Fitzgeralds, Sunderland - Thursdays 8.30pm
Each year on the blog I like to mention a few of the regular venues I visit playing pub quizzes. Fitzgeralds, located in the heart of Sunderland City Centre, has for a long time been my favourite pub quiz. Not only is it one of my favourite pubs in Sunderland, with a great selection of real ales, but the quiz that takes place every Thursday is one of the best pub quiz nights in Sunderland.
What makes it so good? Well firstly there are 8-10 regular teams which means there is a good element of competition. I prefer quizzes where you know some of the teams and can gauge from their performance how you are doing and get a little bit of added competition. I also like the mid-round quiz chat!
The quiz starts off with a handout with 20 written questions. I love hand out rounds of this format and for the half an hour you are permitted to work at this, it really does give time for you to stick your teeth into. The range of difficulty is well balanced with few teams ever scoring above 17 (it is out of 21+ as the last question is always worth 2 or more points) with plenty of every subject in there ranging from last weeks TV to mythology to Science to celebrity news. Something for everyone!
The second round is the one downside of the quiz.....pictures. The problem isn't that I don't like picture rounds. It is just here there are 20 of them. The whole quiz is only usually out of between 62-66 points (depends on bonuses etc) so to have almost a third based on pictures makes it a crucial round. And they are tough! again rarely do teams manage above 14 on these and there are countless times the quizmaster says "...and no one got this one". Most of the team there are 10 easy ones and then its down to who gets the most of the obscure ones meaning the lowest team usually scores 11 with the highest around 14. Doesn't sound like a lot but in a close quiz it makes a difference. A bad night on pictures and its game over.
What is called "the Trivial Pursuit Round" follows next whereby you are presented with 12 questions, 2 each "loosely" from the 6 Trivial Pursuit Categories. Right up my street! 12 points up for grabs and a good chance to catch up.
The final round of ten is based on one subject each week: Geography, 80s music, History, Wars etc. Again the subject choice can make or break your night but when a good quizzy subject comes up it can usually outweigh any ground lost over pictures.
There is a tiebreak every round to win beer tokens and indeed beer tokens are given to the winner of every round (teams can't win both)....so most people leave with something. Throw in a rolling jackpot where you have to be the only player to get the question right and you have a fun 2 hours!
All in all if I was to only attend one pub quiz a week...this would be my choice.
Pros: No cheating, scores read out every round, excellent venue, regular teams, plenty of prizes, great first round
Cons: Picture round carries too much weight
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