Friends trivia night has students remembering ’90s sitcom

Friends trivia brought Algonquin College students together for a trivia night with smiles and laughter on their faces.

The show first aired back in September 1994 and instantly became an institution in the ’90s, with people getting the Rachel haircut, the show being aired in 18 different languages and the actors’ faces on every magazine and billboard.

Friends trivia happened last Thursday night in the Observatory. There were three different categories: general questions, guess that character and behind the scenes.

“The reason why we went with Friends as a theme for our first trivia night is because they had a really big resurgence over the past few years and especially with the pandemic making it popular again,” said Nakeya Francis, head of the event planning with the Students’ Association.

Daly McGoey, a first-year architecture technology student, believes the show is popular because so many people can relate to it.

“Being in your 20s you are trying to figure out your life and career, but also being away from your family which is hard and your best friends become your family,” said McGoey

The Observatory started filling with smiles as students got in their seats ready for the trivia to start. Once it hit 8 p.m. Francis grabbed the microphone and started asking the questions.

Pens started to hit the paper with answers and once the guess that character category came up, many students were talking with their groups about their favourite and least favourite characters.

“Joey is my favourite, he is such a sweetheart and an amazing friend, I just love him,” said Gokila Kumar, a student in brand management.

Once the last set of trivia questions was announced and papers were handed in to be tallied up for first, second and third place, students were enjoying food from the Observatory kitchen and laughing with their teammates.

The prizes for the winners were coffee, Friends stickers and magnets and Friends mugs.

Pranjali Naik, Gokila Kumar and Roshan Sayyed won the four mugs after finishing in first place.

“The characters have such a strong bond in the show and all of us crave that kind of friendships in real life,” said Naik, a bakery and pastry arts management student.

The show Friends will always have a strong influence on many people, when it first aired on television 30 years ago, along with the Friends reunion which came out in May 2021. The Friends cast will always be there for you.