Arnab Chakladar, English professor and director of Asian studies, took over hosting Imminent Brewing’s popular Sunday-night trivia contest in 2013. When restaurants closed in Northfield in early March due to COVID-19, he adapted the contest to Facebook Live. “It’s great to ‘see’ familiar names,” Chakladar says of alumni, who make up the majority of online players.
Online trivia night has proven popular among Carls as a quarantine activity. Typically, 8 to 12 teams of no more than four people participate when the contest is held in person, and players are mostly Carleton students and professors, and North eld community members. Online turnout has been immense, with as many as 34 teams of up to six players participating on any given weekend. Chakladar hosted the first online edition on March 15, hoping to support Imminent during its temporary closure. In lieu of the $5-per-team entry fee, teams are asked to purchase gift cards from the brewery. “Players have been very generous,” says Chakladar.
“The first night Arnab hosted trivia online, we saw a huge boost in gift card sales,” says Imminent Brewing owner and taproom manager Laura Meyers. “He wrote me the next day and said 29 teams logged in to play, including one from China. Just feeling that support early on, when we were unsure about our future, was really lovely.”
During a typical night of trivia, Chakladar reads questions on Facebook Live and teams have about 10 minutes to answer each set. They video chat on their own and submit answers using Google Forms, with their scores recorded virtually on Google Sheets. Hosting online trivia is not without its challenges, however. Instead of swapping score sheets, teams now score themselves to keep the game running smoothly.
“Since we’re playing on the honor system and there’s absolutely nothing at stake, it’s not been anything to fret about,” says Chakladar, who doesn’t worry about players trying to get an edge surfing Wikipedia posts. “The greatest success is that we’ve found a fun way to bring people together on Sundays.”