JOTTeopardy Quiz Night

It's hard to imagine, but there is a bar where using cellphones, the Internet and friends are perfectly acceptable during trivia night. That's just one of the quirks of the ever-idiosyncratic JOTTeopardy at Jimmy's in Herndon. The 15-year-old quiz night begins at 7 p.m. with three 18- to 30-question written preliminary rounds. The winners move on to the final game at 9 p.m. On a recent Tuesday, those rounds involved filling in the blanks on unintentionally funny newspaper headlines and identifying Texas Hold 'Em hands with such names as "Orwell" (8 and 4) and "Bo Derek" (two 10s, of course).

At 9 p.m., the bar area is transformed into a wackier version of the "Jeopardy!" studio, complete with a massive hand-built board with five categories and a zany host -- bar owner Jimmy Cerrito -- in a bedazzled jacket. Contestants must remember to answer in the form of a question, but they can also get help from the bargoers who crowd around to watch.

-- Stephanie Merry (March 15, 2012)