There is a particular kind of confidence that comes from walking into a trivia night straight after work, laptop bag still on your shoulder, absolutely certain you are about to be a genius. That confidence lasted for me until roughly round two.
Tonight marked the very first Trivia at Bonnibel, the new weekly Thursday fixture at lyf on Elizabeth Melbourne, and if this debut is anything to go by, your Thursdays just found a new home. Every week, straight after work, from 6pm, Bonnibel throws open its doors for five rounds of forty fresh questions on the stuff you actually care about, sport, music, pop culture and the kind of oddly specific trivia that makes you question everything you thought you knew about golf terminology (more on that shortly).
First, let’s talk about the food, because Bonnibel does not play around. Before a single question was asked, my friend and I made a beeline for the menu, and it did not disappoint. We shared a slice of the pepperoni, which came with a hit of what tasted like hot honey, sweet, spicy and dangerously easy to keep going back for. From there we moved onto the mushroom truffle pizza slice, earthy and rich in the way only good truffle can be without tipping into overkill.
The Korean fried chicken with garlic soy sauce was a standout, crunchy, sticky and gone far too quickly, and the halloumi rounded things out nicely for anyone wanting something lighter between rounds. And can we talk about the $8 pizza slices running all night? At that price, ordering “just one more to share” stopped being a decision and became a reflex.
Bonnibel has teamed up with Capacity Crowd to run the show, and our host struck exactly the right balance of fun and genuinely engaging, keeping a room of around five tables of five, teammates, workmates and friends of workmates, on their toes for the full five rounds.
The categories ranged wildly. Sporting legends had our table staring blankly at each other (we were, and I say this with love, terrible), music and theme songs brought out some surprisingly competitive second guessing and humming, and the emoji drawing round had grown adults debating the difference between a squiggle and a masterpiece with far too much intensity.
Then came the audience participation round. Bob, point, clap and jump, a deceptively simple game of following the caller and staying in when everyone else drops out. I made it to second last person standing, holding strong through round after round of increasingly ridiculous combinations, right up until a twist was thrown in and took me out. No regrets. It was a good run.
And then there was the question that will haunt me. An albatross, it turns out, is in fact a golf term, apparently outranking a birdie by a fair margin. Who knew? Apparently someone at the table next to us, judging by their reaction.
Five tables of five does not sound like a lot until you are in the room and the tension is genuinely, properly high. High fives were flying, so were the groans of “what!” and the sharp intake of breath that comes with a correct answer landing a beat too late. I spent most of the night on the edge of my seat, laughing and getting the feel our team to participate in the evening pub trivia, and here we are, second place.
The tie breaker nobody saw coming: When the scores came down to the wire, it was not a sudden death question that settled it. It was a paper airplane throwing competition, glide precision and accuracy into a bucket the only things standing between one table and trivia glory. What followed was, genuinely, one of the more unexpectedly dramatic moments of my week. One plane executed what can only be described as a reverse park mid-air before dropping cleanly into the bucket. It deserved the point. It deserved the standing ovation it got. Umpire show the replay (someone caught it I swear)
Should you go?
Yes. Obviously yes. Grab your workmates, your neighbours, whoever you can rope in, and get down to Bonnibel at lyf on Elizabeth Melbourne every Thursday from 6pm. Five rounds, forty questions a week, $$ vouchers up for grabs, and pizza by the slice to keep you fuelled between categories. Whether you are there to actually win or just to find out if your table also has zero collective knowledge of sporting legends, it is a genuinely great way to close out the working week.
Just brush up on your golf terminology first. You have been warned.
Bonnibel @ lyf on Elizabeth Melbourne
489 Elizabeth St, Melbourne VIC 3000, Australia
T: +61 (03) 9660 5403 | E: bonnibel@the-ascott.com
