14 Dec Trivia – By Barbara Rives

Posted at 08:27h in Senior Living by Bruce Freides

The author, Mrs. Barbara Rives, has been a Member of Park Springs, Atlanta’s premier retirement community, since 2004.

Every other Saturday afternoon, Trivia fanatics, intellectual types, aspiring intellectual types, and a few clueless folks show up in the community hall with their two quarters to try to win some money from others.

This activity was started years ago by a couple who were familiar with the operation. It was at first received with great enthusiasm as another game where all could have fun and with a bit of scheming, might even win some loose change. Like many other efforts out here, it evolved in directions nobody had predicted.

The problem started with some of the more competitive types stacking their teams with the regular winners. Then this maneuver became fine-tuned by stacking one’s team with representative experts in all fields. This led to the super team winning every game while the remnants wee relegated to the losers side. In an effort to encourage fairness, the leaders promoted a new era in Trivia by having table numbers drawn from a hat.

Several registered their protests by refusing to attend, but, finding that the game went on happily without them, most slunk back, if a bit sulkily. Some were caught peeking in the bag before drawing a number, but these were shamed into submission to the rules.

What makes the activity so much fun is the range of knowledge among the residents. We are certain that one lady must spend her every moment participating in secret marathons of movie watching from as far back as the 1920’s. We picture her, happily mired in popcorn, taking notes on the career of Rudolph Valentino.

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