The best activities bars once offered were pull tabs, pool tables, darts, and maybe the occasional pub trivia game. But in recent years, Americans have learned just how much more they can do while drinking.
First, there was the jock era: Everyone was throwing axes and smashing things in rage rooms. But now geek-chic is back at the bar, and around the country, the pub is becoming a classroom.
While pub trivia serves as a chance to show off knowledge, newer events represent the opposite: an opportunity to learn in a way that people rarely get as adults—from an expert, in an organized, directed fashion. For some, this might incite scary flashbacks to days at school. But there’s no test to take and no homework here: The only thing you need to remember to bring to class is some cash for beer.