Bar Bells and Whistles By Fritz Hahn Special to The Washington Post Friday, February 14, 2003; Page WE34

	Jimmy Cirrito gets JOTTeopardy off to a patriotic start by parading Old Glory around Jimmy's Old Town Tavern in Herndon. (Photo by Frank Johnston/The Washington Post)

There are two easy ways to prove how smart you are: watch "Jeopardy!" with friends and yell out the answers at the screen, or attend one of several weekly pub quizzes at bars in Washington and Northern Virginia and win prizes for knowing Indiana Jones's first name or the location of the White Sea.

There's no shouting or waving your hand to catch the host's attention at these events. Instead, they all resemble (to varying degrees) a high school quiz. At Fado, Murphy's and the Penn Ave. Pour House, the quizmaster reads questions into a microphone, repeating each one a few times so everyone can hear him. Players, grouped into teams of one to eight members, write answers as legibly as possible into the appropriate blanks on one answer sheet. At the end of the round, each team hands one set of answers to the host, who checks the answers and tallies the scores. The quizmaster at Ireland's Four Provinces hands out a sheet of paper with 20 questions, and teams of up to five have 30 minutes to answer them. Then they swap papers and grade them while the answers are read out loud. Jimmy's Old Town Tavern works its three preliminary rounds in a similar fashion, although the JOTTeopardy game itself is played like the television version of "Jeopardy!," complete with a mocked-up version of the famous board.

Over the last year, each quiz night has developed its own personality. The Brainstormer quizzes at Fado and Murphy's are very much general knowledge quizzes, with questions touching on world history, sports and literature. Penn Ave. Pour House's Quizzo and the Four Provinces' pub quiz lean toward pop culture, with many questions about films and music videos as well as history and sports. JOTTeopardy is all over the map, with one category called "Spelling Bee" (spell "chlorophyll" without starting over) and another about the locations of national parks.

While fun, these games are also highly competitive. At one recent quiz at Fado, the score was so close that the difference between winning T-shirts, restaurant gift certificates and Guinness merchandise and going home empty-handed was knowing which city hosted the first World Series game. (This was after seven rounds of 10 questions each.) All quizzes award prizes, which range from bar tabs for the top three teams to gift certificates.

If you can't make the live trivia contests, a number of bars in the Washington area participate in NTN, a nationwide trivia network that lets you compete against players across the United States and Canada as well as people on the other side of the room. Games run nonstop for 15 hours every day. Visit one of the bars listed on www2.ntn.com/player/search.html (the Grand Slam Sports Bar downtown is a very competitive location) and ask for a controller.

FADO -- Brainstormer Pub Quiz is held every Monday at 8. Sign-up begins around 7:30, and imperial pints of Bass are $4 during the game.

IRELAND'S FOUR PROVINCES -- The Pub Quiz is held every Wednesday at 9.

JIMMY'S OLD TOWN TAVERN -- Preliminary rounds of JOTTeopardy begin at 7 on Tuesdays.

MURPHY'S IRISH PUB -- Brainstomer Pub Quiz is held every Tuesday at 8. Sign-up begins around 7:45.

THE PENN AVE. POUR HOUSE -- Quizzo is held every Tuesday at 7.

Full reviews of each event and sample questions are available at www.washingtonpost.com/trivia

Arcade games and pinball machines are found in bars across the country, but video game enthusiasts can save their quarters -- and get nostalgic -- at two Washington bars. Kingpin, a U Street bar located around the corner from the 9:30 club, is a neighborhood dive that's good for a post-concert drink. It should also be a destination for anyone who grew up with a video game console.

At the top of the stairs, sitting on the edge of the bar, are a vintage Atari 2600, two joysticks and a large color television. Secured by a bicycle chain are a series of games that will make Generation X-ers snap to attention: Space Invaders. Asteroids. Pitfall. Ms. Pac-Man. Missile Command. Jungle Hunt. Combat. Joust.

"Years ago, I bought an Atari at a yard sale, played it for like two weeks straight, and then put it away in the attic," says Kingpin owner Joel Didriksen. "[Back in 2000], somebody asked me if I'd ever get a pinball machine in here, and I said no, because it would take up too much space. And then I remember that I had the Atari, so I brought it in." It proved to be an instant success, and Didriksen kept adding to the games library. Then a customer spilled a beer onto the console. "We didn't have [an Atari] for a while -- I had to look around until I found one for a reasonable price," Didriksen says. "But we have a backup system now."

Those too young to remember Atari can head for Adams Morgan, where the recently refurbished Tom Tom sports a big-screen television and an old Nintendo at its upstairs bar. On weekend nights, there's a line to get the chance to play games like Super Mario Brothers.

