Setting the tables for the Dangling Prussian Pub Night

 If you're anything like me, you like to walk into a party with some foreknowledge of what will be there when you arrive. As our January 14th pub night at the Dangling Prussian is going to be a very eclectic and, at times, random affair, it seemed like a good time to explain what you can expect upon entering the place.

Coming into the Zoom from the waiting room, you'll be greeted by myself, a co-host, or some other Prussian staff who might have even been drafted at some last minute. 

You'll be asked, "Will you will be joining the Montague Street Incorrigibles at their induction ceremony this evening?" If your answer is in the affirmative, your name will be entered on Arminius Detweiller's list. (The innkeeper originally was wanting you to sign his big book, but some Sherlockians expressed dismay at writing in any book, so that requirement has been waved.)

At that point, you can choose to go to one of our five tables as listed below (sometimes called "breakout rooms" in Zoom parlance), or just stay and hang out by the door to see who comes in. Since the entry area's primary function is greeting new arrivals, any conversations that become too involved will be asked to be taken to a table. And you can always just hang at the door until any friends you are meeting at the pub show up, and then go to a table. 

The tables are:

• The Brett party’s table (perhaps to discuss television)
• The Rathbone party's table (perhaps to discuss movies)
• The Starrett party's table (perhaps to discuss pastiche)
• The Watson party's table (perhaps to discuss the Canon)
• The Morley party's table (perhaps to discuss the Sherlockiana)

You aren't committed to stay at any table, though pub trivia points will be accumulated by each table, so if you really want one to win pub trivia and you are a great trivia brain, well, you have choices to make.

The topics suggested for each table are merely guidelines and will not be strictly enforced. If things go so far off topic that a table's name needs to be changed and all at that table are in agreement, that change can occur as well. The unpredictable nature of the Dangle Prussian has been a tradition since the eighties, and we're not changing that now.

Tables will remain open during the main program mid-evening, as we don't want to spoil anyone's good time if they are on a roll. 

As the old saying goes, "No plan survives first contact with the enemy," so we'll see what actually happens come party time, but you've just seen the intention. If you're not doing anything else that night, you have to come just to have a story to tell later -- of great fun or memorable disaster!

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Here again is the registration link, if you have yet to sign up:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMsd-mspzosGNWrY5QEPzpJIR0YFCGCQMfL