I don’t know what keeps me coming back to TGI Friday’s in Stuyvesant Plaza for team trivia. Every time I bring myself to go there, it’s a new setup. Two years ago, it was a game where the questions were pulled out of a Trivial Pursuit box and the host / waitress would go around the bar and ask each patron a question. Correct answers earned you a Trivial Pursuit wedge, and the first person to earn all six wedges got a Yankees jersey. Okay, it was a Bobby Abreu jersey, and that was after Abreu left the team.
About six months ago, I went back for another round of trivia, and this time it was hosted by Allen Fish of 104.5 FM ESPN The Team radio. Say that ten times fast. He hosted a modified version of a 20-question “Trivia Nights Live” game, and the grand prize winner (me, natch) got some DVD’s from the 104.5 FM ESPN The Team prize vault. The only part of Fish’s game that was even remotely interesting was that there would be one question during the game that whoever got it right, got to play “Supertoe” for a free plate of appetizers. Yes, you had to make little “Supertoe” kick a field goal from across the bar. I came the closest, but even Tom Dempsey couldn’t split the uprights from the distance the goal was placed.
So last night I decided to go back for one more run. Besides, I’m thinking I didn’t calibrate Supertoe and allow for the breeze coming from the TGI Friday’s air conditioning. And yes, there was a new trivia setup. This time, the trivia hosts provided questions from an organization called the National Trivia Association. The hosts use questions from this service, and then add a music round. It’s six rounds of 10 questions apiece. Just like Ryan West used to do at Brown’s back in the day, as well as the Memorama trivia that I usually win at anyways.
I ordered some dinner and waited for the hosts to arrive. Then came the usual song and dance. I asked how the trivia game was structured. They gave me the rules, a score sheet and a ballpoint.
“And where’s the rest of your team?” they asked.
Hmm… do I go with the “five imaginary friends” line? Nah. Hit ’em with both barrels.
“It’s just me tonight.”
“Okay, what’s your team name?”
“Street Academy.”
“Did you say Streak Academy? Are you going to run around the bar naked?”
Well, that’s a new one.
I started off slow, only hitting 7 of the first ten questions, but after that I was on a roll. Of the next 30 questions, I nailed 28 of them – including 20 in a row. By halftime, I had a comfortable lead, and won the halftime prize – a T-shirt advertising some brand of vodka; a Samuel Adams bottle opener / church key; and a coupon for a free appetizer at TGI Friday’s. Great. I won a T-shirt for J-Mac, a bottle opener for Alexis, and the appetizer for me.
Then came what was supposed to be a music round – but the host instead chose to do a “movie quotes” round. Movie quotes are not my strong subject, and it didn’t help that the acoustics in TGI Friday’s are about as clear as listening to a concert underwater. My comfortable lead dwindled, and the house team called Poor Stash, or something like that, caught up.
The final question involved naming the most expensive 11 cities in the United States to live in. I got about six or seven of them – by the way, did you know that White Plains NY is the third most expensive city to live in? Nobody in the bar did. Not even me.
Final result – Poor Stash won the game, I was a close second. My prize for second place – another T-shirt (Budweiser), and another coupon for a free appetizer. Nice. Now Alexis has a T-shirt and I have another appetizer coupon. I complimented the Stash upon their win, and they complimented me on doing as well as I did “for one person.”
Will I go back to TGI Friday’s for more trivia? Maybe. It was a good game, but games that start at 9pm on a work night means that I don’t get home until 11:30 or so.
It was a decent game and there was plenty of competition, but – well – I’m not sure if I go back there in a few months, if there’ll be another trivia game there with yet another host.
Chuck The Writer 