Sunday 20 November 2016

The Circle of Life

I come today as the bearer of some sad news, but to counteract, I've brought double the glad news. I hope that'll work.

The sad is that there's one fewer quiz in the city: The Pressbox is no longer running their quiz. Too bad. 

The glad is that there's two new ones to announce! Falconetti's has brought back their Wednesday quiz, albeit with different hosts. As with some other quizzes in town, they look to be locking into a league play format, and according to their website are offering one thousand dollars to the top placing team. That's some pretty good coin right there. The second is a bit further afield, but will probably scratch your itch if you finding yourself missing the Pressbox. The Narrows in North Vancouver is now running quizzes Wednesday at 8, for those of you North of the Ironworker's. 

Enjoy!

Wednesday 28 September 2016

Transhemispheric Airlines

Wow, I'm bad at updating. In any case, this is to let you that no, the blog isn't dead, and yes, The Master List is up to date. Please let me know if you have any news!

To show you how it works, I'll even supply with some tidbits of my own: pub quiz has returned to everyone in Vancouver's favourite antipodean hideout, The ANZA Club! This time around, it is on the last Sunday of every month, and will be run by Quiz juggernaut IQ2000. I hope to see you there.

Speaking of Mount Pleasant, Woo Hoo! Classics Simpsons Trivia will be migrating to the Biltmore Cabaret, effective October 24th. Ha... ho?

Sunday 8 May 2016

Triune Impurity Rites

It's been awhile since I've updated this, and we've got some news from three corners of the city. I hope this enables a broad swath of the city to drink and answer some questions.

First off, the good people of Marpole have a quiz to call their own, as the Milltown Bar & Grill have started a trivia night on Thursdays. head on down, for four rounds of trivia, for a shot to win over 60 dollars in prizes. I'm told Thursday is Fish and Chips night, so that's an added bonus. They also run Music Trivia every second Saturday, providing the opportunity to go to a quiz for thirteen consecutive days (!). 

Our next port of call will take us to Commercial Drive, where Stateside Craft is running some Thursday Night Trivia. It looks like you can grab a $12 pitcher of beer on Thursdays, so that should be reason enough to go. Don't know much else about it, though. 

And finally, to round out this holy trinity of Thursday quizzes - it looks as though the excellent quiz at the Our Town Cafe (the one at Kingsway and Broadway) is back on, after a long hiatus. I haven't stopped back in, but last I went, it was a fantastic quiz. No word on whether Def Jeoppard is back providing musical accompaniment. 

I'll try to head out to these quizzes to give everyone an update as soon as I can. It'll take at least three weeks, but more likely four or five. Or six. Or ten. 

Stay tuned for an excited addition to the blog!

Saturday 30 January 2016

The Princeton Pub

Where: The Princeton Pub, 1901 Powell Street

When: 8 PM Wednesdays

Web Presence: You can follow Quizmaster Rebecca on twitter, @trebekaquiz

Team Info: Bring 'em if you got em? I didn't see any specific team size limit.

Prizes: Random prizes throughout the night, and a round of drinks for the first place squad

Format: Two or three rounds, each with three categories of ten questions

Food and Drink: The very definition of pub food, without any aspirations toward craft, or local chic. Plain, straight food that will fill you up. As a result of being located in one of Vancouver's craft beer hotspots, the beer selection is quite good.

When Alexander died, the Wars of the Diadochi flared up as Perdiccas, Antipater, Ptolemy and others carved out their own satrapies from the continent-spanning empire. When Katie (of Quiz Night With Katie fame) finally shed the Vancouver coil, the aftermath was a lot less bloody across her three quiz nights. While no quiz has ever been able to take root in the arid soil of the Portside, grounds were more fertile in the East. As Ptolemy founded his dynasty in Egypt, so too has Trebeka built her own Lagidae at the Princeton Pub & Grill, located at the corner of Powell and Victoria streets.

If you're still reading this after all that needless masturbatory exposition: thanks! Now I'll tell you what you want to know. Starting at 8 PM, despite what the website and posters say, Trebeka's quiz is a well constructed quiz, with a light but competitive crowd. There were about six teams when we were there, and room for a few more. The questions are grouped into themed rounds, which I love. Instead of two rounds of General Knowledge and some picture rounds, each week you are going to be quizzed on something more specialized. I'm a fan of this style as it lets all sorts of people join in on the question answering, and rewards the most versatile teams. Our table d'hôte served up a round on Tiling, grout and all, and a round on Mali. Given the railroad-adjacent locale, it was clarified that round would be about the country, and not the drug.

The food is fine, and the beer options varied. The service can be a bit slow, but have some pity on the one poor bartender they have trying to keep everything straight. It is a bit out of the way if you live downtown or west of Main, but if you're in the erstwhile Hastings-Sunrise or really anywhere else in East Van, it's an excellent choice. So go! A quiz like this deserves more teams.

Too Long? Didn't Read?: A strong quiz in a slightly far-flung locale. I'm definitely going back.

Ptolemy I Soter - looks good,
but can he run a quiz?