See this story at BrooklynDaily.com.
By Colin Mixson
Brooklyn Daily
Trivia is coming.
A mercenary fellowship of Brooklyn literature nerds is putting the gentry in gentrified with the debut of a new Williamsburg bar-based trivia night, which focuses on the books behind the hit HBO series “Game of Thrones.” At “A Trivia of Ice and Fire,” which will take place at Over the Eight on the first and third Sundays of the month, fans of George RR Martin’s fantasy novels are invited to test their knowledge of the Seven Kingdom’s noble families and their violent and sexy adventures in the cult five-book series.
“It’s such a huge world to get into,” said Danielle Francis, a member of the organizing group, which goes by the name the Upjumped Sellswords. “I’m looking forward to seeing how deep people’s knowledge of the books are.”
Every night of the biweekly contest will consist of five rounds of questions, each based on a theme, such as the locations in the books, or the customs of its fictional peoples.
The adventurous trivia bands will, above all other considerations, be required to agree upon a title for their group, and the Upjumped Sellswords has high hopes that its contestants will conjure up some appropriate Westeros monikers.
“I’m pretty sure they can come up with really good punny names,” said Franics. “They could be something like ‘the Brotherhood Without Banners,’ or they could come up with their own names, like ‘House Johnson.’”
Francis, who earned her maester chain in film studies before moving to Brooklyn, said the trivia night — the first the group has organized — is something of an experiment.
“We have questions for our first few nights planned, and we’re going to see how it goes,” said Francis. “We don’t know how deep people’s knowledge of the books are.”
In this rag-tag spirit, the group has still not entirely settled on what the contest’s prizes will be. Though it has a few ideas — the winners may have their bar tab paid in full, or receive priceless gifts such as a mug style after the sword hilt of Daario Naharis, who fans of the books and TV show will recognize as Daenerys Targaryen’s latest lover.
“It has a naked woman for a handle,” said Francis. “Just like the hilts of Naharis’s sword.”
But regardless of where their audience’s knowledge of the popular novels stand, Francis said her clan has been studying heavily in preparation for the trivia challenge.
“It’s always really fun to come up with questions and nerd out about what you love,” she said.
“A Trivia of Ice and Fire” at Over the Eight (594 Union Ave. between Richardson and Bayard streets, www.overtheeight.com). Jan. 19 at 6 pm. Runs every second Sunday.