4 minute read
TRIVIA QUEENS
True Texas Trivia Queens
Story by Lizz Daniels
It’s almost 7 p.m. inside True Texas BBQ at the Seguin H-E-B. Chairs scrape across the floor, the sound lost amidst conversation, while people scurry to their tables with food and drink. They sit in groups, ready for a night of friendly competition, and the room falls quiet as the host explains the rules of trivia night.
Over the next two hours, 20 questions are raised by the host for players to solve. Teams have the length of one song to decide on their answer and submit it — no phones out during rounds, and no take-backs if you realize you got the answer wrong after turning it over.
Trivia Nights, such as the ones hosted at H-E-B, have popped up in the area with other local events also held at the Seguin Brewing Company downtown. Local team Beer, BBQ & Queens, BBQ for short, got in on the fun four years ago when they first started playing together. While team members have come and gone, Denise Crettenden stuck around, and so did the name. Crettenden, along with Janice Ideus and Amy Hanson, form the core team today.
“We play in the same league as 30 or 40 teams in and around Seguin and New Braunfels,” Crettenden said. “There could be four or five teams per event, or there could be double that any given night. It’s free to play, we just make sure to order from the restaurant to support them.”
Depicted in movies and on TV as being high energy and even combative, Trivia Nights are a little different in Guadalupe County, but that doesn’t mean local teams don’t play to win. By curating a team with a variety of interests, BBQ developed a cross-generational group that relies on each other’s unique experiences to inform their gameplay.
“What I appreciate about my team is that we all have our specialties,” Crettenden said. “Janice is a little older than us, so there are some things she remembers that we don’t, and she also knows history and geography. Amy has a little more 70s and 80s knowledge, and has seen a lot more movies and television than the rest of us.”
Crettenden brings to the table a wide range of knowledge from who wore what to the Oscars to classic literature. Working as a team, they tackle questions about science, advertising, pop culture, and more, relying on each other when they get stuck with a topic with which they are unfamiliar. Even Hanson and Crettenden’s daughters get in on the action supporting the team with knowledge on subjects like Taylor Swift and Harry Potter.
Where conflict can arise, however, is when two people have different answers to the same question. In these moments, competition comes secondary to being good teammates and friends to each other. Even when someone swears they are right, but turns up flat wrong, kindness prevails.
“Inevitably, you are going to be wrong at some point, and the other person will be right,” Crettenden said. “It might have been the deciding factor in whether you win or not, but we are kind when that happens and don’t hold it against each other.”
The camaraderie that happens when they play together is what keeps them returning for more, and the hobby sneaks up in unexpected areas throughout their lives. This is partially due to the sheer variety of topics that come up in a night of trivia.
“After that vacation, I felt like a colonial war expert,” Denise said. “Eleanor said to me the other day that when we watch TV now, she tries to remember information so we can use it at trivia.”
Ideus also finds ways of linking her world back to trivia. Her memory isn’t what it once was, and can occasionally become a hindrance when a fact is just out of mental reach.
“I have a poor memory, so I play word games on my phone and watch Jeopardy to help keep my thinker sharp,” Ideus said. “But even with all that, sometimes I know the answer; I just can’t think of it when I need it.” That’s when the team pulls together, bouncing ideas and questions off each other in rapid succession to jog each other’s memories. They may not always get it right, but more often than not, this back and forth gets them closer.
The trivia scene in Guadalupe County boasts some of the most successful teams in the area with BBQ heading to San Antonio Trivia’s semi-finals the past three years, and other Seguin teams claiming the top prize twice in a row.
Prizes range from gift cards to cash, but for Beer, BBQ & Queens, it’s about the fellowship, plain and simple. Right now, that means playing virtually, which certainly lacks the atmosphere to which they are accustomed. The smell of fresh brisket wafting in the air may be missing, but the joy of shared knowledge and team bonding stays present even as BBQ patiently awaits the return of their favorite night of the week.
