“What agency or organization gives the warning at the beginning of every movie?” (Answer: FBI)
That’s the kind of question Bill Klein, host of Mr. Bill’s Traveling Trivia Show, asks at the beginning of the night.
But when customers get more booze in them, he eases up and asks multiple choice questions like “Which U.S. president liked to show off his sex organ that he called ‘Jumbo’ during college? Johnson, Kennedy or Clinton?”
(Answer: Johnson)
Welcome to Friday’s trivia night at Rogue Ales Eugene City Brewery, at 844 Olive St., the bar nearest to campus where students can play trivia games while drinking and socializing.
“It’s not a trivia game like at other places where you have to focus on just the game,” said Scott Gallagher, spokesman for Rogue. “You can socialize and talk while playing.”
Mr. Bill’s Traveling Trivia Show comes to the brewery every Friday night from 8 p.m. until 11 p.m. Rogue holds its weekly trivia night on Friday because other bars have theirs during the week, Gallagher said.
O’Donnell’s Irish Pub, at 295 Highway 99N, holds its weekly trivia night on Thursdays from 9:30 p.m. until 11:30 p.m. At O’Donnell’s, contestants work in groups of four or five to answer three questions per round. Prizes include free drinks, food and T-shirts.
Sam’s Place at 825 Wilson St. had a regular trivia night on Wednesdays, but it has now combined it with its weekly karaoke night, starting at 8 p.m.
At Rogue, contestants play in groups of three or four and answer three rounds of 18 questions. Each round is divided into groups of three questions and only one correct answer is needed for entry in the raffle for prizes.
Prizes include $7 gift certificates for food, coupons for $1 toward a bar tab and Rogue Brewery T-shirts.
Mr. Bill posts 96 questions on his Web site every Sunday night.
Categories include movies, science, history, sports, geography, arts, politics, music and literature.
“About half of the crowd are regulars.” Klein said. “I see them every Friday when I come to Eugene.”
Klein began his entertainment career as a traveling trivia host 20 years ago in Salem.
“One Sunday night there were a few people,” Klein said, “and after serving them, I was sitting at the end of the bar reading.”
The customers began arguing about TV programs from the 1950s, and Klein was able to solve the argument with the answers in his trivia book.
“The pub owner and I had been talking about midweekperformances,” said Klein on his Web site www.mrbillstrivia.com. “So when I came up with the idea of a trivia show, he asked me to do it.”
The weekly event became popular, and Klein was soon asked to perform at other bars in Salem and Albany. Eventually Klein had enough regular shows around Oregon that he quit his job bartending and hosted trivia shows full time.
Terry Bruce is a regular at Mr. Bill’s Traveling Trivia Show and follows Klein to his other weekly performances at bars in Salem, Corvallis and Portland.
“I usually go to two or three, sometimes five shows,” Bruce said. “It’s a good excuse to visit my friends in those cities.”
University alumnus Dave Rolniak, 23, went to Eugene City Brewery on Friday because he likes trivia.
“I know a whole bunch of useless information,” Rolniak said. “That’s what college taught me.”