About a year and a half ago, the trivia team called The Galloping Dominoes appeared, as they did every week, at Hooters restaurant in Tuscaloosa to compete at trivia night. About midway through the game, they found themselves utterly stumped by the question: What modern-day city was once known as ancient Constantinople?
“I thought it was Baghdad,” said team member Friendly Bob, or “Mr. Marvelous,” as he is affectionately known. “But it wasn’t. We ended up just guessing and saying Istanbul. And you know what? It was right.”
According to Marvelous, Istanbul is the team’s go-to guess answer. Apparently it has paid off three times.
These weekly trivia nights occur all around Tuscaloosa and are run by the Birmingham Trivia League, part of Challenge Entertainment. Anyone can compete at Hooters at 7 p.m. on Tuesdays, Brown’s Corner or Buffalo Wild Wings at 8 p.m. on Wednesdays and Wilhagan’s Sports Grille at 8 p.m. on Thursdays.
“Things tend to slack off in the summer,” said Sam Evers, the director of the freshmen math program at the University and the trivia jockey, or host, at Hooters every Tuesday. “We try to do this on nights that aren’t normally busy.”
Teams can be as large or small as you like, but only one team is allowed at each table. The questions cover general knowledge topics like movies, music, TV, history and more, and you can wager points on each question. Each night the top three teams will win prizes, usually “house cash” (gift certificates, etc.), valued at $50, $20 or $10.
“I’ve seen teams of 20 crowded around a table,” Evers said. “At a certain point, it can get counterproductive. You’ll have about five people playing and fifteen sitting around talking.”
According to Evers, trivia night has drawn some pretty large crowds to its various locales. Tuesday, about 45 people showed up at Hooters to play, including the former Galloping Dominoes, whose team name is now She Smashed the Homey.
“Sometimes the team names can get a bit risqué,” Evers said. “You do see certain teams that play at multiple locations. Even if they don’t win all the time, they’re addicted to the game.”
This is not the case for She Smashed the Homey, however. Although they did win Tuesday’s round, the team consisting of Mr. Marvelous, Cynthia Williams, Tony Humphries, Willie Cooley, Ashley Cammon and Paulette Williams never plays anywhere but Hooters.
Marvelous and his team were invited to compete in the trivia finals in Birmingham, an honor bestowed upon the top four teams from each venue every season. They have never won the finals, but hopes are high for their future endeavors.
“To win at trivia, you’ve got to have a diverse group,” Marvelous said. “You’ve got to have an old fart like me, who only knows about things before about 1947, you’ve got to have a younger player, then you’ve got to have some other diverse players.”
According to Marvelous they’ve got a sports guru, Cooley, and a Bible expert in Humphries.
They even have a couple of arch rivals, the teams called Blah Blah Blah and Sam I Am.
“It’s serious business,” Marvelous said. “It’s not like playing on the little computer game. You’ve got to have your wits about you for this.”
Even the employees at different venues have been getting into trivia night.
“The questions get really hard towards the end,” said Rachel Adams, who works at Wilhagan’s. “But I enjoy playing along from the hostess stand. It’s a lot of fun.”
For more information, visit www.birminghamtrivia.com.
