I found it! The key to uniting our fractured country! Can you guess what it is?
If you correctly answered “trivia nights”, then you must be one of the millions of people all over the country who enjoy the challenge of answering questions about obscure or unimportant things. In fact, pull in to any burg in any state, whether it votes blue or red, and you surely can find a pub or a hall devoted to this brain-tickling entertainment on any given evening. More on that in a moment.
I’m old enough to remember when the board game Trivial Pursuit was originally introduced and took the country’s family game nights by storm. After some research, I can now answer this trivia question: What game were the creators of Trivial Pursuit playing when they lost a piece and decided to create their own game instead? Answer — Scrabble!
Since 1981, well over 100 million of the games, in multiple editions and languages, have sold around the world, delighting those knowledgeable about such matters as which actor played James Bond in the most movies. Answer: Roger Moore.
Before that invention, and like our great country itself, the idea of holding trivia nights in pubs seems to have originated across the pond. In the 70s, ladies and gents began gathering with their pints for quiz nights. Here, on college campuses where original ideas, not groupthink, used to be the norm, young Americans took up the tradition soon after.
Think you have nothing in common with a Trump voter, or Biden voter, depending on your political leanings? Think again, if trivia is your thing. Here’s a smattering of non-ideological “proof”.
In Georgia, I counted eight different spots in Atlanta for trivia on almost every night of the week. Oh, Atlanta voted for President Biden in 2020 you say? Then head to rural Jasper County where former President Trump pulled in over 70% of the vote. Want to scratch your trivia itch while driving through? Mondays at the Brickhouse Grille seems to be the spot.
It’s the same story in swing state Michigan. In Detroit, a blue bastion, a city-boosting website has a whole page devoted to where to find the best beers and use your brains. Drive a couple hours north to the conservative city of Midland, solidly red and home to Dow Chemical Company, and check out their trivia league night at a local favorite The Boulevard.
The same story repeats all over the country in big cities and small towns. You might be thinking, what does that really say about anything? Maybe nothing. But maybe something. And that something is worth holding on to in these turbulent times — that we have more in common than we believe, if we don’t fall into the trap of “who you vote for defines you.”
Whether or not we’re good at answering trivia doesn’t define us either. Thank goodness. At a fun gathering to support the Current last week, I reluctantly joined a team. If the subject is 1990s state government in Massachusetts, I’m your girl. But female pop stars who united to sing some famous song? Clueless. I didn’t even remember that my home state Connecticut is known as the Constitution State, even though I’ve seen thousands of license plates bearing that appellation. Luckily my teammates were smarter about, well, everything.
I realize my argument that the broad popularity of trivia is a sign we’re more united than it seems is simplistic. Sometimes though the hardest problems are solved with simple answers. And any progress on solving the problem of our deep divisions is worth the pursuit.
A member of the Marblehead Current’s Board of Directors, Virginia Buckingham is the former chief executive officer of the Massachusetts Port Authority, chief of staff to two Massachusetts governors, deputy editorial page editor for the Boston Herald and author of “On My Watch: A Memoir.”
