This ain’t your mom’s bar trivia

Erik Block and James Osborne plan to put their own spin on bar trivia at the Aquarium in November

By John Showalter

Having trivia at a bar seems like a no brainer. Almost any drinking establishment seems to think that throwing one back whilst trying to answer questions is as normal as serving salty food, it just goes with the business. So if one more of these competitions were to come along, what would be the big deal? That is the attitude that Erik Block and James Osborne are trying to change with their new take on inebriation and competition, Rocket Surgery.

Even if you don’t recognize their names, you may be familiar with the work of Block and Osborne. Block MC’s trivia on Wednesdays and Fridays at Drekker Brewery and Tuesdays at the relatively new restaurant Pounds, as well as performing in the local band What Kingswood Needs. Osborne, on the other hand, creates a puzzle magazine called Organ Grinder, which has several of its puzzles featured in the back of our own High Plains Reader.

It only seems natural then that two individuals with a background in the brain-teasing tradition would try to bring something new to the table in that regard. They have named their brainchild Rocket Surgery. It is going to be held at the Aquarium on the first Wednesday of November and every following Monday of that month. “I’ve MC’d at the Aquarium before, so it was really a no brainer,” Block said.

What is going to set this competition apart from any other bar trivia in the area? First of all, the actual show will be recorded each evening and edited down to a podcast, giving a gameshow flavor to the proceedings. Block and Osborne both stressed that there would be effort put into more engaging rounds and an emphasis on humor.

Besides the competition itself, the duo is hoping to have entertainment ranging from live music to fake movie trailers and commercials and even the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Vader reading off Laffy Taffy jokes. On top of this, audience participation is encouraged and the hosts may even report to the sidelines to make small talk with the players.

The rounds are going to differ from the standard formula of answering questions related to obscure knowledge, as well. It was hard to get too much in the way of exact details as some of it is still in the works and Block and Osborne admitted themselves that the program for each week will often be decided in the days between after gauging what events seem to be most popular.

Block compared it to how everyone gets excited when they bringing out the Plinko board on “The Price is Right.” Even though the games are going to have a lot of variety, there are going to be some repeats based on what the audience wants to see.

Among the games that will be presented are such novelties as “Phil in the Blanks,” where each answer will have the name Phil in it; “Bird, Fish, Lizard, or Insult,” where players have to determine which one of those categories a particular word falls under; “Manson or Hanson,” where one must guess whether a quote was made by boy band Hanson or the infamous criminal Charles Manson; and “Hitler or Hot Dog,” where they will read off a fact and players have to guess if it pertains to America’s favorite ballpark food or the leader of the Third Reich.

They also plan to have audio rounds, where samples will be played from multiple songs throughout the evening and the competitors have to determine the connection between them (the artists are all from a particular country, they were all on reality TV at some point, etc.). Prizes for the event haven’t been determined yet, but it’s likely that they will be giving out bar credits (a bar trivia favorite) and Osborne even made mention that one of the competitions would award money that came out of his own pocket. Block and Osborne are also hoping to line up sponsorships in the meantime to support Rocket Surgery and see if it can go on indefinitely.

“This is a trial run,” Osborne said. “We’ll see if people enjoy it and it’s worth pursuing. If it doesn’t work out, oh well, we both have a lot of s*** to do. Well, that doesn’t make me sound too confident about it,” he chuckled. If you’re looking for some local fun this November, however, you might consider stopping by and stepping up to the challenge. After all, Rocket Surgery can’t be that hard, right?

IF YOU GO:

Rocket Surgery Super Quiz

Mon. Nov. 2, 9 p.m.

Aquarium above Dempsey’s 226 Broadway, Fargo

Admission: Free