Wells resident Julie Seedorf’s column appears every Monday. Send email to her at hermionyvidaliabooks@gmail.com. Her Facebook page is http://www.facebook.com/julie.

In the 1980s, returning from a visit to family in California, I remember carrying on my lap a gift given to me right before we got on the plane. The gift was the game Trivial Pursuit. It was popular in California and it hadn’t hit Minnesota yet. Since we enjoyed many evenings with family in California playing the game, they thought it would be a perfect gift for us. At the time it was an expensive gift. Soon it became popular all over and everyone was playing it.

According to Wikipedia the ancient Romans used the word trivia to describe where one road split and forked into two roads. It was formed from tri(three) and via (road) literally meaning “three roads.”  Wikipedia goes on to describe it as in transferred use “a public place” meaning “commonplace.” If you want to know more about the origin of trivia just put it in a popular search engine and you will find the reason we all love the game.

In my community we recently found the game being played on Tuesday nights in our local Legion club. We were invited to join a group. I knew I was not very good at the old game of Trivial Pursuit unless the title was entertainment. I was never a history buff or a mathematical genius. That is what is so great about playing with a team. We each bring something new to the table. It is also amazing to realize you know what you didn’t know you know.

For instance on a recent night we were asked the question: “What was the game Twister called before it was named Twister?” Kiddingly, I blurted to my team the word “pretzel” and then said, “I was just kidding” and I was. It was the first thing that came to mind. Then they gave us three choices and they were: Zig Zag, Tangled and Pretzel. I, of course, not having faith in my answer because it just popped out of my mouth said, “It couldn’t be that. I was just kidding.” We chose another answer and the answer was pretzel. We got it wrong. We had a good laugh over that.

One of the things we do the most while playing the game is laugh. We also share jokes and good natured banter with the other teams. It is a relaxing and fun evening.

This week my team decided to take it a little further. We decided to venture out of our comfort zone and visit Albert Lea and the Interchange for its trivia night. We knew we probably would not know any of the other teams. We weren’t sure how it was run, and we were sure everyone would be smarter than we were. It was going to be a trivia adventure. Plus there were door prizes.

We settled in at our designated table. We were quiet and silent at first. Then the team next to us, a group of women from Albert Lea began to joke with us. The banter continued back and forth for the evening and made us feel relaxed and welcome. We felt as if we belonged. The questions were challenging, and we were surprised we actually knew some of the answers.

We didn’t win, but I think we came in third or fourth. We didn’t come for the prizes. We never play for the prizes but for the fun and relaxation and the surprise that we actually know some of the things we know. Things, like pretzel, blurt out of our mouths all the time. We never know where it comes from. Apparently the answers are deep within us. We find our first instinct or gut answer usually is right, and when we doubt ourselves and change our answers we tank big time.

Our name is the Book Club, and at our Legion we play in rounds of 10 questions. We laugh because we have some rounds where we don’t get even one right, and then we have rounds where we ace it. Usually we tank about the third round to come back the last round. We always come away from playing with smiles on our faces.

It was no different in Albert Lea. I was also amazed at the generosity of a woman at our next table whose name was Sandy. She gave me the door prize she won so I can enjoy some goodies at the Interchange another time. Trivia people are nice people. Not only did we enjoy the trivia, we enjoyed meeting new people who we hope we will see again.

My husband and I almost missed all this fun because we were scared we didn’t know enough to join a group and play trivia. We took a chance, reconnected with old friends from our past in our Wells group and found new connections by taking a chance at travel and a new trivia venue. We are hooked.

Take a chance. Try something new. Connect with old friends or with new. Here’s your trivia question of the week: The largest sculptures in the world are 90 feet high, on the face of Stone Mountain, near Atlanta, Georgia. Which three people are depicted on these sculptures?

And no cellphones or computers allowed to find the answer.  That’s one of the rules. It has to come from your noggin. If you want, visit my Facebook page or blog and send me a message with the answer. I’ll tell you if it’s correct — and it isn’t trivial.