The Quiz Addict: Quiz Trek #11

Quiz Trek #11

Fitzgeralds, Sunderland

Onwards and very much upwards on the latest quiz on my Quiz Trek this year. Fitzgerald's lies in the centre of Sunderland and is a traditional real ale pub. Holding the quiz on a Thursday has rules it out of my plans for the past few weeks since moving here due to the quiz a friend of mine runs just around the corner, but last night I gave it a try and this has instantly become my favourite quiz.

First of all the setting is perfect. The quiz takes place in its own room, there was no signs of any cheating and its a warm and welcoming atmosphere. The beer is not half bad either!

The usual quizmaster was apparently absent this week but the stand in did a fine job. The opening round was 15 general knowledge questions. There were a good mix of easy ones, logical questions and toughies. This was one of the few quizzes whereby you hand your sheet in after every round which I liked so you get a rough idea how you are doing. The competition is fierce in here (with only two of us) and with some big teams we found ourselves mid table after the opening round mainly due to my error on a table tennis service questions.

As the first round is being marked the picture round kicks in and its 20 faces. Again the perfect balance of "people I should know", easy ones and faces you just cannot put names to. We struggled on 5 of the pictures here but had a good round. For some reason although we got told the scores we were not given a cumulative total of where we were but we clawed our way back up.

Round 3 was 6 questions on Film and 6 on Music. Ill be kicking myself all week for not knowing the name of Drew Barrymores character in E.T. and it was a tough round indeed. One team managed 10 but our 8 was enough to be second in the round. Great questions!

Finally the last round was 12 on general knowledge which were harder than the first GK round. These were the ones clearly designed to separate the team and had some cracking questions.

Overall the 39 questions asked were enjoyable, it makes a change around here having a good home-grown quiz rather than a Red Tooth one. There were no gimmicks, no cheating and no help from the quizmaster so the playing field was even. Add to the fact there were "guessy" type tie break questions every round to win free drinks and a snowball jackpot of £100 to play for. All is good!

If you are seeking a quality pub quiz in Sunderland then I would highly recommend the Thursday night quiz in Fitzgeralds!