Building a solid trivia team is a tricky venture -- you need a jock, an entertainment junkie, a book worm, a history buff and at some Dallas venues, someone who has really good aim with coasters. My biggest regret about dumping my college boyfriend was losing his endless knowledge of useless facts. Grab your smartest friends or ex-boyfriends and head to these bars to test your trivial strengths.
Trinity Hall Definitely the toughest trivia in town, Sunday nights at this Irish pub attract brainiacs from all over Dallas. You'll need to do more than kiss the blarney stone to be competitive with these professional nerds. Do you know answers to obscure questions like, How many strands of hair does a My Little Pony have? What is the sum of all the numbers on a roulette wheel? (answer: 666) Regulars like The Skinny Skiers do, but they were finalists to be on VH1's World Series of Pop Culture, so that's just not fair.
Bryan Street Tavern Every Wednesday at 8 p.m. at one of the best dive bars in Dallas, a bunch of smart-alecky trivia nerds eats delicious pizza, throws back a few brewskis and competes in a few rounds, with themes like "TV Shows Your Parents Watch," and a few name-that-tune rounds. There are a couple other bars in Dallas who use the Geeks Who Drink trivia chain, including Snookie's on Mondays, Nodding Donkey on Tuesdays and J. Black's on Wednesdays. But BST is the better bar and the questions are more audible.
The Flying Saucer The beer gods of Flying Saucer are generous on Tuesday nights. A new beer is tapped every week and there are two different games of trivia. You don't have to be too nerdy to play the Think While U Drink trivia. Unlike the impossibly hard questions at Trinity Hall, at The Flying Saucer there are questions normal people can answer, like how many women are on the Supreme Court? Or how many days was the Obamacare Web site down for? Trick for success: Read the newspaper and don't get too sauced.
The Lion and Crown At this underrated bar in Addison Circle, Thursday nights are a little bit rowdy when King Trivia takes over. Perhaps the easiest trivia night available -- I've got the third place prize to prove it! The questions range from sports to pop culture and include a hand out round. The Lion and Crown seems to have the friendliest quizmasters in town. If you're too trendy for Addison, King Trivia has infiltrated Dallas Beer Kitchen on Tuesday nights at 7:30 p.m.
The Ginger Man Trivial Tuesdays at The Ginger Man are kooky. Quizmaster Pace created a bonus round, during which one team member throw coasters into a garbage can. My nerdy companions especially love the lightning name-that -tune round -- 15 songs, five seconds to name artist and/or song. Wear your running shoes.
