Nice Guys Trivia @ the Lamplighter

Bring your near-sighted brain.
Also, your astigmatic liver.

Where: The Lamplighter, 92 Water Street

When: 7 PM, Tuesdays.

Web Presence: Check the Nice Guys Trivia page for occasional updates.

Team Info: Not entirely certain, but I'd wager that you can bring as many as you like, per other quizzes at Donnelly pubs.

Prizes: Top three teams win a pitcher of beer, along with other prizes. Also a few games of "Heads Or Tails" could win you supplementary drinks.

Format: The standard 8 round Nice Guys quiz you'll see at Donnelly pubs across the city. A photo round to warm up, and a heavy emphasis on music. Be prepared for an "In the news" round, coming from that liner of composts across the city, The Province.

Food and Drink: I found the food to be pretty pub-standard, but I was very impressed by the beer selection. I mean, nobody will confuse it for the Alibi Room or 12 Kings, but the selection is vast, with a lot of good craft choices.

Here we are again, at another quiz in a Donnelly pub run by the kind fellows at Nice Guys Trivia. I had a pretty good idea of what to expect, but let's recap for those at the back. Here you'll find lots of pop culture questions, with almost half the points coming from music and current events. The quizmasters are fairly brisk about proceedings, moving along at a much faster pace than I had previously experienced with Nice Guys. If there is one thing I really don't like about quizzes, it is when the hosts artificially drag things on. I understand that the quiz is here to get us to buy food and drinks and otherwise patronise a place we maybe wouldn't, but I can't stand it when places are downright shameless about it. Anyways, not a problem this time around. Perhaps someone reads my occasional bitching? A nice thought.

No, my son is also named
the Lamplighter

The tenor of the questions seemed quite similar to what I've seen at The Bimini, the former Calling, and other similar pubs, so I think it is a very safe bet to say most quizzes are a long the same lines here. Nothing unusually dumb, but also nothing overly difficult. A good sense of standard quiz knowledge, acronyms, and picking the least-likely sounding multiple choice question will take you a long way here.

The bar's a big one, so chances that you'll find a seat. The Lamplighter's website claims that it is "The biggest pub quiz night in Vancouver," although I dispute that particular claim. They definitely have a large and busy space, but based on the number of teams I've seen there, I don't think it is the biggest by a long shot. Even though it isn't packed to the rafters with teams, there is still a good number of regular teams that show up to do battle every week, which is the sign of a healthy quiz. They mostly seemed nice, and were gracious in defeat.

WELL:  Probably the best location I've been to yet for a Nice Guys/Donnelly quiz. Good sized crowd, and moves along at a decent pace

The Portside Pub: Reloaded

Yet again, the quizmasters at the Portside have changed. Now Mondays will find it being hosted by IQ2000 trivia, with the exact host unconfirmed at press time. 

Where: The Portside Pub, 7 Alexander

When: 7:30 PM Mondays

Web Presence: Quizmaster Katie usually provides some hints on her Facebook page

Team Info: Max team size of seven, so if you have more, get ready to break them down into two teams

Prizes: $60 in bar credit for first place, $40 for second, and there's even a prize for team who finished second to last.

Format: Two halves, with three ten-question categories each. There was a lightning round that gave beer to the winners as well, which is a fun diversion.

Food and Drink: Much the same as before, but the beer selection seems to have grown in their variety. If you've got a sweet tooth, they've got a tasty ice cream sandwich, made with ice cream from the impeccable Earnest Ice Cream.

Alright! You may recall that I recently did a review of the Smartside Trivia at the Portside, but forget about that! It's old news! The Portside has revamped their quiz by tipping the fantastic Katie, of Darby's notoriety, to host the show. As you may have expected given her previous body of work, it was a smart choice.

The linear quarters of the Portside haven't changed much in the last six weeks, but the trivia sure has. The quiz starts around 7:30 PM, and moves along at a decent speed. The content is classic: heavy on the pop culture, themed rounds, with a willingness to ask some legitimately tough questions. There's an enjoyable music round, some matching, and even a few new twists to Katie's formula. The lightning round between halves is a great way to hand out some free beer. Identifying random things as fast as you can is a better beer dispersal mechanism than heads or tails anyways. I suppose you shouldn't complain about free beer, but I don't see why I can't rank my preferred methods of handing it out.

As a relatively young quiz, the Portside doesn't yet have the crowds of regulars that some quizzes have. The night we were there had about seven to eight other teams, and a few tables that weren't participating. Personally, I find it interesting to see a quizmaster who is used to packed houses and rapt attentions hosting at a smaller level. Katie does a great job engaging the teams, and it looked as though even the teams who hadn't come out explicitly for quiz were having fun. Gastown is in need of more pub quizzes, and Monday has always been one of my favourite nights to go to a quiz. The week's just started, but there's still a reason to look forward to Mondays. Forget what some cats may say, if they even exist. Anyways, hopefully the word gets out that there's good times and great prizes to be had here, and the ranks of quizzers will swell.

