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.

Daylight Savings Quiz

To those who quiz on Sunday nights: Rowan's Roof will now start their quiz at 6 in the evening, and not 7. This way, the farmers will have even more time to quiz, or something.

Will There Ever Be a Rainbow?

I'm a little bit late to the game, but Woo Hoo Classic Simpsons Trivia has moved out of the slightly bizarre environs of SD Galleria, and on to the less convenient, but nicer confines of The Waldorf. Head down to the Tiki Bar, and share a drink with everyone's favourite Olmec head. When's the next quiz? Tomorrow, so adjust your schedules accordingly.

As Christopher Wallace once said, "If you don't know, now you know"

Señor Xtapolapocetl

Quiz Roland To The Dark Tower Came

Once again, it appears to be time to announce another new pub quiz. The newest kid on the block is Roland's on 4th, located on West 4th avenue in Kitsilano. You thought that Wednesday's quiz schedule was getting full, and you were having trouble picking out which quiz to go to? Tough! We've got another hat in the ring, run by the people of Moving Music & Events - in the even that name means anything to you. I've never heard of them before, which has got me quite excited to take in a quiz written by an unknown (to me).

The quiz advertises itself as being based on pop culture, and they're offering specials of $3.95 highballs and a free plate of wings for each table. there's no entry free, and the quiz purports to start at seven PM. The quiz starts as of Wednesday, November 12, 2014, and runs weekly.

So, a quick recap:
-Roland's on 4th
-Wednesdays at 7PM
-FREE WINGS

The Cheeky Pub Quiz @ The London

Where: The London, 700 Main Street (at Georgia)

When: 7PM, Wednesdays

Web Presence: Here's the event page. I know it says Sundays but trust me, they're actually running it on Wednesdays now. Double check with them on twitter, if you don't want to take our word for it.

Team Info: Take as many as you want, I suppose.

Prizes: First place took home a $25 Jennings Hospitality Gift Certificate. Not bad. Last week they were giving away Whitecaps tickets, which could be a good haul.

Format: About 5 rounds of varying sizes. There was a picture round, and a brief and merciless music round.

Food and Drink: Given the general demeanour of the pub ("Donnelly chic," complete with pinball
machines, TVs locked to Sunday Night Football, etc), I wasn't expecting much in the way of food. Well, for the first of many times that night, I was mistaken, as the Chili Verde was frankly delicious, and some of the best best pub food I've had in town. The vegetarians reported good things about the quesadillas, so it was a pleasant surprise on most counts. The London Lager's selling point remains its price point and not its taste, however. Can't win 'em all.

The London Pub's quiz deserved better than the crowd it got. Not that they were surly or obnoxious, or inattentive, but rather that they barely existed. The place was a ghost town this particular Sunday evening, due to a combination of a beautiful September weather and the Seahawks losing. Not many people had stuck around, and more than a few people didn't feel like heading out to the bar at the end of a weekend. A quick talk with the host told me that they'd be moving quizzes to Wednesday, where they are now, and by most accounts it looks like things are going much better.

The author approves.

The quiz was run by an amiable Brit who kept up a steady stream of banter across four or five rounds. I wish I could be more specific, but went nearly a month ago and have been slacking off in writing this post. The questions were a quality mix of pub quiz classics, planted firmly in the middle ground between fun and challenging. The emphasis on pop culture and other such trash was lower than I'm used to at trivia nights around town. It felt a part of the long standing tradition of British pub quizzes where they expect you to know your shit. You should find that you'll have an inclusive time without feeling either patronized or dumb. That's a hard balance to strike at a quiz.

The picture round was broadcast on monitors, and went along at a brisk pace. The music round was one of the hardest I've ever been to, to boot. I'm not sure if we were just having a bad day, but we felt entirely out of phase with the host's tastes. I'm willing to bet you'll have better luck though. The other teams seemed to.


The Call Of The Wild:  A good quiz, that is hopefully finding more love on Wednesday nights. Head on down, meet some people, have a good time, and enjoy the Chili Verde. And remember, it's on Wednesday nights now.

The Coppertank

Where: The Coppertank, located at 3135 W Broadway in Kits

When: 7:45, on a roughly biweekly schedule

Web Presence:  The official Trivia page provides the upcoming schedule. It is usually every two weeks but not always, so check ahead of time. You can sometimes find a hint on the Coppertank's Facebook page.

Team Info: Max team size of 8, and there are usually a fair number of teams with that many.

Prizes: We finished third and got $25 knocked off our bill. I think second gets the same, and first twice that.

Format: Three rounds, 12 questions each, and a picture round. Each round ends with a sound clip worth two points.

Food and Drink: I didn't eat here, but the food selection looked pretty good. About what one would expect in Kits. The beer was the happy middle ground between Megabreweries galore and a full-on craft beer explosion. Gigantic mugs of Grasshopper were on special, around eight dollars for 24 ounces of beer.

