Last night's "All Glory to the Hypnoquiz: an all-Futurama Event " at Rackhouse Pub, sponsored by Geeks Who Drink, was a pretty raucous time, and I definitely debunked the myths that geeks can't drink, party, be hot or win things. The evening didn't turn out exactly how I wanted -- my team lost the whole enchilada by one damn point -- but I had more fun than an Omicronian at a cape store.
Rackhouse Pub was a decent venue for the quiz night. I was disappointed that they were fresh out of both the marrow bones appetizer and the bison stew I wanted, but the Colorado lamb burger was delicious, and as it turns out, my geeky teammates were foodies, and we had a lively debate over whether or not truffle oil was overused to mask sub-par egg dishes. I had actually never met my teammates before in person as I had joined a group already-in-progress via Facebook, but our vast, encyclopedic knowledge of everything Futurama was the ultimate icebreaker. We spent the pre-, during- and post-game time reciting show and movie quotes, and everyone got every single one.
I liked my teammates. One of them told me he was an IT tech, and I was not even a little surprised. Nerdy guys are an untapped resource for single girls. Face it, ladies: they are employed, they almost always have the best cable/Internet bundles, and since hipsters ripped off their style, they are even more fashion-conscious than ever with their tweed jackets and heavy-rimmed eyewear. If I had known about these "Geeks Who Drink" pub quizzes when I was single....meow!The quiz was organized by a guy who I swear looked just like David Byrne from Talking Heads (prior to Byrne turning into a giant non-reunion-touring asshole) and all six of our team paid our $5, got a packet of score sheets for each of the eight rounds, and we were told not to use any electronic devices during quiz-time to avoid cheating. I managed to snap a few dark, blurry photos with my cell, and then complied.
Coming up with our team name was just as much nerd-tastic fun as I thought it would be, and we decided on the homage-happy "Monsters of Vaguely Folkish Alterna-Rock." There were over 30 teams--the pub was at capacity--and the other teams came up with names just as creative as ours. "Space Monkey Mafia," "The Fighting Mongooses," "The Robot Mafia," "The Apathy Party," and "Robot House" were some winners.
After a few "Occupy Omicron Persei 8" jokes and an early visual round to identify Futurama product commercials -- including Lightspeed briefs, Glagnar's Human Rinds and Molten Boron -- the contest began with the first few rounds of fairly easy questions such as about songs featured in the series, and we hit our first snag when we couldn't figure out the original artist for "Daisy Bell," a Victorian-era song from the "Love and Rocket" episode -- the one where Bender dates the Planet Express ship.As it turns out nobody answered that question accurately either, so my teammates and I slid into first place and stayed there for the entire quiz, at least until we tied at the end of round eight with another team for first and had to compete in an impromptu lightning round.
It was crunch time. A $350 pot was on the line, as well as our reps, so we had a big, big thirst for human blood! (Props to anyone who got that Futurama reference). It came down to one trivia question: What were the exact names of the robots who took old people to the "Near-Death Star" retirement planet? Shit--robots dressed like grim reapers must be the reaper-bots, right?
Wrong. The robots were officially called the "Sunset Death Squad," and after being solidly in first place all night, we blew that play and lost to another team. But another awesome thing about geeks is that that are gracious. We congratulated the other team because they had beat us fair and square, and the exact score tabulations aren't posted yet (I was too busy competing to keep track) but I was genuinely impressed by how much I--and everyone else competing--knew about Futurama.
It's always nice to be in a roomful of people who get you, and when you add in game meat and beer it makes for a night of entertainment that everyone can enjoy--one-eyed mutants, drunken robots and 21st Century humans alike.
