Steve Slack’s diary of a week in the life of the pub quiz continues. His team are eager for a win.
FRIDAY
It turns out that Thursday evening isn’t the new Friday. Friday is still Friday. And for me that means drinking a bottle of Pinot Grigio on an empty stomach with my colleagues after work and falling asleep on the 176. No time for a pub quiz tonight.
SATURDAY
Saturday is just as packed. There are chores to be done and unnecessary trinkets to be purchased from the trivial shops of Lordship Lane. I also need to find time for falling over somewhere in the West End and having another snooze on the 176.
SUNDAY
We’re all still a bit hung over. We’re full of Sunday roast dinner. The weekend is drawing to a close and back-to-work blues are not too far away. But it’s still the weekend and there’s fun yet to be had. So the team heads off to The Magdala pub quiz for a final attempt at pub quiz victory.
And what a way to end the week…
The quiz
Sunday night just isn’t the time for a lengthy quiz and, fortunately, The Mag knows that this quiz can’t drag on and on, so it starts prompt at 7.30pm.
The format is 50 questions, broken down into rounds of five questions each, which is great news for our team with a mixed bag of knowledge as it means experts in any given area don’t end up with too many questions to field.
The Mag quiz is a definite favourite with many East Dulwich locals and it’s easy to see why. A few simple factors keep on drawing people back each week:
- Teams can have as many members as they like (£2 per person)
- There is always a music round
- There is always a picture round
- The quiz always starts with a bonus round, where you can bag a free bottle of wine at the start
- Cheating is actively discouraged – mob mentality rules when it’s uncovered
- Everyone gets free sausage and chips at half time!
The result
After a week of taking on pub quizzes all around East Dulwich, we are delighted to learn that we’ve at last won one! It’s a close run thing, but we’re pleased with our performance and, we think, deserve first place.
We draw our prize at random from the hat and are very happy to walk away with a £50 bar tab – we’ll be back next week to drink it up.
But it doesn’t end there…
Everyone in the pub is entered into a prize draw to play a game of Play Your Cards Right – sometimes known as the higher or lower game. One person, drawn at random from the crowd, gets to be humiliated in front of the entire pub (who are now quite lairy) and competes against the luck of a set of giant cards to win a pot of cash. If you’re not successful, the money rolls over to next week. Once we saw someone collect over £1500, tax free!
Now that’s not bad for a quiz in a pub.
The details
The Magdala
211, Lordship Lane, Dulwich, London, SE22 8HA
Tel: 020 8299 6591
To see where we went on our pub quiz tour and to see how we did take a look at the rest of the week
Monday
What do you think of pub quizzes in the area? Have we missed your favourite? Leave us a comment and have your say.
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One Comment
Stop press:
The Magdala pub has been sold and the new owners have decided to discontinue the excellent Sunday evening quiz. So sad.
After a short period of homelessness Pietro’s excellent quiz has now moved to The Herne, still on a Sunday evening. See here for details. Punters are advised to arrive around 7pm to ensure a table:
http://www.theherne.net/