Karen Rutter
When I went to Rome, a friend said I should always find a nun when crossing the road, because traffic lights are merely a concept in Italy. If you want to get to the other side unscathed, follow a sister. They’re the only people the cars will stop for.
I bore this in mind when I went to our first OMG Quiz Night at the Alexander Bar, and brought my own nun.
Okay, I also enlisted a professor and an international leadership consultant, for back up. I had no idea of the level of the evening. But my bet was on the nun steering us safely through the evening. And she did (even though she’s actually an ex-nun, and a lesbian). She pulled us through what I thought could be a perilous and possibly awkward event. Me being a quiz virgin and all. I think nuns have experience in this. But I digress.
The Alexander Bar’s OMG Quiz Nights have become somewhat legendary in the city – popular and packed, due no doubt to a number of factors including the cosy pub layout, the accessible programme, and – yes – the prize at the end! For those people who regularly follow the quiz circuit (I have visions of a convoy of brainiacs, criss-crossing the city muttering ‘Sue Ellen was the drunk one in Dallas’), maybe it’s all par for the course. But I loved the unexpected congeniality and the playful competitiveness (well, until somebody in a team got it wrong, and then a beer bottle would be smashed and the broken glass used to punish them. Joking!).
The format, for those who don’t know, is fairly straightforward. Book a table, form a team (minimum of one person allowed), order a refreshing beverage and write down your answers to a series of questions from a selection of categories, as the Quiz Master/Mistress calls ‘em out. In the music section, they may play a song and get you to identify the band. For literature, to name the author of a specific title. For philosophy, to name the last three popes (the ex-nun killed this one).
Then your answers are handed in, added up, and the winning team is announced. In our defence, we were up against a formidable outfit called The Hasselhoffs, whose number included an award-winning writer who we shall not name but clearly has an unfairly photographic memory and sometimes writes under the title Darrel Bristow-Bovey. But they were most gracious in their victory (apparently it happens often) and handed out their spoils to the rest of us losers (craft beers and wine). Very charitable, I would say. The ex-nun approved.
It wasn’t intimidating or unsafe, like crossing Roman roads, and it was fabulously fun. Book now, build a team, brush up your general knowledge before you go. You might even beat The Hasselhoffs …
Where and when: Alexander Bar, every Wednesday night
Book: https://alexanderbar.co.za/buy/quiz/
WS
