Date in a dash: a pub quiz with romance?

Dating can be an expensive business; from paying, to apps, to nights out. So, I have taken up the gauntlet to explore different ways of dating and their value for money. In the name of research, I signed up (with a friend), to do my first speed dating pub quiz this month.

I’ve done speed dating once before and was intrigued by it as there were activities to make things less awkward. We parted with our £17 online, and there was very little to do in the way of admin – they just needed our email addresses, contact numbers, and date of birth. We rocked up at an underground bar and, mocktails in hand, were armed for (quiz) battle…

You’d probably enjoy the event if…

You like a relaxed pub atmosphere.

You take a friend (all the women came with friends, very few of the men did which resulted in some of them looking like rabbits in the headlights).

You’re good at banter (there was time for lots of chatting in between quiz rounds).

You’re on the fun edge of competitive (all kudos to the Swedish women on our team who knew all the answers in one round but not in English – they were very determined and in the end we managed some translation which led to points).

You’re a doctor (there was a labelling body parts round – this could have been raunchy but it was in Latin so it wasn’t, except for the gluteus maximus which are incidentally the only muscles I remember from PE lessons…).

You’re a woman (you get to keep your coat and bag with you and sit at the same table all night, where as the men have to move round a table each time).

You probably wouldn’t enjoy the event if…

You expect there to be even gender numbers (we were four men down and, speaking to the men, it seemed that some had been drafted in on the day and let in for free. They also said they had attended events in the past with 12 ‘spare’ men so it seems it can go both ways).

You are very shy – as you are put into teams of eight you need to be able to hold your own to get a word in (surprisingly myself and my friend (both actresses) had no issue with this).

You are expecting a real general knowledge quiz – it’s more pop songs, anagrams, and flowers. Though we did meet an amazing man who had been on Countdown several times – he was responsible for our team not completely failing the quiz.

You are in your 30s – the general demographic were early 20s.

You wanted a drink included in your £17 fee. The winning team got a shot each, but, alas, that was not our team and, even in Dry January, drinks from the bar were pretty expensive.

All in all, it was better than expecting to meet someone behind your sofa or getting repetitive swipe injury. Although, part of me wonders if we shouldn’t just go to pubs more often and try to win quizzes (that we don’t have to pay £17 to enter) and speak to strangers there. Out of the two of us, one of us met someone and one didn’t, so it’s always worth a try!