Trivial Pursuits | Oberlin School and Conservatory

Near the top of January, my mates and I went to our first trivia evening at Slow Train, a restaurant within the city of Oberlin. Every Thursday, Slow Train hosts trivia, and you should purchase drinks and snacks whereas answering questions with groups of as much as 5 of your closest mates. Every week since that first evening, we’ve been again, with various ranges of success, but it surely’s one in all my favourite new actions for a number of causes.

Q: What do 2016 popular culture, the Winter Olympics, songs with piano solos, and the human coronary heart have in frequent?

A: They had been all current trivia matters!

First of all, the matters are totally different sufficient that just about everybody might be profitable in a single spherical or one other. We’ve had rounds of normal data, popular culture, sports activities, science, and historical past. There’s all the time a visible spherical, the place groups scan QR codes or get printouts of photographs to establish, and the matters of the visible rounds have ranged from well-known towers to movie star child photographs. Plus, there’s usually an audio spherical for music followers or a wordplay spherical, that are additionally actually enjoyable to determine. Even if you happen to wrestle with one matter, the subsequent spherical is normally one thing fully totally different, and in case you have a foul evening, the subsequent week has a brand new host and a brand new set of matters. A tough spherical may also be a supply of enjoyable—I can’t let you know what number of occasions we’ve checked solutions after a spherical and began laughing about how hilariously flawed we had been. Either method, the number of matters retains issues recent and attention-grabbing, and I normally have at the least one spherical that I really feel actually assured about.

Q: True or false: I’m a aggressive particular person.

A: Definitely very true!

Most of my mates can let you know that I really like a great (pleasant!) competitors, whether or not it’s a board recreation or a classroom debate. As a part of Oberlin’s orientation course of, we have now to take an evaluation known as CliftonStrengths, which supplies you an inventory of your prime 5 strengths that can greatest profit you within the office, classroom, and different skilled settings. My prime power was certainly competitors, which was humorous, however truthfully unsurprising. Considering all of that, weekly trivia evening has given me a enjoyable outlet for my aggressive nature, and it’s all the time enjoyable to listen to the outcomes and see what placement we bought. Our file thus far is third place, and we’ve positioned 4th at the least 3 times. (We don’t discuss concerning the week that one in all our groups bought sixteenth and the opposite bought 14th.) Also, even if you happen to’re not doing effectively within the general standings, there are different enjoyable methods to compete. If you go along with a big sufficient group, you’ll have to separate into two groups, so you’ll be able to attempt to outdo your mates. Every evening, the Slow Train baristas additionally award a degree to the perfect staff title of the evening, which is commonly a pun associated to squirrels, Oberlin, or espresso. If you’re in any respect like me and love a great competitors, I extremely advocate trivia evening!

Q: How a lot of my mates began a brand new exercise this semester?

A: Too many to depend…

Finally (and maybe most significantly), trivia nights have given me a much-needed alternative to reconnect with my mates. Obies, as a normal rule, are fairly concerned and really busy, and my mates are not any exception. Almost all of us bought new campus jobs, joined new golf equipment, or took on tough course hundreds this semester, and there have been a number of complete days thus far this semester the place I don’t see my mates exterior of our mealtimes. However, we attempt to come collectively for trivia nights—the least variety of mates which have proven up on a given evening is 5, and essentially the most we’ve ever had was eight (in two groups of 4). We work collectively to reply questions, discuss and play video games between rounds, and tease one another about our ridiculous solutions. During a semester the place it’s been laborious generally to make time for socializing, our weekly trivia custom has given us all the prospect to attach over one thing enjoyable. 

So if you happen to’re ever bored on a Thursday evening in Oberlin, head to Slow Train with a gaggle of mates and take a look at your hand at trivia! It’s all the time a good time, and I do know I look ahead to it each week. Hope to see you there!