But my goodness me, it was tough! The Durham University Challenge team used to come along to prepare, so it was said, but even they were no match for it. And, quite frankly, our team owned that place. The prize each week was money, and we had dinners out on our earnings, paid dividends to past members, blew £200 on a cocktail night, and the team's suspiciously greater success since we left has earned them two weekends away in plush country cottages.
It was therefore with high hopes that we went along to our local Pyramid Brewery's regular Tuesday quiz. Hannah had pulled together a group of the brightest and best from Chevron and ten of us squeezed around a booth, drinking happy hour pitchers, enjoying dinner, and testing our brain power.
The quiz included some "innovations" that did not appeal to the purist in me. There was a prize for the best team name (the Elm Tree assigns you a number), you could "win rounds" as well as the quiz proper (in the Elm Tree it's all on the final score), and food was delivered hot and fresh from the kitchen (that, admittedly, was an improvement).
The questions themselves were surprisingly egalitarian, with only a couple about basketball and American politics. I did impress the locals with my knowledge of The Dukes of Hazard, and there was even a cricket question (well, the answer to the question was "cricket", so it doesn't really count). The killer round came in the form of quotations from Sex and The City - you had to match the quote to the character (the show has characters?) We didn't do too well on that one.
The final sting in the tail was that the last round included a penalty for the number of players on your team. Three points deducted for each additional member over four! So they're encouraging you not to bring friends? What kind of twisted logic is that!? It left a bitter taste in the mouth as we slipped from three points off the lead in the penultimate round to 20 behind on the final scores. The quizmaster's maths skills may have been a little suspect as well.
In the end we walked away, heads held high, with two free appetizers for winning a couple of rounds, but Ye Olde Elm Tree this ain't. Mostly because we lost. Next week, revenge will be swift and merciless.
Everything is in order and we're ready to start.
Three Haas-MBAs-who-now-work-at-Chevron walk into a bar...
Brandon, Hafiz, and me, the engine of the team, debate on the other side of the table.
