Grown-up games YMCA’s Adult Challenge builds community spirit in Ellsworth area

There’s hardly a parking spot to be found at China Hill in Ellsworth on a frigid, weekday night.

But many of these people aren’t at the restaurant for the moo goo gai pan. Instead, they’ve come for the hot new competition in Ellsworth – Adult Challenge.

As created by the Down East Family YMCA, Adult Challenge is a nine-month-long competition among eight teams of adults. Each team has from eight to 15 members who participate in two events each month.

These events can be athletic, such as volleyball, basketball and indoor soccer, or nonathletic, including chess, pool and scavenger hunts. Points are awarded not just for results, but also for participation.

Adult Challenge, in its first year, seeks to create a greater sense of community around the Ellsworth area, said Peter Farragher, CEO of the Y.

“Its purpose is to get people out, to meet new people, to have a good old time,” said Farragher, who is a member of the Courtland Living Center-Ellsworth Rotary team. “It’s designed to minimize the competitive craziness. We end with a trophy and bragging rights [for the winner], and a big party.”

There’s a hum in the air, coming from the back of China Hill. The volume of voices increases as you draw closer to the function room.

People mill about, picking up drinks at the cash bar, helping themselves to appetizers and placing food orders. There are four stations set up for tonight’s event.

Tonight, the teams will compete in Trivial Pursuit, that bastion of the ’80s. It’s a decidedly nonathletic event, with only the lungs getting a workout.

This version of Trivial Pursuit, Mastergame Genus edition, is played without a board. Instead, each table gets a box of questions. A coin toss determines which team goes first. A roll of the die selects the category. The team gets 30 seconds to come up with the answer, which must be supplied by a spokesman. Get it right, you get a point and the chance to go again, up to five consecutive times. Get it wrong, and it’s the other team’s turn. Whoever leads after 15 minutes is the winner, then the teams rotate stations.

After a brisk discussion of the rules, a man hollers, “Do drinks consumed become the tiebreaker?” It’s that kind of lighthearted rivalry.

The games begin, and the 70 or so in attendance dig deep for answers. Cheers and moans go up in unison, depending on the result of each question, and mock recriminations fly at those who supply wrong answers.

From the center of the room, it’s impossible to pick up what’s going on at a single table from the muddle of sound. Eventually, the restaurant’s owner shuts the doors to that section.

A sample of the action: “Who starred as the spy in ‘Eye of the Needle?’ ” “Donald Sutherland,” one team’s spokesman replies, turning to the person who supplied him with the answer and asking, “Who’s Donald Sutherland?”

Sometimes the answers are right on the tips of their brains. “Who spent two years during World War II hiding at Prinsengracht 263 in Amsterdam?” was the question. One woman shouts out, “That chick with the book” before a teammate supplies the right answer of Anne Frank.

Many games and more than two hours later, the KidsPeace of New England Trustys ends up winning the event with 116 points, with the First National Bank of Bar Harbor Greenbacks coming in second at 111. Those two teams finish in the same order in the snow flag football competition held Jan. 29, with the Trustys first at 21 and the Greenbacks second at 20.

KidsPeace is first in the seasonal standings at 153, followed by the Barrakutas at 123, the Greenbacks at 120, the Mamas and Papas (an all-parents team) at 104, the Union Trust Trustees at 86, the Courtland-Rotators at 79, Dennis (the YMCA’s own team) at 61 and the A Team (from the Prospect Harbor Navy base) at 50.

The teams near the top list different reasons for their successes.

Rob Emery, who works at the Y, organized his own team, the 15-player Barrakutas, mainly made up of his friends. Emery’s squad won the badminton and cribbage events. They have a friendly rivalry with Dennis, the Y’s own team.

“We’ve done well by making sure everyone shows up for the events,” Emery said. “We’ve got a good core of athletes, and have been able to stay atop most of the games.”

The Greenbacks, who have 14 members, have been making a midseason surge. The Adult Challenge has created a buzz around the office, with First National Bank of Bar Harbor president Tony McKim writing an e-mail commentary, the FNB Greenback Update, the day after an event.

“It’s been a great experience,” said team captain Robin Sue McLeod. “We’re all co-workers, but we don’t spend a lot of time together outside of work. So we’ve gotten to know each other better.”

The KidsPeace team, which has 15 members, has captured the last two events to solidify its lead.

“We have a very fun group that enjoys being with each other,” said captain Jennifer St. Pierre. “We’ve got tons of energy, and are very positive and upbeat. I feel our team is quite athletic, but we’ve fared better in the nonathletic events, since everyone can do those events.”

The next two events are a bowling tournament tonight and an UNO tournament Feb. 12.

The teams are locked for this year, but Adult Challenge already is producing good will for next season.

“People at work are always coming up to me and asking, ‘will they be doing this again next year?,’ because they wished they had joined,” MacLeod said. “The people who do this regularly have a camaraderie. We have a great time doing it.”