Judgement Day: An excellent Quiz Night With Katie quiz, in a convenient downtown location, with excellent prizes. May as well get in on the action at ground level.

Mixing my sequel signals 2: Electric Boogaloo

Smartside Trivia @ The Portside Pub

THE QUIZ AT THE PORTSIDE IS NOW ON MONDAYS AT SEVEN PM. Furthermore, it is being run by Katie of Quiz Night With Katie fame. The review below is kept as an archive, but is not accurate anymore. Look for an updated review sometime soon.

Where: The Portside Pub, 7 Alexander


When: 8 PM Wednesdays

Web Presence: It merits an occasional mention on the Portside's web page, but not much else

Team Info: Seems to be "bring 'em if you've got 'em"

Prizes: Gift certificates and beer to be had! It looks like they will sometimes give away Canucks tickets, but with the playoffs looming, that possibility is getting less and less likely.

Format: A beefy quiz, with three rounds divided into several sub-categories, probably around 60 questions in total.

Food and Drink: The nautically-themed bar features nautically-themed food, which makes sense. I had a pretty tasty lobster chowder, and everyone's favourite arthopod shows up more than a few times across the menu. There's a selection of fairly standard pub food, but vegetarians may have a tricky time finding something they actually want to eat for dinner. If you're feeling generous, you can even buy Save-On-Meats sandwich tokens to distribute on your way home. The bar is as you would expect, with a better than average tap list and $4 Jameson. You've been warned.

The quiz at the Portside is run by the former hosts at 131 Water, a nearby Gastown establishment whose quiz I quite enjoyed. I hadn't the chance to attend when they were hosting there, so this was my first experience with their quiz. If you are wondering why I keep using the plural third-person possessive, it is because I forgot their names. I'm sorry Vancouver, but you don't always get the pub quiz blog you deserve,

The confines of the Portside were cozy and pleasant, evoking the nautical air that one would expect of bar near the waterfront. Being found in the trendy locale of Gastown meant that you were more likely to find house music than sawdust, more chic clothes than salty dogs. It was a good thing that the tables weren't terrible either, since the quiz started an hour late. In their defense, it was one of the first nights there, and they apologized profusely for the delay.

The quiz itself was an immense one, easily one of the largest in town — if you are looking to maximize the number of questions you get asked, then look no further. There were three rounds, each containing between 20 and 30 questions. The rounds were subdivided into 2-5 categories. A sampler: Food & drink, matching a world leader to their country, movie scenes with actors replaced by cats, and a well-curated music round, evoking classics such as D'Angelo's "Untitled (How Does It Feel)."  A nice, broad selection of questions.

However, there was one round which I feel compelled to say something about. The premise was as follows: Order these ten cities from warmest to coldest. The cities are: Hell (Norway), Yakutsk (Russia), Harbin (China), Fort Vermilion (Canada), Fort St John (Canada), Ulaan Baatar (Mongolia) and others. You get the point though. They are all improbably cold places. Is Siberia colder than Mongolia? Than Northern Alberta? Than Northwestern China? It is almost like asking if Seattle or Vancouver or Burnaby gets more rain. How do you even measure it? Coldest single point in time? Average chilliness? How cold it is right now?  We, like most teams, bombed it. It was the toughest matching round since "match the NASCAR driver to their sponsor," which I didn't mind so much. At least that had some facts backing it up.

The takeaway from all this complaining? First off, don't make "put these in order" round. They're awful, one mistake can ruin an entire round for a team. Secondly, if you have to, make the differences fairly obvious, or at least have a few sets that can be ordered in and of themselves. Finally, use a ranking that has an actual definition, or at least say but what metric you're measuring. This smells quite similar to the article Mike wrote on why you don't ask questions about city size.

I hate to end on a complaint, so here's a paragraph break leading into the final summary. Did you know the paragraph symbol (¶) is called a pilcrow? Now you do! Also, even though I didn't like that one round, I thought this was a really fun quiz with a lot of potential. I'll definitely be heading back there sometime soon!

The Cold Hard Facts: I just said it! A fun quiz with a great music round, and will hopefully only keep getting better.

It was cold here once

Godt Nytår!

Since the Danes have been eliminated from the World Juniors, maybe let's leave it at Happy New Year. I hope it finds you well or miserable, as you prefer. I've got some ideas as to what makes the perfect start to a year, but I'm not going to waste your time with any, save one: new quiz announcements! I've got one new recurring quiz, and a one-off spectacle for you. 

