By Matthew Kiernan / News Editor

Thursday nights at Devil’s Den are not simply an alcohol free zone. This past Thursday saw students involved in learning, socializing and bellies full of free food.

Devil’s Den alongside the Black Student Union this past week put on a black history month trivia game where students were given the chance to participate in learning about black history and win free prizes.

The event, which was hosted by BSU’s executive board, allowed students to compete with each other on stage to test their knowledge.

The questions asked to students varied from asking what the first American colony to abolish slavery was, to who was the first African-American Supreme Court Justice and who were the Buffalo Soldiers?

“It’s giving [students] insight to the things that they didn’t know,” said Vickena Webb, a student at CCSU who attended Thursday’s Devil’s Den event.

Although the questions were sometimes difficult for most of the students who participated, the questions challenged students who had previous knowledge on the subject or even students who knew some information on black history.

Daniel Pennant, the winner of the trivia competition, said that he liked the variety of the questions.

Winners of the competition won free iPod shuffles and students who participated were given free newly designed t-shirts with Devil’s Den logos. Students in the crowd later in the night were given the chance to win free gift cards to iTunes along with DVDs if they answered black history trivia questions correctly.

Before the black history month trivia competition took place, students were able to have their pictures taken and have the pictures pressed onto a tote bag. Free food was given out to students throughout the night.

After the trivia game, an open mic session started with a call for anyone who wanted to make a stage appearance.

“We offer a lot of diverse events,” said Corey Zohlman, Devil’s Den @ 10PM programming chairman. “We appeal to all different students and interests.”

This Thursday will have a March Madness event that will be sponsored by Natural Helpers, Exercise Science Club and Devil’s Den.Past events at Devil’s Den have included Talent or No Talent Night which let students show off their various talents and on another night an American Idol spoof.

The Devil’s Den now uses a new swipe system that allows students to swipe their Blue Chip card for a chance to win prizes. If students swiped their card during last Thursday’s Devil’s Den, they were given a chance to win a free iPod shuffle if their number was randomly selected.