A local bar is having a trivia night. I love trivia but do not drink at all. Would it be against trivia night etiquette to go to it and not drink? Would I have an unfair advantage over the people who do drink?
How do you maintain hydration?
I’ve been going to trivia every Monday night for a year. I go up and get Diet Pepsi. Sometimes I get food. Since I’m not buying high-priced drinks and refills are free, I give the server a $5 tip, which is sometimes a 150% tip (if I’m just getting a $3 pop).
She appreciates and notices the tip, as she zips right to me with a full glass of Diet Pepsi as soon as I sit down.
As for an advantage over others…eh, no.
If you order a soft drink or a snack I don’t think there would be any problems at all. If you order nothing, the bartenders and waitresses might be slightly annoyed, but that’s probably it.
Remember that you’re “camping”, occupying a seat far longer than you would on a normal night (and spending less on soft drinks than you would on beer), so tip accordingly. The bar is hoping for increased sales that would more than cover its increased costs, but that isn’t your problem.
Osmosis
Yeah, have a soda or a shirley temple or something, and a snak.
An unfair advantage?? LOL… Why, do you think you are smarter than everyone else?
I would LOVE to play trivia against you…with both beers tied behind my back.
I don’t always get alcohol, but I always get a meal and a drink of some sort (lemonade)
Brian
Because everyone knows that the first sip of alcohol your brain turns to mush.
Seriously, I have known people who have never touched alcohol who believe that after half a beer they would have an unfair advantage because the “drinker” could not possibly be thinking clearly.
I’m more like Dr. Johnny Fever and I do better after a couple of beers… especially in shooting pool.
To the OP… go, have fun, nobody is paying attention to what you or anyone else is drinking nor do they care. Tip nicely and good luck keeping up with the regulars.
My experience of trivia nights in pubs - which is extensive - is that the participants are mostly not drinking as much as they would otherwise. They “nurse” a drink or two over the course of the event, and this is quite likely to be a non-alcoholic drink. Many do not drink at all, or will have one drink after the event is finished. The benefit to the pub is not the margin on alcohol sales on the night concerned; it’s brand reinforcement - brings in people who wouldn’t normally go to that pub, establishes the pub as a focus of the community, that kind of thing.
If you want to, you can stick to mineral water, and your conscience can be easy.
Exactly! You gotta be in the window. After 3 or 4 beers but before 7 or 8, and I’m an ace! At pool AND trivia. I stop over thinking the questions/shot.
Yep. The Two Beer Advantage. I’ve got dart trophies all over my garage behind a couple beers.
Fun story: I used to play trivia at TGIFriday’s and would routinely CRUSH the competition. After one game, some lady sitting next to me says, “Who is this Gatopescado Asshole?”
I looked at her and said, “I know, Right? They always win when I’m here!”
Darts requires a few for me.
I host a trivia event at a local bar. People typically do not drink to the point where their question-answering abilities are impaired. Aside from that, I have no idea how much people consume. I do know that one of the members of our perennial winning team only drinks a Diet Coke, and the bartender doesn’t seem to mind.
Bars don’t care if you don’t buy alcohol; bars care if you don’t buy drinks at all.
There are several local pubs close to me that hold weekly poker tournaments. I go but rarely buy alcohol. This is not because I object to drinking, but because pub prices are too expensive, about three to four times as much as the shops.
I buy a cola, or a coffee to drink. Sometimes I buy a meal there. I’ve never had any complaints from the staff.
Plus I pay an entrance fee for the tournament. They make some money out of that.