Hosting Trivia at the Longhorn

Some 14 years ago, I made a throw away post about attending a little trivia night out at the Longhorn Saloon in Edison. Then, some 6 year later, I made a post about guest hosting said trivia night. Less than a year later in 2015, I took over as regular host and haven't looked back. More than 12,000 questions later, Wednesday night trivia at the Longhorn continues to account for a big part of my time, my income, and my happiness, and I figure we're long overdue for a post celebrating that.

In the 14 years Longhorn trivia has been going, the format hasn't changed: 2 themed rounds, 1 general knowledge round, 1 picture round, and 1 music round. The prizes have stayed rather static as well ($25 gift certificate, 1 pound of chicken wings, an onion (or roll of toilet paper)). I still accept bribes for category selection (though no longer guarantee a question for each bribe as there were far too many really bad bribes). We average maybe 12 teams per week, almost all long-time attendees.

For some sample of how it goes, here are a few picture rounds.

Often the highlight of the night for me is my music round. For the past 5 or so years, I've been crafting the round around an artist theme with the stated goal of making the round easier for the teams (though, in reality, I find a little direction when creating a music round very helpful). Examples of music themes range from straight forward (bands with colors in their name*, numbers in their name*, all starting with a J*, alliterative names*) to more obscure themes(bands with names having to do with golf*, most popular last names in the US*, first letters of band names spell out "MUSIC ROUND"*, synonyms for penis*). Sometimes I wonder if I haven't exhausted all possible themes after 200+ themed music rounds, but ideas just keep coming. They are not always good ideas, as many trivia teams might tell you, but they are music theme ideas all the same.

As is the case with so many things, when you spent a ton of time doing something, you tend to get a little particular about it*. So my hundreds of hours of writing trivia questions have left me with a strong sense of trivia I like and trivia that I don't which sometimes does make it hard to attend a random trivia night. But as is also the case with so many hobbies that I've turned into jobs, practicing the hobby portion of it can start to feel like a job. So it goes. In regards to trivia, I wouldn't have it any other way.

If you're ever in the area and looking for a good time, I highly encourage you to come check out Longhorn trivia. Chances are, unless I'm meandering about the globe, I'll be on the mic and I'll be stoked to see you!
Monday December 5 2022File under: work, trivia

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Fare Thee Will - The End of a Trivia Era

Last night signified the end of an era. The longtime host at my favorite trivia place ended his epic 7 year run of hosting the best damn trivia around. The night was a fitting tribute with the Longhorn totally packed. Extra trivia, extra prizes and extra fun, with hip-hip-hoorays, "for he's a jolly good fellow"s, and even a few tears. Hopefully Savanah will be as appreciative of Will and his trivia hosting prowess as we all are here.

I've posted about Longhorn trivia a many times before (as it was a big part of my life). In looking back, I see that it was almost 7 years to the day when I first attended (post here) where Andrew, Saxtor, and I got first place. Well, last night, Saxtor and I again teamed up (with Rebecca and Andrea) to put a nice bookend on my Will-hosted Longhorn trivia career with an epic win. The stakes were a little higher this time with the loot including 2 beers, 4 t-shirts, $25 gift certificate, and 4 Mariners tickets! Good times.

The ending of an era often creates the beginning of a new one, and it is my hope that that is the case here. With my best attempts at filling Will's shoes, I, along with Matthew, will be stepping into the hosting role at the Longhorn starting next week. I've been stockpiling my questions for weeks and am super excited. It's going to be great. I hope I do Will proud. There's only one way to find out. Come check it out: Wednesdays at 7:00 at the Longhorn Saloon in Edison, Wa. Hope to see you there!
Thursday July 30 2015File under: trivia

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One Year of Trivia Data

As I mentioned back in January, I've been keeping a database of all the trivia nights I go to (or my regular team attend without me). We've now reached the 1 year point on the data and I'm like a pig in shit analyzing it. I think I really missed my calling in life: data analyst. Anyway, I wanted to share some of the fun stuff I've found. I'll try not to data you to death.
Partial list of Trivia Prizes
October 1, 2013 - Sept 30, 2014

  • $2030 in gift certificates*
  • 242 beers (or beer equivalent*)
  • 25 pieces of glassware
  • 21 CDs
  • 12 lbs of chicken wings
  • 4 onions
  • 4 rolls of toilet paper

In the past year, I've attended 118 trivia nights at 16 locations (mostly bars) in 5 states and international waters, though the vast majority of them were my local 3 goto spots (previously covered here). That's a lot of trivia, averaging more than 2 events per week.

And while I'm in it mostly for the fun, the prizes aren't bad either. A compilation of the prizes we've won is ridiculous. From the inset, you can see that we did quite well for ourselves. And in addition to that, we had some real great one-off prizes: kayak tours, bike lights, Star Wars Trilogy on Laser Disc. But there were also some real doozies: finger painting of Steven Tyler by 9 year old, mini cupcake machine, a gift pack of variously-sized googly eyes.

As the prizes seem to suggest, we're not bad, winning about half the time. Of the 141 events in the year, we logged 70 1st place wins, 34 2nds, 16 3rds, and 22 non-top 3 finishes. At one point in the year, we had won so many consecutive weeks at one bar that when our team was announced, from the back of the bar came the shout "Nobody likes you". Good times.

The data has much more to reveal, like per capita winnings as a possible metric of contribution, but I won't bore you with that. Instead, I'll just keep nerding away until it is time for me to go to another trivia :-)
Thursday October 2 2014File under: trivia, data

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