Zen and the art of trivia hosting

One of the most influential books of my college years was Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, a book that works as both a repair manual and a tome on life.

And in the concept of such motorcycle maintenance, I’ve now developed a routine for my two trivia hosting stints each week.

Trust me, it took a while, but it’s working.

I start on Tuesday night at Beer bones Bar and Grill in Loudonville. Start time is at 7pm – so after my day job, I stop at one of the local Latham-area eateries to refuel. That would either be Ted’s Fish Fry, Paesan’s Pizza, or the nearby Five Guys. Never eat at the same place in two consecutive weeks. Although that Pope Leo XIV white cheese pizza at Paesan’s could make me break that rule.

Arrive at Beer Bones at 6pm. In my hands are my laptop, my sound system (the Peavey Messenger M100) and a burlap handled bag. I put a couple of decal stickers on the Peavey outer case – partially because I like stickers on my things (you should have seen my fifth grade textbooks, they were covered in Wacky Packages stickers), and partial because the side that HAS the stickers is the top side of the sound system case, meaning I can open the unit without it being upside down.

Take the speakers out and put them aside. Beer Bones’ system integrates with my sound system through a pair of RCA cables (go into the burlap bag, they’re there). The burlap bag also contains a green XLR cable for my microphone, as well as a cable that runs from my laptop to the Peavey to broadcast the music round.

Turn on the laptop, double-check that I have the right game, and video-cast the game to the large TV screen. Only after everything is in place – then I can get a diet cola and relax.

The trivia teams filter in. Beer Bones gets a nice crowd of regular trivia squads, and I make sure to go over to each table and chat for a few. Some of the regular teams include a husband-wife team called Courtiam; a set of Star Wars aficionados who named their team Rogue One; a team of Siena rugby players named The Goat House (last week a female Siena team called the Sexy Saints joined the competition). There are other squads as well – Mum’s the Word; My Trivia Friends have a Drinking Problem; Ja-Ja (I thought it was a German reference, but it’s actually “jha-jha” and not “ya-ya”), among several others.

The game begins, we all have fun.

Wednesday nights … we change the code.

I have to scoot all the way up to Clifton Park for my Wednesday evening game at the Van Patten Golf Course. If I can beat the traffic on the Northway (it always snarls to a crawl between Exits 7 and 8 for some reason), I should arrive at the Golf Course banquet hall by approximately 6:00. And I have thirty minutes before the first question is asked.

No messing around. Peavey, burlap bag, laptop at the ready.

Again, open up the Peavey. This time, I’ll need the Peavey for the sound system, so I plug in the attached sound cables to the Peavey’s speakers. Plug in the Peavey, make sure the plug is all the way into the socket. Trust me, the last thing you want is to bump the table and the sound system power plug pops out.

I can’t cast to the television screen here, so instead I use an HDMI cable. Make sure all connections are finger-tight – both on the HDMI-to-television connection, and on the HDMI-to-laptop connection.

Plug the laptop into the sound system, plug the microphone into the sound system, test everything, and we’re ready.

Again, I walk around to several of the regular teams here – the Roadies; Sweet Tarts and Smarties; And In Last Place … chat for a few moments, then get my diet cola. If I have enough time, I’ll also place a dinner order for tacos.

Van Patten Golf Course also offers several bottles of spirits to teams that lead at certain times in the game. After two rounds, the team leading can choose from one of three bottles – usually it involves either gin, rum, whisky, vodka, any of those – and later in the evening, other leading teams can claim some of the remaining bottles.

At the end of each night, the winning trivia team gets a gift card for their next visit to Beer Bones / Van Patten GC, I pack up all my gear, and I head home.

This works for me.

And I have to say this – I’m having a lot of fun with this trivia hosting adventure. And two nights a week is kind of my sweet spot right now – it prevents personal burnout, and it keeps me active on nights where I might just sit on my keister and binge-watch television.

And as long as I keep these patterns going when I host trivia … I guess it provides me with some equivalency of trivia zen.

Again … this works for me.