First off, The Portside Pub (7 Alexander Street in Gastown) has recently started a weekly quiz, Wednesday at 8PM. Highlights include free canapés during the quiz, and a pair of Canucks tickets as a grand prize. That's some quizmaster largesse right there. I'll try to get a review up in the next month or so. 

Secondly, the Biltmore will be putting on the one-time event "Harry Potter and the Hall Of Inebriation" on Wednesday (when else?), January 21st. Tickets run eight dollars apiece, Butterbeer and Firewhiskey will be served, and the ultimate Harry Potter trivia master will be determined. We're a long way from Hogwarts, so this might be your best chance to nab a Nimbus 2000, Sorting Hat, or Time-Turner.

Nobody Suspects A Thing

Canada Day is fast approaching, and what better way to celebrate than with a quiz? I suppose I can think of few, but they all involve extenuating circumstances, so let's just leave those off the table for now. So, as a gift to you, my fellow Canadian residents and transients, I present with two new quizzes! Or rather, two quizzes heretofore unknown to me. Although I am octopus-like in some respects, I can assure that I am a completely normal human being, and thus cannot be everywhere at once. Anyhow.

Vancouver Trivia Party (is now/has been for some time) running two weekly pub quizzes. You'll find one on Tuesdays at The Academic in Kits, and the other on Wednesdays, at the Blarney Stone in the loins of Gastown. Both quizzes advertise a 7:30 start time. I haven't had the chance to attend either yet, but given the name and the locale, it sounds like it will be a riotous occasion indeed.

Will your local quiz be running on Canada Day? Beats me! You may want to check ahead of time just to be sure though. I can tell you for certain that my local Tuesday quiz at Mr Brownstone will not be running Canada Day. If you fear you may suffer from IQ2000 trivia withdrawal, fear not, as Mr IQ2000 will be running a special one-off quiz at Rowan's Roof, in Kitsilano.

131 Water

I'm told this is no longer an active quiz. Requeiscat in pace.

Where: 131 Water. Located at, uh... 131 Water, in Gastown. You'll find the quiz being run upstairs.

When: 7PM on Wednesday. Runs weekly. 

Web Presence:  A facebook group that is ostensibly about the restaurant, but mostly about the quiz. 

Registration Fee: Nope! This one is gratis.

Team Info: 5 Players per team, maximum (I think)

Prizes: A pitcher of beer. I think you have to take it the next week, but somehow I have my doubts on how this will be enforced.

Format: 3 Rounds, the first being a general knowledge round, 20 questions, worth about 30 points or so. The second round usually consists of a video clip, some pictures, and a matching question, and the third is an audio round. Expect to name that artist, identify the movie, identify the TV show, et cetera.  It also contains a unique (to Vancouver quiz nights, anyways) question at the end of each round. It is an 'exploding' question, which means it is worth 5 points if you get it in the first round, 2 in the second, and one in the third, with the clues becoming more and more revealing. In between rounds, the quizmaster marks all the quizzes himself.

Food and Drink: The food's pretty good, not too expensive either. The beer list is nothing special, but you can get cheap pitchers if you're a student.

This is a fairly new quiz. I'm not sure if it has been running any longer than 3 or 4 months, and even that might be a stretch. But it is the first decent one I've found in Gastown. Although, I guess that isn't saying too much. The quiz is hosted by a nice bearded gentleman named Steve, who I believe works there. It is pretty fast paced quiz, doesn't take much longer than 2 and half hours on average. It is still smoothing out some kinks, but on the whole it seems to be running fairly well. Turnout is modest, but every time I've been there I've seen at least 5 or 6 teams. I've heard reports of only 2 teams showing up sometimes, which is too bad. Steve marks all the papers himself between rounds, which enables the exploding point value question (or at least, immediate vindication if you get it right). It is the only quiz night that does that where the marking doesn't bring the night to a colossal standstill. We'll see how this strategy scales, when more people show up.

It seems to have a good mix of questions, some good history questions and is probably the most liberal with sports related questions of any in Vancouver. The matching questions are usually pretty good (more interesting than the standard quiz night phobias/capitals/etc that you see all over the place), and have on occasion been impressively hard - matching Soap Operas to their settings. Holy shit. If you know a lot about pop culture, specifically TVs and movies, you'll be helpful in the audio round. Spontaneous pitchers have been awarded, for particularly enthusiastic dancing, as well as hilariously wrong answers. I can live with that. Sometimes the questions tend towards "filler" questions (guess the percentage, multiple choice that is improbably difficult, but it never gets too bad.

Long story short, a pretty good quiz to go to.