Pencil tapping, head-scratching and quiet discussion echo throughout the room. Time’s up. Onto the next question. Eyes and ears point attentively towards a man with a microphone.
It’s Trivia Night. On Aug. 31, 2023, students formed teams of five to try and win $300 worth of Walmart gift cards.
Multiple teams get a chance to win but only one wins it all. The winning team moves on to a final round where instead of battling other teams, the team members battle each other for the top prize.
Trivia Night is a relatively new Office of Student Involvement and Development sponsored event at Washburn that has recurred for 3 years. This year, the event was held at the Bradbury Thompson Alumni Center.
Trivia Night offers a fun environment to challenge your knowledge, win prizes as well as meet new people.
“Not everyone who’s coming will have a team of five people so we’ll just put people in groups as needed. It’ll be a great way to actually get to know people too,” Isaiah Bryant-Collier, director of Student Involvement and Development said.
The gift card prizes included one $100 gift card and four $50 gift cards. Only one participant from the winning team could win the $100 gift card but the rest of the team members each got a $50 gift card.
Although not everyone was able to win a prize, participants still had a fun time doing trivia and spending time with others.
Kirstyn Brown, a sophomore forensic chemistry major, competed with her team, “Business Geese,” and finished the night in second place.
“I got to hang out with all my friends. I got to sit here and be silly even though I had no idea what was going on,” Brown said.
Taylor Redington, a freshman forensic investigation major, attended the Trivia Night for the first time. Redington enjoyed the opportunity to meet new people and make friends.
“I really enjoyed meeting all sorts of people. Me and my friend came here with just the two of us and we needed a team. We sat down and people came and sat down with us,” Redington said.
While many participants enjoyed the event, there were some complaints about the kind of trivia questions that were asked. Most of the questions were focused on pop culture mainly around throwback music and sitcoms.
“I had a lot of fun with my team. I just wish there was a more diverse group of questions instead of just pop culture questions,” said Dylan Koch, a freshman planning to major in either social work or education. Koch’s team, “DN,” finished in third place.
The final rankings resulted in team “DN” taking third place, “Business Geese” in second and “Get Shrek’d” in first.
Edited by Aja Carter and Larissa Morgan
