Dogwood

At one end of the trivia spectrum lie the major trivia networks like Geeks Who Drink, which is a nationwide, full scale operation, and on the other end are the individuals who host only a couple trivia nights a month using their own questions with their own carefully researched answers.  At POW trivia we have a particular affinity for the latter.  Sure, fancy answer books and branded pencils are cool, but there’s something to be said for a host that loves trivia as much as the people playing it and that views creating each week’s quiz as the labor of love it should be.

Katherine at Dogwood in Beacon is decidedly in that category.  Dogwood is a tiny little bar that has only two trivia nights per month- on the first and third Monday.  It’s nearly impossible to find- I think I managed to get lost each of the first four times I went there- but it’s a cozy little spot known for its high end comfort food and friendly atmosphere.  It’s also become a staple in the rotation of trivia locations for the POW trivia all-stars, alongside local trivia heavy hitters like Newburgh Brewing Co, 2 Alices, and the twin GWD bars of Scotchtown Craft and Clemson Brothers.

The structure varies from week to week but there are generally 3 rounds, including a visual and audio component, with the last round being a speed round in which you have 3 minutes to answer as many of the 20 general knowledge questions on a printed sheet of paper as you can.

What I love about Dogwood is how challenging the questions are.  Invariably every quiz will have at least one round in which we as a team know very few of the answers.  This phenomenon is absolutely unique to Dogwood- there are no other trivia nights in which we’re stumped by entire rounds of questions.  In addition to being rare, it’s humbling, and it’s also healthy- we walk away from Dogwood having actually learned something, which is a critical part of improving as individual players and as a team.

Overall: 9/10

Questions: 10/10, would trivia again!  Well written, varied, challenging- can’t ask for much more.

Structure:  9/10– The speed round concept is a big part of why we keep coming back.  Super unique concept and a lot of fun, also a real separator between the average teams and the better ones.  Only real criticism is that some rounds are really short (5 questions)- which can make for some awkward scoring breaks.

Host: 10/10– amazing things happen when the person hosting trivia is actually a fan of trivia.

Venue: 7/10– Dogwood is a super cozy spot especially in the winter months but there’s not much on the menu, and what is on the menu is overpriced by about 50%.  Also, probably because 1st and 3rd Monday of the month is a hard time frame to advertise, there’s not much of a following for trivia here.  The teams that do play are competitive, but a typical trivia night only has about 4 teams.