Looking for a way to impress your friends or date with your intelligence? Take them out to a trivia night or pub quiz in Sacramento. The Sacramento Press has your guide to local bars and pubs that will test your knowledge on trivia in a friendly, yet competitive environment.
The Depot
2001 K St., Ste. A
Wednesdays, 9 p.m.
Free
De Vere’s Irish Pub
1521 L St.
Mondays, 7 – 8 p.m.
Free
Christopher Scott, the director of Cardio Pulmonary Services at Methodist Hospital, has hosted trivia for eight years. Currently, Scott hosts trivia nights at The Depot and de Vere’s Irish Pub.
“The presenting is the most fun – the experience with the people that are playing,” Scott said. “It’s getting that reaction where people have it on the tip of their tongue.”
At The Depot, Scott said that the team limit is six participants and that there are six rounds with different categories, including geography, entertainment and other categories. A packet of answer sheets are handed out for five rounds. There is an interactive recall round, where participants have to listen to audio from a song or a comedy sketch and figure out who it is.
Answer sheets for the additional round is handed out halfway through the night, sometimes with word puzzles.
The group with the highest amount of points total wins.
Trivia at de Vere’s includes 30 straightforward questions.
“I write the questions,” Scott said. “I have notes everywhere.”
Scott said that one of his techniques for writing questions is to choose a category first and write the question backwards by starting with the answer first.
“I like to write my clues, too,” Scott said.
Scott said he likes to create anagrams for participants to solve. Once, he said he created an anagram that was impossible for people to answer.
“I wanted people to figure out a person famous in the world of music,” Scott said. After giving clues of who the person was, he said that no one could guess Ahmet Ertegun, founder and president of Atlantic Records.
Prizes at The Depot include a round of cocktails and gift certificates for different restaurants, such as Scott’s Seafood, Sandra Dee’s Bar-B-Que and Seafood and Red Lotus each week. At de Vere’s, prizes include gift cards to the pub: $25 for first place, $15 for second and $10 for third.
Fox & Goose
1001 R St.
Tuesdays, 7 p.m.
Free
Student Morgan McCullough is a waitress at Fox & Goose Pub and Restaurant and hosts their pub quiz. McCullough said that the maximum amount of people in a group is four.
“The more dynamic the group, the more successful the trivia night and the team will be,” McCullough said.
Participants at the pub quiz in past include engineering groups, Sacramento State students, and people who work at The Sacramento Zoo.
According to McCullough, they have started to do some theme nights and said that they once had a politics-themed pub night.
“Having (State Senate President Pro Tem) Darrell Steinberg attend the politics pub quiz was the most memorable moment,” McCullough said.
At Fox and Goose, there are four rounds of questions. McCullough said that her questions come from a variety of places – from medical subjects she studies at school, literature, pop culture, current events, engineering and “this day in history” type of questions.
“I try to ask something about each general category,” McCullough said. “No matter who comes, there’s something that everyone can contribute.”
The pub quiz can be tricky, though.
“It’s really hard,” McCullough said. “I want to provide a challenge.”
The winning group receives four drink tickets and gets to pick from a box of goodies, such as a Fox and Goose flag or Guinness paraphernalia.
The Shack
5201 Folsom Blvd.
Wednesdays at 6:30 p.m.
Free
Dan Scott, founder and executive director of Sacramento Beer Week, hosts trivia night at The Shack restaurant. Scott has been a trivia host for almost two years.
Scott said that they sometimes do themes for holidays, and one week they did a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame theme.
“(It is) as fun and laid-back as possible,” Scott said. “We have a good mix (of) people wandering in…(We get) a new crowd of people every week.”
There are a maximum of six people per team and the trivia night consists of two rounds, with one winning group for each round. Round one consists of 10 questions, and round two is 15 questions.
Scott said he makes up his own questions, varying from the previous week’s news, science, music and movies, and he also tries to make the questions apply to different generations.
“(There is an) even balance, so there’s a great variety,” Scott said.
He also said that the 20th question is always something about “The Simpsons.”
“Quite a few teams enjoy that question,” Scott said.
According to Scott, trivia night at The Shack gets competitive.
"We sometimes have double or triple tie-breakers," Scott said. In the event of a tie, Scott said he determines the winner by asking a question with a number answer. For example, "What year was Elvis born?" or "How many answers are there in a magic eight ball?" The group who answers closest to the correct answer wins.
If you were wondering, Elvis was born in 1985 and there are 20 answers in a magic eight ball.
Scott said that during Sacramento Beer Week, it gets “pretty crazy,” and they have had questions all about beer.
“We have a lot of fun,” Scott said. “(It is) a regular party to look forward to. I get to be viewed as God once a week.”
The prize for each winning team is a round of drinks.
There are several other trivia nights to choose from in Sacramento.
Streets of London
1804 J St.
Sundays, 9 p.m.
Bonn Lair
3651 J St.
Sundays, 8:30 p.m.
Clubhouse 56
723 56th St.
Tuesdays, 6:30 p.m.
