Adventures in Ocean Beach: Winston’s Bar “Think & Drink” Weekly Trivia Game

Andrew and Jason and Jose Sinatra and Jesse Egan.

 Think & Drink Trivia
1921 Bacon St.,
Ocean Beach, CA 92107 •
PH: (619) 222-6822
Tuesdays 6:00pm

By Byron Morton / Special to the OB Rag

Can you name the famous lion from the MGM movie trailers?

This is an example of a typical question from Winston’s weekly trivia game.

A couple of years back some friends of mine invited me to a good old fashioned fun evening in Ocean Beach.  For some time my eclectic friends Vonn and Nedra of Santee had been encouraging me to participate in this organized trivia event at Winston’s Beach Bar on Bacon Street in the heart of beautiful Ocean Beach.

As I was recently single and wasn’t engaged in any social activity on Tuesday evenings I decided to try something new.  Well, I was immediately captivated and turned on by the fun.

Now mind you, this is not your mother’s version of Trivial Pursuit that I recall when I was a teenager. Not unless your mother was into bawdy jokes, funny drawings and funnier answers to wide ranging trivia questions.

As Winston’s web site states,

“Think & Drink Trivia is a fun, frenzied event in which contestants can play solo or band together in teams, and compete for bragging rights and fabulous prizes!”

Your host for the evening is comedian Jesse Egan, known as Jesse-San, he is one of the funniest comedians in San Diego.  No really, he was voted one of San Diego’s funniest comedians in an open competition at the Madhouse Comedy Club in downtown’s Gaslamp District.

The D.J. is José Sinatra fronting for the band Troy Dante Inferno. He spins the bumper music between rounds and interjects his unique brand of wit and commentary.  José Sinatra also hosts the Winston’s Sunday Karaoke night known as OB-O-ke.

Trivia play starts at 6:17 PM exactly. I’m not sure why it’s always 6:17 PM.

The host buys everyone a round of drinks and the trivia gods are toasted.  Teams write the answers with their team name on a card and submit them to the host.

Six rounds of questions are played and the score is tallied and displayed on the big screen.

Oh, by the way, one of the funniest things is that the team names are creatively funny. Some names are C U Next Gangbang, Merkins, Perpetually Second and one team, I’m ashamed to think about it, has to do with Britney Spears body parts. Occasionally, teams will have a theme or dress up.

There is also a weekly Meet Up group; Bring Back Robin that meets to socialize and play.  One week I spotted city council member Marti Emerald playing on Bring Back Robin.

As the answers are read back there is usually an uproarious reaction from the participants.  Sometimes, the wrong answers are funnier than the puns and jokes.  Also, hysterical fits can occur when someone yells out the correct answer at inopportune times.

I give you fair warning, you could be incorporated into Jesse-San’s satirical response for shouting the answer. There is a degree of democracy practiced. The audience gets to vote to throw out one card per evening.  Spoiler alert, the audio answer on the “out” card is always Hall & Oats playing the theme to Mister Belvedere.

Winston’s web page states,

“Creative or humorous answers can garner an extra point, if no team gets the correct answer, or the crowd deems the answer deserves a point for originality.

Every team that participates in Think & Drink Trivia wins a prize at the end of the competition, but the top teams get to pick their prizes first, and there is one extra special mystery prize per game! The mystery prize can be anything from a television to a box of Count Chocula! Will you trade in the prizes on display for what’s in the mystery box?”

So if you looking to throw off your virtual electronic chains, and reconnect with a real social scene and have some fun, come check out the weekly trivia game at Winston’s Bar in Ocean Beach.

Oh, the answer to the MGM lion question: Leo the Lion.