Billing itself as "the best pub quiz in Kits," the Coppertank Grill's cavernous confines play host to a derby of knowledge every other Wednesday night. More or less. I haven't exactly pinned down their schedule, but "every two weeks, usually" seems to be an apt descriptor. The official start time is 7:45, making it the only quiz in town that doesn't start on the hour or half hour. Will this bold time slot gamble pay off? Let' see what I think!

The quiz itself went briskly, which I think is a boon. It was marked by the host and his assistant, and score updates would often come in the middle of the second round. If you've got the personnel to pull this off, I think it is a great idea. Too often I've been bored stiff at a quiz while the markers wait until everything has been marked and checked and ranked. While unorthodox, I didn't mind the announcing of the rankings midway through the next round.

Pienaar, 1995 Coppertank quiz champion

The picture round was the best I've played in a while. While not particularly varied — naming sports stars and their numbers — it had an excellent range of easy (Wayne Gretzky), middling (Kareen Abdul-Jabbar), difficult (Christine Sinclair), and fiendish (Francois Pienaar) questions. While I expect few Vancouver quizzers know of Pienaar, surely some may have at least thought that he was probably the guy Matt Damon played in Invictus, so hopefully no one felt too hard done by. I can only assume that it took a team with an Afrikaaner in their ranks to scry the correct number. His number was six, and he wasn't even the most famous person to wear a number six Pienaar jersey - that honour surely goes to Nelson Mandela.



The rest of the questions were good, but not quite on the level of the picture round. Not too much to write about, but it tended more towards "trivial" things that could go either way than towards fact-based recall. I like and don't like those kinds of questions. I like them because hey, it is trivia, and I don't like them because they usually put our teams into ten-minute long agony spirals because it is borderline impossible to actually know the answer. I'll stop here, before I go too Pub Quiz Policy Wonk for my own blog, but suffice it to say The Coppertank handled these types of pesky questions with aplomb.

15-12 over New Zealand: A good quiz on the crowded Wednesday evening docket. Is it the best quiz in Kits, as they claim? I personally don't think so, but I wouldn't hesitate in putting it second. Good questions, good pacing, and good drinks make this a great evening. Next time, I'll make sure to bring a larger team. The odd time slot? It's probably just a way of saying "It starts at 8, but get here early"

That's right, THE Tank

Rowan's Roof (cancelled)

The quiz at Rowan's Roof has been discontinued. For Sunday night quizzing in Kits by the same host, head to The King's Head

Where: Rowan's Roof, located at 2340 W 4th Avenue in Kits

When: 6PM Sundays, weekly

Web Presence:  You can follow IQ2000 on Facebook, and get yourself a few free answers every week

Team Info: I think there is a max team size of seven, but concessions can be made.

Prizes: A smorgasbord. There are usually some pitchers of beer getting awarded for general enthusiasm and victory, along with others. Prizes from the last few weeks have included: A gift certificate for a facial at Bioethique, a free haricut, a bottle of house wine, a $25 gift card to Broadway International Wine Shop, and 50 minutes of free tanning at a salon. Personally I wonder at the intersection of pub quizzers and salon tanners, but you can't argue that these are pretty excellent prizes!

Format: 4 rounds, 10 questions each, divided into two halves. So really two rounds of 20 questions. Themed music round

Food and Drink: It's food and drink. The beer selection leaves a lot to be desired. But they've got a nice patio, and the house wine's on special.


At long last I was able to take time out of my busy church-going schedule (Hi, Mom!) to attend a pub quiz on a Sunday night. A couple of us hopped the bus to Kits and took in the evening at Rowan's Roof. The crowd was decent for a Sunday night, about eight teams or so. To be honest, I don't go to a lot of pubs on Sundays, so I'm not sure what the baseline is. But there were tables full of people having fun,with some room for more, so it looks like it is doing something right. The quiz was also competing against a supremely gorgeous day, such as we have be privy to of late. I would expect an uptick in crowds, as ever, when the autumn rains come lashing in.

The quiz itself, I don't have too much to say that wasn't already said during the Mr. Brownstone review. Same delightful host, same cheer-offs that wear on you the more frequently you go, same good questions and same fantastic production. The music round has officially become a staple of IQ2000 quizzes, and while the same categories pop up every now and again, the rounds at Rowan's Roof have been quite good. Nothing like the brain agony of when I can't remember the name of the Buffalo Springfield song for approx. the seven thousandth time. The slideshow accompaniment to the Answers continues to reward deep reading. Pay attention sons and daughters, it is probably the highlight of Vancouver quizzes.

As you may have read already, the prizes are excellent here. On top of being some pretty cool swag to take home, they're very community-oriented — almost all the non-beer at the bar prizes for Rowan's Roof come from businesses in the area. So get out there, win some prizes, and support some local business.

For What It's Worth: A fun quiz with great prizes at an okay bar. Fortunately, the food and drink is fairly cheap. The best of Sunday? Quite possibly, but I'll suspend judgement until I've gathered some more data on the topic.

That sound was that song, of course