KINGPIN -- Video games are available daily.

TOM TOM -- The upstairs bar also offers Xbox and PlayStation 2 on Sundays.

Atomic Billiards, the subterranean pool hall in Cleveland Park, doesn't have a cocktail menu -- it has a board games menu. There are 25 selections, including classics like Connect Four, Battleship, Stratego, Trivial Pursuit, Sorry, Boggle -- even Candyland. (Some, like Monopoly and Clue, might be difficult to play in a bar.) Before you bring a group of six over for Trivial Pursuit, though, be warned that Atomic has only four tables for groups, so you'll usually wind up playing your games on the bar.

Bedrock Billiards, which shares owners with Atomic, has a similar selection of board games. "Half the time, people [who request games] are waiting for [pool] tables, but we have people who come in and ask for games and sit at the bar," bartender Krista Stokes says. "They have chess tournaments, Scrabble tournaments, Trivial Pursuit tournaments. It seems to be a good date thing."

At the cozy Majestic Lounge in Alexandria, the board games are built-in. Four tables have inlaid Checkers, Trivial Pursuit, Monopoly and Scrabble boards. The Scrabble table even has angled bars to hold your letter tiles. You have to ask at the bar for the Monopoly pieces or checkers and chess sets, but the lone box of Trivial Pursuit cards (the recent Genus V edition) and pieces reside on that game's table. Scrabble boxes are on a shelf at the end of the bar, along with Boggle and three versions of Yahtzee.

There are some frustrations, though. Often, if you get there around happy hour, the tables are occupied by groups that aren't playing games. On Monday, Wednesday and Thursday nights, a band sets up in the corner of the room, which means things get cramped -- and you can't reach the Scrabble table at all. Also, pieces of the games have been known to go missing -- there are only five pie pieces in the Trivial Pursuit box, for example.

ATOMIC BILLIARDS -- Games always available.

BEDROCK BILLIARDS -- Games always available.

MAJESTIC LOUNGE -- Open daily, but you might want to avoid playing games when there's a live band (Mondays 7:30-10, Wednesdays and Thursdays 8-10).

On Wednesdays at the Blue Room, the DJs change every half-hour. The big dude who just got behind the turntables is spinning laid-back hip-hop from Erick Sermon and Q-Tip. Heads begin nodding. "This DJ is nice," the guy at the next table tells his friend. "You never know what you're going to get here. The guy before this was playing rocksteady." Roughly 30 minutes later, a shorter, bald man takes over. His bags are filled with funky house and breakbeat records. He pulls a disc from its sleeve and cues it up.

Next week, it could be your turn.

Hi-Fi, which began last summer, is a first-come, first-served opportunity for anyone who would like to try his or her hand on the wheels of steel. A sign-up sheet goes up at the bar at 7:30, and the slots are quickly filled. It's a good mix of genres and skill levels, with professionals often followed by folks who usually don't spin outside of their bedrooms. Steve Teague, who bartends at the Blue Room and helps organize the night, has simple advice for anyone signing up: "Don't worry about it. Play Britpop. Play punk. Play what you'd play at 4 o'clock in the morning for your friends."

It does feel like a house party, from the vintage ashtrays to the friendly patter between DJs and listeners. The relaxed vibe makes it easy for first-timers to get comfortable and let rip.

Similarly, the Marx Cafe opens its sound system to patrons on Sunday through Wednesday nights. It's first-come, first-served, although DJs can reserve their one-hour slot by calling the club after 5 p.m. on the day they want to spin. Marx's hi-tech equipment includes CD players as well as turntables, and reggae, electronica and indie rock seem to be the favored styles of the diverse crowd.

The process is more structured at the Galaxy Hut's long-running Hump Nite, where would-be DJs have to sign up weeks in advance for their opportunity, and music selections are approved by bartender Lary Hoffman. Hoffman, who has been booking the Wednesday event since 1998, says the reason is simple. "I want it to be a good night of music, not 'What the hell was that?'

"Also, I judge based on how well the music fits. I don't think house goes over well -- this isn't a dance club kind of room. That's why it's mostly rock and electronic."

The sets at Hump Nite often wander through a variety of styles -- it's not uncommon to hear one DJ play punk, '80s, indie rock and hip-hop. Most of Galaxy Hut's DJs are regulars at the tiny Arlington bar, but anyone can have a chance. Hoffman asks that people send him e-mails describing the kind of music they want to play, and plan on waiting up to two months for their shot. It's a drawn-out process, but there is a reward: DJs receive 10 percent of all bar sales taken during their set.

THE BLUE ROOM -- Hi-Fi takes place every Wednesday from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. Sign-up begins at 7:30. The setup includes two turntables. Call if you want to play CDs; you may have to bring your own equipment.

