Quiz Trek - The Barony, Edinburgh

The Barony, Edinburgh 

Monday Nights

8.30pm

On my trip to Edinburgh last week, I was keen to try out a local pub quiz and after asking a few local quizzes the Monday Night Quiz in the Barony got the thumbs up. This is small but charming little pub in Edinburgh City Centre and the place was packed for what turned out to be on of the most enjoyable pub quizzes I have been too. Myself and my other half had arranged to team up with some local quizzers (and very good ones at that) so we had a team of 6. That for one is unusual for me, and probably made it more enjoyable, as I am more used to playing as a twosome.

The quiz begins with a general knowledge round. Fairly accessible and a nice range of questions. I particularly enjoy "list" type questions such as "name the top three..." or "name the countries bordering" and there were a few of those mixed in. Dave, the quiz master, is a very good quizzer himself (making the final of Brunton Shield this year as well as being, I think, one of Ireland's highest ranking players and an international!). 

It does make a huge difference when you have a quizmaster who is a) a good player himself and b) cares about quizzing and this quiz in The Barony is a perfect example of that!

We took the lead after the first round and extended it a little after round 2. We had been pre-warned that there was a valuable music round (12 points up for grabs) that could determine the outcome. Again, there was a great range of music played. Too many music rounds in quizzes reflect the quizmasters taste a little too much, but there was a nice mix, each team member managed to chip in with a few (in my view the sign of a good round).

Another General Knowledge round follows this and the game ended with a question worth 12 points. This time around it was name the actors who played the lead roles in "Reservoir Dogs" and the names of the characters. Your didn't have to link them together thankfully and we managed 11. I like the idea of having a question like this at the end of the quiz as it gives teams a chance to make up points and keeps the leading teams on their toes.

The final round too aims to keep everyone involved and also involves strategy. Each week, I am assuming, the quizmaster drip feeds information in the hunt for one answer. The sooner you submit the sheet the more points you get. This year he gave us a list of 10 items and we had to decide which year they were invented in. He began with obscure items and moved on through to more known ones. We knew the team next to us were our closest rivals and therefore didn't need to put in an answer until a little after they did. It ended up with both teams going for the wrong decade and we won a crate of bottled beer for our efforts!

A jackpot round comes at the end with 5 questions asked and the teams needing to answer all 5 to win the money. As you can imagine this is very tough indeed but makes a good end to the night.

In terms of pub quizzes I would have to say that this ranks up there with the best I have been too. Certainly a lot better than many of the Sunderland Pub Quizzes and certainly would be hard to beat anywhere. This is backed up by the fact that the pub was crammed, the teams were very competitive and there was a great atmosphere. Funnily enough this is actually the first quiz I have ever been to where the other players applaud the winning team as the scores are read out at the end of each round!

If you are in Edinburgh then I would very much suggest trying this quiz out. A great little pub, great questions, a great format and combined with the great company we had this was a superb night!