The Brownstone

The last time we went to trivia night at the Brownstone Tavern in Northcenter, we had an ok time and we were not huge fans of the the host.  So when we got a tip from our friend Rory  that a new company had taken over, we couldn't wait to see what it was like.  We were not disappointed!  We met up with new friend and organizer of the World Quizzing Championships in Chicago, Mitchell, and totally dominated the new Tuesday night pub quiz at Brownstone, presented by Marbles: the Brain Store.  If you like not only trivia, but other brain games, this trivia night is definitely for you.

The trivia quiz is presented in six different rounds, each based on a different game you can purchase at Marbles.  This week's games/rounds were: Blast from the Past (where we answered true/false questions about decades), Kwizmaniac, Triviathon (a super-confusing round where you get points based on which answer you choose--you have to play to understand), Top 10 (this week, the Top 10 most downloaded iTunes songs), Tribond (what do these three things have in common?), and a guesstimation game.  At the beginning of each round, there's also a bonus question (word problem or math problem or alphagram)  worth 1-3 points.  You can't beat Brownstone for variety in questions.

A few problems keep this trivia night from being perfect.  First, it's REALLY difficult to hear the host, Jay.  Sometimes our team had to really strain to hear questions.  We were sitting in the back--it might be easier to hear if you sit closer to the host near the front of the bar.  Our bigger problem was with the prizes.  The winner of each round gets a prize.  Ok, awesome.  So, we won round one.  Yay-- we won a card game and a pack of gum that's supposed to make us smarter!  We tied for round two: a round of shots.  But wait, we didn't get any shots and we didn't play a tiebreaker...turns out, since we already won round one, the host just gave the shots to the other team.  Hmmm.  Whatever, we didn't want the shot anyway.

But then...the Top 10 round.  The prize: the ever-elusive skillet cookie.  If you read our blog, you know that all we have ever wanted was to win a skillet cookie.  In fact, we won't even order one because know if will taste so much better if we earn it.  Thanks to one of our team members, we got 8 our of the top 10 iTunes downloads this week and got the highest score for the round!  We were overjoyed.  Then we waited.  And waited.  The game was almost over and we still never got our skillet cookie.  The kitchen closed before we got our skillet cookie.  We never got it.  Do you know how we felt?

:(

Jay promised us we could get our skillet cookie at a future trivia night, but we're not going to lie, we are still pretty bummed.

So there were a few snags, including an extremely disappointing skillet cookie incident.  But, other than that, it was a really great trivia night.  We loved the questions, and we always like the food at Brownstone.  (Monday night specials are $10 rib platters and $10 buckets of Coors Light.)  The overall winning prize is pretty awesome-- we won $50 off our tab and a private party for up to 20 people at Marbles: The Brain Store worth $150!  We also had a great time playing trivia with Mitchell-- as a member of the Game Show Congress, he told us all about his run-ins with famous game show winners, his private tour of the Price is Right studio and meeting with Bob Barker, and his appearance on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.  Thanks for your joining us, Mitchell!

You should definitely try Monday night trivia at Brownstone--we'll be back to play again, and to get our skillet cookie.