Opinion: Pub quizzes are the answer: what was the question?

Some of the crowd at a quiz night at St Johns Club. Photo / Lorraine Dixon

Pub quizzes or trivia nights have generated interest for ages, and there seems to be no sign of their popularity decreasing any time soon. This is a good thing, right?

Good for the participants, good for the quiz question compilers, and good for the establishment that hosts the quizzers.

So what's the attraction?

The competition, pitting your general knowledge against that of others is often the primary motivation. It is a contest, and there are always prizes for winning or place-getting teams.

It's an evening out. Social interaction is good for us all, decreases the degrees of separation and encourages an unimpeded flow of communication across a broad cross-section of people.

It is fun. It gives us all a chance to enjoy the medicine of laughter and the facial exercise of smiling. So it is enjoyable AND a workout.

It gets us into a new environment.

The quiz night to which I belong recently relocated to the St Johns Club in Glasgow St, and already we feel we belong. The staff are friendly, the premises inviting and we are all made to feel welcome. It helps that we are well behaved and respect the club and its people.

Of course, we are encouraged to join the club — and some of us have done so and more have indicated they intend to — and we feel comfortable spending our cash there. We put money across the bar and through the restaurant and those who are members do so on nights other than just our usual Wednesday pub quiz.

Seems like a win-win to me.

With luck, we might encourage others to join us, form a team and compete for the usual prizes. They, in turn, will patronise the club and use its facilities.

Pub quizzing is friendly rivalry, with prizes big enough to act as incentive but not so large as to cause resentment when another team wins. Sportsmanship is part of the equation but most people arrive with it, anyway. It's not something they have to learn, just something they learn to exercise.

So, to those establishments that have made room for a geeky crowd of quizzers, that have opened their bars and restaurants to a whole new group of club and pub goers, we salute you.

To find a warm, welcoming space in which to indulge in our pursuit of trivia knowledge has not always been easy. I hope the quiz crowd makes it worth your while.

And here's your first question: What is the collective noun for a group of pub quizzers?