The first pub we went to was Finn McCools. Finn McCools is an Irish pub that is supposed to have the hardest pub trivia in town. Since this was the first pub trivia we had done, we didn't really know what to expect. The bar was insanely crowded. Like INSANELY crowded. There were over 20 teams and not even enough room to stand (several teams were writing on the wall). The bar itself is really cool inside. It was very Irish, and several of the bartenders were actually Irish, which I liked, because I've been in Irish pubs that didn't serve Guinness (and that blows). There was all sorts of memorabilia on the wall too, but not in the fake Applebees kind of way. One of my favorite items was the hand decorated sign that read "Fuck Thierry Henry" (for anybody who doesn't know, in the last world cup, Thierry Henry scored a goal against Ireland off of a handball, which kept Ireland from advancing to the world cup). Finn McCools also serves typical pub food like fish and chips and other beer-battered things. I wish that we had actually gotten a chance to try the food, but we had all just had dinner, so we were too full to merit buying the food.
The bar quickly filled up with people, even though it was already packed by the time we got there, which was about 15 minutes from the start of the game. Each team had to come up with a team name in order to play. We chose "The Team Who Shall Not Be Named," but some of the other names were hilarious, like "Vaginasaurus Rex," "We Teach Your Kids," and "Condoms and Rattlesnakes." My personal favorite was "North Koreans For Sarah Palin 2012." Each team was then given a sheet on which they would write the answers. This ended up making it take a really long time, because we needed to have the sheets given back to us at the end of the round, and with over 20 teams in a tiny space, you can imagine the gridlock that ensued.
There were five rounds of ten questions each, one of which was a picture round. The best 5 teams got prizes of varying value according to their superiority. The last place team got a sack of potatoes, hilarious considering that we're in an Irish pub. I'll spare you a description of the different rounds, but let's just say that they were REALLY HARD. Seriously. We averaged 3/10 on each round. My brain was in some serious pain by the time we were done. In the end we got 17 points (the winning team got 50), which thank god wasn't last place. I'm pretty sure we got second to last though. The only team that "beat" us was called the "Delgado Dropouts." Delgado is the local community college. Sigh.
We left potato-less, which for us was a major accomplishment, because for a while there we were worried that we'd have too many potatoes for our own good. I'm not kidding, these questions were so hard. Not only did they require knowledge that we didn't possess, but they were also word games. Our crux was probably that they had so many questions about things in the 70s (game shows, bands, etc.). Obviously this presented a problem. The whole time Carolyn and I were thinking that our dad would have OWNED at this game. He and I both collect random facts, but he's 30 years older than me, thus his fact knowledge is 5:2 against mine (I hope I did that right...). You do the math, because I sure as hell can't.
Since then we've been to two other pub trivias. I won't describe them in detail, since that's boring, but I can safely say that they were significantly easier than Finn McCools. Both of them catered to a younger crowd, AND they didn't involve tricky word-play questions. At the Bridge Lounge, which is on tuesday nights, we probably ended up in the middle. I liked this trivia much more than Finn McCools. It was more chill, more relaxed, and in general more fun (because, you know, we could like, answer things). I did have two beef though. 1) Their geography section was not really geography, and they also had two wrong answers. One question asked for the biggest city in the Prime Meridian. This is obviously London, but their answer was Greenwich. Not only is that wrong, since Greenwich is a part of London, but Greenwich isn't even a city. Another question asked for one thing that Virginia, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania had in common. We answered that they all shared a bored with West Virginia (which is true). The correct answer was that they were all commonwealth states. This is also true, but it's not the only answer. Maybe I'm being nitpicky. Maybe the people who wrote the questions are stupid. Who knows. 2) They had a music section where you had to finish the lyrics of a song. Oh. My. God. It was impossible. Like actually. I think we only ended up getting two points out of 15. That's a 13 percent. Carolyn and I also got a question about The Princess Bride wrong. I'm so ashamed to admit that, because I've probably seen that move like 20 times. Other than that, I really liked this one. it was quick, fun, and the questions were super interesting.
The third pub we went to was Half Moon. I think I liked their pub trivia the best. Their's was the easiest by far, and their atmosphere was the most fun. It was a lot of twenty-somethings and the host was super relaxed. I also like this one because they had quirky prizes worked into the middle of the game. The team with the best team name got a prize (My favorite was "The Kids Are All Gay, but that didn't win, unfortunately), and in the second round after the 5th question, your teem could buy shots for points. Anyway, I'll stop pontificating, but if you're ever in New Orleans, you should definitely hit these places up.
I'd also like to note that it seems that pubs like these three MUST be in sketchy neighborhoods. Not that that should deter you (it obviously didn't deter us), but I'm just saying.
Finn McCools: http://finnmccools.com/
The Bridge Lounge: http://bridgeloungenola.com/
Half Moon: http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/57/1495439/restaurant/Lower-Garden-District/Half-Moon-Bar-Grill-New-Orleans
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