GALAXY HUT -- Hump Nite takes place every Wednesday from 9:30 p.m. to 2 a.m. The setup includes two turntables. You must bring your own CD players (two portable CD players will do) and headphones. E-mail Lary Hoffman at lary@galaxyhut.com to inquire about booking a Hump Nite.

MARX CAFE -- Communal turntables are available on Sunday through Wednesday nights. DJs should call the club after 5 p.m. to find out what time slots are available.

It's the usual Thursday night happy-hour crowd at Ozio. Martinis are being shaken, not stirred. Loungey beats fill the air, under the chatter of conversation. Except the people sitting next to you are talking in a foreign language. A group of tourists hitting a hotspot? Nope. It's Polish Happy Hour.

This isn't the setup for a bad joke. In a city as international as Washington, there are plenty of chances to speak foreign languages, whether by learning to salsa at Habana Village, networking at GreekDC.com's monthly happy hour for Greek American professionals or attending any of the numerous events held at embassies and cultural institutes every month. The problem comes when you're trying to practice German outside of your language classes, or your once-fluent French has gotten a little rusty. Thankfully, a number of organizations hold events expressly designed for practicing the nuances of foreign languages in a comfortable setting while enjoying a drink or two.

The monthly Polish Happy Hour was started by Greg Witczak, an American of Polish descent who wanted to meet other people who were interested in practicing their Polish -- an uncommon language in Washington -- or curious about Polish culture. "We get all kinds of people [at the events]," Witczak says. "We've had Russians, Ukrainians and Germans who speak Polish and like to practice it. We get people who don't speak a word of Polish. Maybe they have Polish relatives or they're just curious."

While there are a number of beginners at each event, he says, most conversation takes place in Polish. Since its inception in August 2000, the club has grown to have anywhere between 50 and 100 regular attendees at its meetings, which usually happen on the third Thursday or Friday of the month.

Another "unofficial" happy hour is held by the Washington Flanders Club, a group of Flemish speakers who meet at the Brickskeller for drinks and chatting. This group is mostly native speakers, but, says president Patrick Hinderdael, "We have quite a few Americans [at the meetings] who got interested one way or another -- because their better halves are Belgian, or they lived in Belgium for a while, for example." The "Tussen Pot en Pint," which is held on the first Friday of the month, is open to anyone with an interest in Flemish culture or Belgian beer -- and most club members are experts on the latter. Whether you speak Flemish, French or English, show up at the Brickskeller after 6 p.m. and ask for the Washington Flanders Club.

Some "official" cultural groups also sponsor happy hours, usually tied to their language classes. Once a month, the Goethe-Institut holds a Stammtisch ("cracker barrel") for local German speakers at bars such as Cafe Mozart, the Brickskeller or the Gordon Biersch Brewery. Anywhere from 20 to 40 members attend, and almost all conversation is in German. Some are obviously native speakers, but a good number are students from the Goethe-Institut's language classes who want a chance to practice and drink good beer. Your high school German might get you by. For Jonathan Amato, who studied German in high school and spent a year abroad at Eberhard-Karls Universitat Tubingen while attending Georgetown University, it's a chance to keep his language skills at "a reasonable level of fluency" while meeting new people. "It's not hard," he says. "You have to practice your German, so you just go up to people and start speaking German."

While it doesn't take place in a bar, the Alliance Francaise pours delicious French wine at its monthly Club de Conversation meetings, where students and Francophones gather to practice. The events sometimes have specific themes for discussion, such as "What I did on my summer vacation." Wine is included in the admission price.

THE ALLIANCE FRANCAISE'S CLUB DE CONVERSATION is held once a month at the group's Dupont Circle office. Admission is $4 for members and $6 for nonmembers. Upcoming events are listed at www.francedc.org.

THE GOETHE-INSTITUT STAMMTISCH is intended for Friends of the Goethe-Institut, but there is no charge, and anyone who is interested can attend. It's held once a month at a local bar. A schedule of upcoming events is posted at www.goethe.de/uk/was/fogi/index.htm. Call 202-682-9041, Ext. 3, for more information.

POLISH HAPPY HOUR meets on the third Thursday or Friday of the month at an area bar. Visit www.polishhappyhour.com to find the next location, or e-mail founder Greg Witczak at info@polishhappyhour.com for more information.

THE WASHINGTON FLANDERS CLUB'S "Tussen Pot en Pint" is held on the first Friday of the month at the Brickskeller, except during January, July and August. There are usually several tables, so ask the server where the group is seated.

Fritz Hahn is the bars and clubs editor of washingtonpost.com.