The Scenestress: Pitted against trivia wizards

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Kevin and Bobby, our esteemed hosts for an evening of head-scratching and brain-wracking.

What I consider my biggest and sexiest muscle is, in truth, not a muscle at all. But I still love to flex it, particularly in public. I'm talking about my intelligence.

One summertime triumph over the brain trust at Growler's Pub's weekly trivia night only made me thirsty for more. Not satisfied to vie for the title of top brainiac in only one venue, I decided to take Mr. Date's and my collective arsenal of useless minutiae to Sci-Fi/Fantasy Trivia at The Queen Anne British Pub & Restaurant (6525 B Superior Ave, Sarasota).

Only one thing could possibly lure me away from my gen-triv comfort zone, and that thing was an entire night of trivia devoted to The Lord of the Rings. I'm that kid with that dad whose choice for bedtime literature included the entire ring trilogy (with the historical appendices). My first favorite movie was Ralph Bakshi's animation of the saga's first half, the one where Bakshi ran out of steam and never made the sequel.

Mr. Date and I corralled our friend Matt Decker into coming along. His LOTR knowledge is limited to the movies, but he's in a band called Buffalo Wizards so I figured he might come in handy. It turns out he is a supremely good guesser. Our trio settled in at a table a little before 7:30 p.m. and ordered a round of brain lubricant and fortifier---that is, beer and chicken wings. Meanwhile, I surveyed the competition. The 20 or so people didn't look especially nerdy to me. No pocket-protectors, coke-bottle glasses or complexions bleached by World of Warcraft's midnight glow. They looked like regular, in some cases rather attractive guys and gals, where I had expected magic swords and elf ears. But I was about to find out what these unassuming wing-munchers and cider-swiggers were made of.

Christie, the Queen Anne's owner, took a break from manning the kitchen and came out to thank us for coming, and to bring our friends next time.

Hosts Bobby and Kevin got the ball rolling with the first round of questions, each one more challenging than the last. Nobody even got the one about Sauron's disguise to the Elves of Eregion when he tricked them into making the Rings of Power (it's Annatar, dummy). The multiple-choice safety net disappeared after that, and things started getting crazy obscure. Even the hosts had a hard time getting their mouths around terms like "Cirith Ungol" and "Silmarillion." By half-time our team was somehow not in last place, but trailed the first place team, The White Wizards, by 200 points. I turned around to discover that the White Wizards was only one guy, and he was singlehandedly dominating with the Riders of Bro-han hot on his heels.

"Why don't we turn this into a drinking game?" Matt suggested. "Take a drink every time we get one wrong. No, better take a drink every time someone mentions Lord of the Rings."

The happy champions, Team Precious.

A bit of redemption came when I cashed in our power round and scored double points on "books-only" questions (thanks, Dad). By playing it safe on the last-round wager, we ranked third out of the five teams. That seems to be our sweet spot. In a big upset, Team Precious took the top prize: a box of bar swag and a bottle of Twisted Tea, enough to just wet the lips of the entire eight-person team. As the hosts put on a movie to close out the night, my teammates made motions to slink away. But I made them stay to catch the first five minutes. It was Bakshi's Lord of the Rings, a perfect consolation prize.

The Scenestress wishes you a wonderful Thanksgiving! Drop her a line through e-mail, or stop by on FacebookTumblr and Twitter.

Last modified: November 20, 2012
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