“In California, you can’t legally buy a mousetrap without having what?”
For questions like the one above and more, many locals and college students flock to the College Station and Bryan Rx Pizza and Bar locations on Thursdays nights from 8 to 10 p.m. for weekly trivia.
Working in the food industry since his sophomore year, Jake Mitchell, Class of 2009, along with his childhood friends, founded Rx Pizza and Bar in 2016 to share the love of the industry with Aggieland. Mitchell said because he enjoyed participating in bar trivia himself, he thought Rx was the perfect place to gather community members for some fun, following a week at work.
“I played a lot of bar trivia. It’s just an activity that I thought was really fun, something I’ve done for years,” Mitchell said. “It’s one of the first event sort of things that I wanted to get going at the bar, and we started within about six months of opening.”
Long before the trivia begins, Mitchell said the building fills with hungry guests ready to dive into pizza and race to the finish to be crowned as the victor of trivia night. The restaurant houses patrons in the main area as well as a backroom and the patio area when the weather is accommodating.
Before arriving on trivia nights, Mitchell encourages guests to check out the Rx Pizza and Bar Facebook page for weekly hints and watch for announcements of the occasional themed night, such as Harry Potter or Game of Thrones.
“If you follow Aggieland trivia, then you can have some guidance for two of the questions that will be asked during the night,” Mitchell said. “There’s a lot of questions, so two doesn’t necessarily guarantee you a win, but it’s helpful to know a couple.”
Starting at 8 p.m., the trivia master takes over the restaurant and gears up guests to begin the two hours of questions.
“It all gets announced over the PA [system], and people will physically write their trivia answers on a piece of paper, and then they run it up to the trivia master, who keeps track of all the scores,” Mitchell said.
The types of questions range from pop culture to science and even include music questions where guests must name the artist of a song, bartender Kirstin Rivera said.
“The level of difficulty for the questions is quite hard, but a lot of guests respond well to them and usually know the answer,” Rivera said. “The Facebook hints absolutely help our guests figure out the questions.”
Not only is Rx known for its weekly trivia nights, but also its unique flavors of pizza, Rivera said. From flavors like “Loaded Spud” and “Urban Cowboy” to traditional pepperoni, Rivera said each slice is made with hand-pulled mozzarella and handmade dough, then fired in a brick oven before being delivered to each table.
Additionally, the restaurant features 12 cocktails, including the “Seasonal Smash” and “Penicillin” in addition to various beers and wines to enjoy while testing your mind.
“One of our cocktails — known as the Painkiller — is our signature drink, which we offer frozen or on the rocks,” Rivera said. “It’s close to a piña colada, but ours stands out [because] it’s creamy and citrusy with a coconut rim to top it off.”
The restaurant also features a pizza and cocktail of the month, which Mitchell said always provides a unique twist to the menu. Each week, there is also a different trivia beer, which is only $3 all night.
“Teams that have the funniest name or if the trivia master says that [a team] had a particularly funny answer or something, as long as the team is old enough to drink, then we will sometimes buy that team a round of shots or something like that, just to encourage the fun atmosphere there,” Mitchell said.
Not only does the winner get to take home the honor of trivia winner for the week, but Mitchell said first through third place will take home gift card prizes to bring when they come back and visit.
“[Trivia night] is just a fun opportunity to kind of challenge yourself,” Mitchell said. “It’s a fun way to test yourself, and it’s just a fun atmosphere, whether you’re winning or you’re not as good at trivia that week. It’s still a fun experience, and you get to have some pizza and drink with friends.”
Oh, and by the way, in California, you can’t legally buy a mousetrap without a hunting license. Keep that one in the back of your mind for future trivia nights.