The T-Room is a

campus A campus traditionally refers to the land and buildings of a college or university. This will often include libraries, lecture halls, student centers and, for residential universities, residence halls and dining halls. By extension, a corp ...

bar located in downtown

Halifax, Nova Scotia Halifax is the capital and most populous municipality of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the most populous municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of 2024, it is estimated that the population of the H ...

, on

Barrington Street View southward on Barrington StreetBarrington Street is a major street in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, running from the MacKay Bridge in the North End approximately 7 km south, through Downtown Halifax to Inglis Street in the South End. Its ...

between Spring Garden Road and Morris Street. It was opened in 1937 by Fredrick H. Sexton on the campus of the Nova Scotia Technical College, which is today the Sexton Campus of

Dalhousie University Dalhousie University (commonly known as Dal) is a large public research university in Nova Scotia, Canada, with three campuses in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Halifax, a fourth in Bible Hill, Nova Scotia, Bible Hill, and a second medical school campus ...

. Dr. Sexton served as the first principal, and later president, of NSTC from 1907 to 1947.

History

From its inception the T-Room was a popular hang out for Engineering students, as well as those attending neighbouring Dalhousie University. Trivia nights, or

Pub Quiz A pub quiz is a quiz held in a pub or Bar (drinking establishment), bar. These events are also called quiz nights, trivia nights, or bar trivia and may be held in other settings. The pub quiz is a modern example of a pub game, and often attempts ...

nights as they were then known, were a local favorite and still take place at the venue every Friday night to this day. Circa 1980, NSTC became the Technical University of Nova Scotia (TUNS). The provincial government forced TUNS to

amalgamate Amalgamation is the process of combining or uniting multiple entities into one form. Amalgamation, amalgam, and other derivatives may refer to: Mathematics and science * Amalgam (chemistry), the combination of mercury with another metal **Pan ama ...

with

in April 1997. For several years the former TUNS faculties formed a college called Dalhousie University Polytechnic (nicknamed DalTech) but in 2001 the college structure was dissolved and the faculties simply became part of Dalhousie University. Today, the TUNS campus is known as the Sexton Campus of Dalhousie University. It includes the T-Room, the Faculty of

Engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

and the Faculty of

Architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and construction, constructi ...

and

Planning Planning is the process of thinking regarding the activities required to achieve a desired goal. Planning is based on foresight, the fundamental capacity for mental time travel. Some researchers regard the evolution of forethought - the cap ...

. The TUNS School of Computer Science was merged with Dalhousie's after the 1997 amalgamation to become the Faculty of

Computer Science Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. Computer science spans Theoretical computer science, theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to Applied science, ...

. Computer Science moved into a new building on the Studley Campus in 1999. It is commonly believed that the bar is named for its shape, but this is unlikely as it is actually closer in shape to a letter "L". It is more likely that the T-Room name came from students abbreviating the name Nova Scotia Technical College to "Tech" in conversation.

Trivia nights

Trivia at the T-Room originated every Friday starting in 2002. A student from PEI, where pub quizzes are very popular, spoke with the T-Room management and they agreed to start trivia to aid in Friday night sales. In 2004, due to the graduation of long-time trivia host Brent Desroches, trivia was handed off to a 3rd year student who had expressed interest. Brennan McVeigh hosted trivia during his time on campus. Because of the alternating schedule of co-op students a new host was required every four months. McVeigh would always return to host during his academic terms. In 2009, fans of trivia caused a public outcry when the weekly event was left off of a "Top Quiz and Trivia Nights" list published by local newspaper '' The Coast''. Following this, The Coast published a second article mentioning the "renowned T-Room trivia" as well as its "die-hard fans", the T-Room Nation. The outcry also resulted in a brand new category for "Best Trivia Night" being added to the publication's annual "Best of Halifax Reader's Poll." This category has been won by the T-Room each year since its creation.

The Rev-Bomb

In September 2009, in an effort to deplete their stock of

Rev Rev, REV or Rév may refer to: Abbreviations Rev. * Rev., an abbreviation for revolution, as in Revolutions per minute * Rev., an abbreviation for the religious style The Reverend * Rev., the abbreviation for Runtime Revolution, a development en ...

and harness the popularity of the

Jägerbomb A Jägerbomb () is a bomb mixed drink made by dropping a shot of Jägermeister into an energy drink, typically Red Bull. Sometimes, this drink is incorrectly identified as a traditional "shot". A Jägerbomb is typically served with a can of R ...

, the bar's liquor manager introduced the Rev-Bomb. This drink combines

and

Jägermeister ( , ) is a German digestif made with 56 herbs and spices. Developed in 1934 by Wilhelm and Curt Mast, it has an alcohol by volume of 35% ( 61 degrees proof, or US 70 proof). The recipe has not changed since its creation, and the drink contin ...

and quickly gained popularity. The drink soon earned the nickname the "

Halifax Explosion On the morning of 6 December 1917, the French cargo ship collided with the Norwegian vessel in the harbour of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. ''Mont-Blanc'', laden with Explosive material, high explosives, caught fire and exploded, devastat ...

" for its explosive rise in popularity and devastating taste.

T-Room pool tournaments

On March 19, 2022, the first annual T-Room pool tournament took place at the bar across its two tables. The event was a celebration of the intense competition that regularly occurred at the back of the bar on the pool tables. The tournament used

eight-ball Eight-ball (also spelled 8-ball or eightball, and sometimes called solids and stripes, spots and stripes, bigs and smalls, big ones and little ones, or rarely highs and lows) is a discipline of Pool (cue sports), pool played on a billiard tabl ...

rules and took place between 32 entrants in a

single-elimination tournament A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, ...

where the semi-final, quarter-final and final frames required a best of three win to progress. The tournament was the idea of supervisor Bryn Taylor-Evans and designed and managed by head supervisor Gillian Stanton. Ultimately Taylor-Evans won the tournament before returning to his home country of Wales. Prizes for the winner and runner ups consisted of single beers up to a full 'bucket' (five beers on ice). On 4th February 2023, a second tournament took place, with first place taken by student regular, Steve Newfie. Amongst the organisers, the tournament was jokingly referred to as the "Bryn Taylor-Evans

Memorial Cup The Memorial Cup () is the national championship of the Canadian Hockey League (CHL), a consortium of three Junior ice hockey, major junior ice hockey leagues operating in Canada and parts of the United States. It is a four-team round-robin tou ...

", mocking both Taylor-Evans as the first winner and the national championship of the

Canadian Hockey League The Canadian Hockey League (CHL; , LCH) is an umbrella organization that represents the three Canada-based major junior ice hockey leagues. The CHL was founded in 1975 as the Canadian Major Junior Hockey League, and is composed of its three me ...

References

{{Dalhousie University Music venues in Halifax, Nova Scotia Dalhousie University campus