
DATE: Sunday, June 22, 1997                 TAG: 9706200333

SECTION: CAROLINA COAST          PAGE: 40   EDITION: FINAL 

COLUMN: INDOOR EXCURSIONS 

SOURCE: BY MARSHA BACENKO, CORRESPONDENT 

DATELINE: KITTY HAWK                        LENGTH:  111 lines

BAR PATRONS PLAY INTERACTIVE TRIVIA GAMES

Fourteen questions have been answered. But the last one will decide the winner. Pride - and a free draft beer - hang in the balance.

My arch competitor, Spock, stares from across the bar, trying to psych me out. Our fingers hover nervously over our respective answer boxes. The trivia question flashes on the TV screen: ``Which region is commonly referred to as the horse latitudes?'' I know the answer, ``the Doldrums,'' and hit the button in record time. I raise my arms in triumph when I realize I've won. Spock grins.

There's always another game.

But tonight, the Bass Ale is mine.

If you ever felt you could be on Jeopardy, interactive trivia is the next best thing. The Black Pelican restaurant in Kitty Hawk introduced the game a year ago. And it has proven to be popular and downright addictive at bars across the Outer Banks.

Anyone who can pick up a plastic trivia box from the bartender can play. Just key in answers to the questions that flash across the restaurant's television screen. The game is free - and lasts as long as you want to play.

It's Friday, 6 p.m. My husband, Joe, and I walk into the restaurant, past the early diners waiting to be seated. Joe pauses to grab a free basket of Cajun hot peanuts by the bar. We sit down, chat with the bartender, order drinks and request a trivia box.

The bartender knows us well. Without asking, she brings us the television remote. We click on racing on the left TV, the Weather Channel on the right, and interactive trivia in the middle. Now we can get down to the serious business of playing.

Each game consists of 15 questions that run the gamut from archaeology to zoology. The questions are up-to-the-minute current, unlike a trivia board game. They also are eclectic. Where else can you learn about the location of the Beaufort Sea, who won the Academy Award in 1936 and the chemical compound of sulfuric acid, all in one evening?

One regular player, Sherry Hamilton, says the game has boosted her IQ. ``I learn something new just about every time I play,'' she says.

But regulars aren't the only ones who enjoy interactive trivia competitions. Casual visitors to the Black Pelican like to try their luck after observing a game or two. Four guys from Richmond, at loose ends because of a canceled fishing trip, got the competitive urge after 5 minutes of watching us play. ``How can we lose,'' one of them boasts, ``with four brilliant minds at work?'' Unfortunately, four minds sometimes come up with four different answers. Their first game ended with scores in the negative numbers.

The atmosphere really heats up when 12 or 15 people are playing. The competitive fervor is especially intense when the game is close. Oftentimes winning a game comes down to the last question. An added incentive of a free drink for the winner helps the brain cells achieve maximum output.

Across the country, interactive trivia games have been gaining popularity for the past decade. The competitions allow people to match wits with bar patrons in other states - who answer the same questions simultaneously on the National Trivia Network. At the end of each game, the national standings are displayed so people in Kitty Hawk, N.C. know not only that they beat the guy on the next bar stool - but also how they stacked up against arch rivals in Denver, Colorado. You can even play just to improve your own score. It's like trying to bowl a perfect 300 - you strive to score the ultimate 15,000 points.

People who have played interactive trivia in other places fit right in at Outer Banks establishments. ``NIS``, vacationing from Leesburg, Va., describes himself as ``very competitive.'' His job takes him all over the country - and he seeks out pubs that offer trivia. ``My favorite ploy is to walk in, start (the game) late and win,'' he says.

Joe and I play together under the name MarJoe. For the most part, we compliment each other. His forte is geography and science. I have an infinite knowledge of entertainment trivia gleaned from my love of gossip columns. Sometimes friendly seatmates offer an answer to help us out when we're stumped.

But then, of course, there are those times when we don't have a clue. We put our heads together with the intensity of a Camp David summit and guess. Then whoever guessed wrong gets berated by the other. The professional and friendly bartenders discreetly ignore the occasional emotional frenzies. They know it's all in good fun.

Trivia at the Pelican does not detract from the lively bar scene. On a typical evening, funky music plays in the background. People are playing trivia, sharing pizzas and finger foods and watching one of the many TVs that line the bar. Conversations flow easily. Certainly trivia encourages strangers to chat with each other.

A middle-aged couple from Ohio sitting next to us watch as we fumble for an answer to the question: ``All of these were landmark recordings made during the 40s except...'' The wife can't take it any more and blurts out, ``Darktown Strutters Ball!'' With her right answer, MarJoe scores again.

Michelle Peters, the Black Pelican's bar manager, says the bartenders were a little leery when trivia was first introduced at their seaside establishment. ``We thought everyone would be so busy staring at the screens they would forget to talk to us,'' she says. That apprehension proved ungrounded.

``People enjoy it,'' she says of the game. ``And it's a lot of fun.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by DREW C. WILSON

If you ever felt you could be on Jeopardy, interactive trivia is the

next best thing. The Black Pelican restaurant in Kitty Hawk

introduced the game a year ago. And it has proven to be popular and

downright addictive at bars across the Outer Banks.

Graphic

WHERE TO PLAY

Interactive trivia games are available - for free - at the

following Outer Banks nightclubs:

Barrier Island Inn, N.C. 12, Duck: 261-8700

Black Pelican, beach road, Kitty Hawk: 261-3171

Jolly Roger, beach road, Kill Devil Hills: 441-6530