Boone residents crowd in local bars and coffee shops with drinks in their hands and food at their tables to test their knowledge in subjects ranging from television shows to song lyrics to sports events. Music pumps from the speakers, creating an exciting atmosphere. Friends chat amongst themselves and animately discuss the answers to the questions being posed to them.

Galileo’s, a bar on King Street, has specialty trivia once a month and general trivia weekly that is open to people of all ages. Teams participating in regular trivia at Galileo’s compete weekly over a period of several months to determine a winner.

On Aug. 18, about 15 teams of predominantly college students crowded in the two story restaurant and bar to compete in “Friends” and “The Office” trivia. While some people watched the shows regularly and considered themselves fans, there were others who didn’t know anything about either show.

“[The atmosphere] was very chill and laid back,” freshman political science major Kristina Torain said. “I just enjoy being around people and watching them have a good time.”

Iridian Garcia, a senior international business major, and Shay Kallam, a freshman criminal justice major, were two participants who had little knowledge of both shows. They said they went to watch their friends compete.

Garcia said that she thinks it is a fun place to go and unwind, particularly if students are really into the trivia theme.

Garcia and Kallam agreed that trivia is a good way for college students as well as other members of the community to relax and get away from the daily stresses of life.

There were five rounds with about 10 questions. Four of the rounds were general questions about each show, and the fifth round required the participants to identify the character that guest stars played based on a picture of the actor or actress. At the end of a round, a member of each team would take the score sheet to the host so they could tally up the correct responses. After the host scored everyone’s sheets, they would read out the correct answers as well as the number of points each team had.

Haley Draughn, a freshman risk management insurance major, was also at Galileo’s trivia night for “Friends” and “The Office” trivia. Unlike Kallam and Garcia, she is a big fan of “Friends” and helped her team answer the questions.

“It was fun because it was about TV shows,” Draughn said. “The questions were hard enough that it was challenging, which was part of what made it enjoyable.”

On Thursday nights, The Rock, a sports bar located near Walmart, also hosts a trivia night.

The host read out 10 questions for each round and the contestants had several minutes to write the answer to the questions on an answer sheet. At the end of a round, the host would score their cards immediately and then read out the correct answers. Each round had a different theme, such as movie quotes or song lyrics.

Sophomore geology major Blake Gill enjoyed the different trivia themes.

“I got all of the movie quotes right,” Gill said. “They were pretty easy.”

Instead of being dominated by college students, most of the contestants were in their forties and beyond. Emily Peck, a senior accounting major, enjoyed trivia, but thought that if there were more people at The Rock, she would have enjoyed the event more.

On Tuesday nights, River’s Street Ale House has a full house of teams of all ages who want to compete general trivia. The restaurant hosts 10 rounds that each consist of 10 questions. Some of the topics include movies, sports, television and random questions.

“Everyone was really into it,” Anna McFarland, a waitress at River’s Street Ale House, said. “[The teams] were getting really rowdy when they got the answers right.”

Trivia night has been McFarland’s favorite night to work so far.

“I thought it was fun,” McFarland said. “I found out I knew more than I did, which is cool.”

The Local also has a trivia event during the week that draws locals, college students and faculty at Appalachian State alike.

“[The hosts] always have really eclectic rounds,” Ryan Waterman, a manager at The Local, said.

There are five rounds at each event. Some of the topics of the rounds include pop culture, music, events and visual rounds that require you to identify picture. One of the last two rounds can double a team’s score, which allows teams that are losing to catch up with the others. At the end of each trivia, they award prizes to the winners. The number of people who show up determines how much the top teams win.

“A lot of teams have been coming out for years,” Waterman said. “It’s a good crowd. They’re very competitive, but they’re friendly with each other.”

The Local also holds season long trivia events, which allows teams to compete over the course of each season for some larger prizes. However, they also have smaller prizes they give out weekly to teams who are not competing in the season long trivia competition.

Colton Lenz, a manager at The Local, thinks that trivia is a good event to go to because it gives participants a way to show off their knowledge.

“We’re not too hard and we’re not too easy,” Lenz said. “We make it fun for everyone.”

Other places in Boone that have trivia events are Appalachian Mountain Brewery on Tuesday nights, Lost Province on Wednesday nights and Town Tavern on Thursday nights, which requires competing teams to be 21 years old or over.

Crossroads Coffee Shop on campus also hosts trivia on Sunday evenings starting in October, in which prizes are awarded at the end.

Story by: Celia Calhoun, A&E Reporter

Photo by: Monique Rivera