Since September, the senior has moonlighted as pub trivia master, hired by Student Activities to test his peers' knowledge at the every-other-Thursday game.
For the final game of the year, on May 7, teams of devoted trivia buffs gathered at tables in Jack McGee's Pub. After greeting one another or ordering food, they began the business of figuring out answers to questions they will probably never be asked again. (Like, what's the word for the specialist who records noises like footsteps, rustling clothing, and breaking glass for films? Answer: Foley artist.)
Though the subject matter ranges from obscure to baffling, Traub's role is an important one: Trivia Night is one of the pub's most popular activities, attracting anywhere from forty or fifty students to more than 150. '
Bowdoin has long offered trivia nights at the pub, but Student Activities didn't start hiring a student to run them until four years ago, said Assistant Director Brandon Rogers-Reed.
"Having a student who's in tune with what other students are interested in makes it that much more engaging," Rogers-Reed said. He also praised Traub's trivia adeptness and connection to his audience.
"Eric's great—one of the things I love about him is that he has this balance between being one of the goofiest students I know and also being extremely intelligent. He has this great stage presence; he knows how to make people laugh and get people interested."
Traub said that for each competition, he would usually dedicate three to four hours of research to come up with a range of questions. "I wrote all the questions from scratch," he said, aiming for a mixture of subjects—geography, sports, pop culture, etc. Always included were one audio and one visual category. Most of his questions were moderately hard; at least a few were monsters.
But, he said, “people always impress me with their knowledge.”
One of the creative aspects of the job is dreaming up categories for the eight rounds of questions. For Traub's finale, these included: failed companies, words of foreign origin, and an audio round called "bardcore." Players had to name popular songs covered in a medieval style.
A history major and Japanese minor, Traub said he appreciated the education he's gained as the game's host. "I have learned so much and gone down so many rabbit holes," he said. For instance, he knows a lot more now about Cold War espionage.
But he doesn't give himself credit for having any special flair for trivia. "I know a fair amount of things, but I've never been the person who automatically retains thousands of facts."
Those kinds of people, he said, often have two distinct traits: a deep interest in the world around them "and some sort of brain wiring that allows you to retain all this information!"
While he has a deep interest in the world around him, he said he was drawn more to the convivial atmosphere of pub trivia nights—which take place every two weeks throughout the academic year on Thursdays, from 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. He's been a regular at Bowdoin's pub trivia night since his first-year fall, when he played on a team with his floormates.
"The environment at pub trivia was really nice," Traub said, reminiscing about what initially drew him in when he had never participated in his high school quiz bowls. "It was a nice time to connect with friends."
