Pub Quiz is a team trivia event that began in England as a way for bar owners to bring in crowds on slow nights. Teams of varying size compete with one another to achieve the highest quiz score. The quiz itself consists of a series of questions on topics from pop culture to academic subjects. Questions are often grouped into rounds that may or may not have themes (“music round”, “current events round”, etc.). The questions are asked by the host who may have written the quiz or, alternatively, bought the questions from a service. Besides bragging rights, the winning team earns a small but appropriate prize, such as a bottle of scotch or free food and drink. As with much of British culture, Pub Quiz has been exported to the rest of the world.

The Quiz at O’Brien’s Irish Pub in Santa Monica

Our humble variant owes its start to the expatriate Brits who began a quiz at the Firehouse at the corner of Main and Rose in Santa Monica in the 1990s. It moved to O’Brien’s Irish Pub at the corner of Main and Pier in 1998, where it remained until September 2016, when bar renovations closed the restaurant and put the quiz on a temporary hiatus. While initially intended as a temporary move, the other O’Brien’s Irish Pub in Santa Monica (at Wilshire and 23rd) graciously agreed to host the quiz starting November 2016, where it has been held every Wednesday night since (holiday periods excepted), making it the longest-running weekly trivia event in the Los Angeles area. Even during the pandemic, players continued the weekly quiz virtually from March 2020 until July 2021 before returning in-person. Regular players have used the Pub Quiz as preparation for Jeopardy! (several have even won!) and other trivia game shows. But most players come together to enjoy food, drink, friendly competition and, more than anything, a good evening’s entertainment.