At 7:00 pm on the night of Friday Sept. 25, a group of eight Palatine High School students and teachers clad in red strutted into Fremd High School with one goal in mind: to answer a series of pointless questions.

They walked into the first annual Fremd Trivia Night, determined to show their Pirate Pride on Viking soil. Led by Palatine physics teacher, and head Scholastic Bowl coach, Ryan Hall, the band of Pirates chose the optimistically aggressive “Viking Funeral” as their team name.

Their optimism was justified, for after two hours and seven rounds of questions, the leaderboards showed Viking Funeral in first place. First prize was two hundred dollars, and after a forty dollar entrance fee per team, each of the eight competitors left with an extra twenty dollar bill in their pocket.

While the cash prize was a nice way to end the night, the real reward for team Viking Funeral was the chance to assert Palatine dominance over Fremd. When it was announced that the team with the name “Viking Funeral” won trivia night at Fremd, home of the Vikings, the tension was palpable.

But team Viking Funeral marched right up to claim their prize with mischievous grins on their faces.

“It was a lot of fun to invade Fremd territory and bring home a victory for Palatine.” Viking Funeral team member Ryan Hall says.

The host for the night was Christopher Smith, a chemistry teacher at Palatine High School. He has been hosting annual trivia nights at Palatine in for 6 years, but this is his first year at Fremd. He brought trivia night to Fremd this year because his daughter, a freshman at Fremd sings in the chorus; the music department was looking for fundraising ideas, and Smith, having previously hosted trivia night at Palatine, offered to bring the event to Fremd.

If you are disappointed that you missed the fun time, don’t fret. Smith will be hosting another trivia night at Palatine in the spring. All proceeds will go to the Ray Mills Fund.