St Louis Trivia Nights

Sometimes I have to spend the weekend doing normal things, or doing better-than-average things in a dimly lit or crowded environment.

This weekend we went to trivia night at the St Louis Science Center. If you're in St Louis, you probably know all about trivia nights, but what you may not know is that this popular weekend fund raiser is as "St Louis" as toasted raviolis and provel cheese. They are so common here it's hard to believe that many other cities have never even heard of such a thing.



An explanation for those outside the area: Trivia Night is similar to what you may know as pub trivia, which we also have, but the ones we have on the weekend are 10 rounds of 10 trivia questions, held to raise money for a charity or sports team, usually held in a school gym, church basement, or community center, and cost $10-35. The $10 range is BYOB but probably includes some snacks and soda. At the $35 level we generally expect catered dinner and free beer/wine (check out the Young Friends of the St Louis Zoo "Trivia Gone Wild" the first weekend of May for this high end trivia night). At most of them you also bring snacks to share, and you will see everything from a table stacked with White Castles Crave Cases to an extension cord running to the wall for someone's Crock Pot. The food is almost as important as the competition. Trivia night is our winter sport, because we are usually busy with amazing adventures in the summer, but if you are dedicated you can do them year-round with the assistance of TriviaNights.net.



The Science Center Trivia is in the Planetarium, and makes use of all the multimedia available, including the star projector. Awesome, but not conducive to a photo spread. The pictures are what happens when a table full of nerds is given a fish bowl full of curly wires as a centerpiece. Tables all over the place had spontaneous sculptures, hats, and hair ornaments.

After this trivia night we went to check out The Silver Ballroom, a fantastic new bar in the Bevo neighborhood (Morgan Ford and Itaska). Their slogan is "Pinball, Punk Rock, and PBR" and they deliver on all three. Six pinball machines, the best juke box in town, and $2 Pabst Blue Ribbon! Their grand opening is not until April 23-24, but word of mouth in this town is like a Toyota with a sticky gas pedal, and the joint was jammed all weekend (yes, I was there Friday, too.)