The Junction

Where: The Junction, 1138 Davie Street

When: 7:30 Mondays. Don't worry about getting there early, as the place was empty until around 7:25, and the quiz didn't really lurch into motion until nearly 8.

Web Presence: The Junction's event calendar has a mention.

Team Info: 5 brains per team, presumably in accompanying bodies.

Prizes: Each of the halves awarded a pitcher of beer to the top two teams, and the score for the second half is cumulative. Two mini-games provide an additional pair of free pitchers.

Format: Two halves, each of which consists of 10 questions, a short music round, and a video round. The first half also included a picture round.

Food and Drink: There is food and drink, but both selections are unimpressive.

Years ago, we would always go to pub quiz on Mondays. Well before the mania took hold and I had to start a blog just to keep the quiz nights in town straight, we would sit at the same bar every Monday, order some food, drink some beer, and hopefully answer some questions. It was ritual, it made Mondays not so bad, and it made us a number of good friends. Times changed, the quiz shut down, and we've drifted around on a more or less itinerant schedule for some time. Last Monday, however, we were able to get some of the old teams back together, and headed to Davie Village on a cold and rainy night, and have a nostalgic Monday night quiz.

The Junction is a quiz that has interested me for quite sometime, because unlike the other quizzes I am yet to review, I had absolutely no idea as to what it would be like. No related quizzes, no mutual quizmaster, nothing. I hadn't even been to the bar itself. Finally, it happened to me, and I got the chance to go. Turns out, it is a spacious, welcoming place, that doubles as a de facto small club at night. You'll get a taste of this at the end, as quiz segues smoothly into industry night, and you're more than likely to run into a different crowd than your usual quiz night there.

The HCMC train station does little to clear the waters

All that said, now I know. The quiz is run by Richard Romano, a charismatic young host who will keep you entertained, all the while blithely redirecting any complaints about content or even  unfortunate mispronunciation. It sounds like there is a regular co-host, but their role was filled in by someone who allegedly wrote the entire quiz in 40 minutes, which is rather impressive. It was an enjoyable quiz, with only a few slip ups betraying the hasty composition. I can't imagine that they'll forget that Ho Chi Minh City used to be called Saigon (and not the other way around) anytime soon.

The evening started with a video that I would describe as "Not Work Safe," but definitely a lot of fun, before the picture round exposed our lack of knowledge of what fashion designers actually look like. Even with the help of it being a matching category, we only answered one of them successfully. We should have just saved ourself the time and brain anguish and answer Calvin Klein for each image. We'd have scored the same. So take our experience as an object lesson: if you want to win a pub quiz, don't answer the first nine questions incorrectly.

The rest of the quiz was fairly standard pub quiz fare, but the themed music rounds were delightful. Who would have thought that this would be the night I'd finally hear a non-regulation Black Sabbath song at pub quiz (the untouchable "Electric Funeral"). The video rounds were usually clips off of off-brand humour websites that showed some "wild and crazy" thing and then you had to answer a question based on that, à la the old quiz at the ANZA club. Unfortunately, the content wasn't as well curated, and I felt it became kind of a drag, especially after watching a 4 minute long Seth Rogan skit. The marking was a communal, which sped up the evening significantly, which comes in handy when there is a dance floor waiting in the wings. 

After all is said and done (You're going to be the lonely one): A fun quiz that I'd gladly go to again! Some of the questions were a bit sloppy, but the night had a distinctive character to match the venue and surrounding area. Definitely the best pub quiz on Davie.