good balance between classics and unheard of indie songs.