When your company is called Enlighten, it really forces you to step up and show off your brainpower, someway, somehow. This past spring and summer, we did just that. An inspiring group of Enlightenites, myself included, spent every Wednesday evening after work participating in a local trivia league, drinking brain juice (beer) and answering some of the toughest questions ever presented to mankind (“What is the name of the pirate in ‘The Goonies’ who stole the treasure?”).

While trivia was played all in good fun, Enlighten AKA Ski Lodge District (our team name, inspired by the aesthetic architecture of our place of business) scored enough points over the season to make it into the semi-finals tournament last Thursday evening. This being our first semi-finals event, it was slightly daunting to walk into the sports bar and find other semi-finalist teams that had come in with custom team t-shirts and the sort of game-face that suggests they had been here before, and weren’t leaving without a fight. However, we knew the task at hand and were ready for the challenging game of trivia ahead.

Despite the pressure, Ski Lodge played strong that night. We knew the type of animal that was the three-headed beast called Cerberus. One team member (ahem, Adam) even knew Peggy Parish’s children’s book was Amelia Bedelia. But the last question stumped us, and regardless of our strong showing, Ski Lodge District didn’t qualify for finals.

However, despite the loss, our almost-victory was still a success in our minds, and has left us even more motivated for our second season of Great Lakes Trivia. Rookies no more, expect to see the Ski Lodge District come back with a vengeance next season—and yeah, we’ll be the ones with the best team shirts in the bar.

Season highlights:

“JT’s epiphanies. You know—that look he got on his face when he almost had the answer and was about to tell the whole table.” –Andrew

“That time I flipped the table. Oh wait, that hasn’t happened…yet.” –Jenny

“Our FIRST growler win. Dance offs. Jenny almost clocking that guy from the other team when running up to deliver our answer.” –Marti

“Anytime we had the answer right, then changed our minds!” –Amy

“Arm wrestling matches and poker afterwards with pennies and random objects. Also, any time that Adam was wrong.” –Karen

“That time it was argued that Frasier was more universally popular than Home Improvement. ‘Any time that Adam was wrong?’ I can see how that would be memorable: it happens so rarely (Ho ho ho).” –Adam