Pub trivia flourishes throughout Madison

IAP trivia night at State Street Brats, Photo by Jessica Levine

On the weekend, the bars on State Street and around the Capitol Square become the playgrounds for adults 21 and up living throughout Madison, but during the week work and classes take priority.  In an effort to increase weeknight traffic bars turned to trivia nights. What started as an effort by a few bars has  become a weekly tradition for many Madisonians, as well as a way for bars to connect with their customers.

The City Bar was one of the first to host a trivia night.  A then-employee went to one out of town and suggested City take it up.  April will mark the sixth year of the bar’s trivia night, according to owner Adam Greenberg.

Trivia night started as a way to “bring in people on a night they normally would not go out as much,” said Greenberg.

The questions and categories are based on the six classic Trivial Pursuit categories: Geography, Entertainment, History, Arts and Literature, Science and Nature, Sports and Leisure.  Greenberg and manager Kevin Braun divide up the categories and write questions before every trivia night, which is every Monday at 8:30 p.m. 

It takes about four hours to write questions for three categories, said Greenberg.

City’s Facebook page gives hints before every trivia night.  For a recent trivia night City revealed that one category would be “Olympics Host Cities”.

Greenberg and Braun often pull ideas from current events instead of focusing questions on Arts and Literature, a more challenging category, according to Braun.

City Bar has about five or six regular teams, according to Greenberg.  A team can have a maximum of six people, and many teams choose to bring in “specialists” in a certain subject to make a well-rounded group.

Trivia regulars are “scholastic,” said Greenberg.  They are usually highly educated people and may be undergrads or graduate students.

Lauren Danen, a senior at UW-Madison, attended trivia night at City on Feb. 24 with Abe Nelson of Janesville.  This was Danen’s first trivia experience, but Nelson is a regular at Buckingham’s Bar and Grill where they host League Trivia every Thursday night.Lauren Danen (left) and Abe Nelson (right), Photo by Jessica Levine

According to Nelson, Buckingham’s has developed its own trivia culture.

“Definitely the same teams every week,” said Nelson.

Taylor Smits, a Biochemistry major at UW-Madison, is a regular at Chaser’s Bar and Grille trivia night on Tuesdays.

“I think we started coming to Chasers more after trivia actually,” Smits said.

Smits and Danen both said they came to trivia night initially because it was something to do during the week.

According to Smits, Chasers has regular trivia teams that compete every week usually between the 21 and 25 age range, but “there’s a lot more teams during the summer.”

Smits and his friends have been successful in Chasers trivia because “Everybody on the team brings a different aspect.  We all study different things,” Smits said.

Smits and his friends have been coming to Chasers trivia since it started over two years ago.  However, it took time for Chasers to find a format that worked for it. Originally, Chasers used Team Trivia for about two months with “little to no success”, according to Manager Leif Thronson.

It settled on a version of trivia inspired by Brocach’s Sunday pub quiz.  Thronson and his roommate Scoot, also a former Chasers employee, were regulars at Brocach. 

“We would never miss a Brocach trivia,” said Thronson.

As a team, Thronson and Scoot launched an in-house trivia night at Chasers on Tuesdays while the Team Trivia night continued on Thursdays for a short time until it died out.

Thronson said he prefers in-house trivia because it is more personal, the hosts get to know their regulars, and the quality of the trivia is better.

“That’s why we don’t use a microphone … it’s very personal.  It becomes Leif and Scoot’s trivia,” said Thronson.

Another way that Chasers maintains this personal relationship with its regulars is by taking into account customer’s feedback on the questions and topics.

“It gets tougher.  What appeals to a lot of people kind of can hinder trivia when it comes to integrity or quality.  You can’t always write trivia on the T.V. show Friends,” Thronson said.

Last summer Scoot replaced Brocach General Manager Marcos Jimenez as a cohost for Brocach’s trivia night.

Other organizations and businesses have caught onto the success of pub trivia as an activity to build community.  On Feb. 12 UW-Madison’s International Academic Programs (IAP) hosted a trivia night at State Street Brats for its third consecutive semester.

BRIDGE students participate in IAP trivia night at State Street Brats, Photo by Jessica Levine“It’s a social event for our return students … we also invite international students to come.  Anybody can join if they like,” said Study Abroad Advisor Angela McNutt.

UW Seniors Olivia Algiers and Chloe Derse came to the IAP trivia night to support one of their friends who is a student advisor.  Algiers has also been to Chasers trivia.

 “Adding trivia is another aspect I guess,” said Algiers and, “instead of just drinking you can do something fun at the bar.”

Algiers and Derse said State Street Brats is their favorite bar because it has the “best dance floor.”

A group of students from the group Building Relationships in Diverse Global Environments (BRIDGE), came to IAP trivia night for a fun night.  BRIDGE connects international students with U.S. students.  The group was diverse with a mix of juniors, seniors and one student in the middle of his psychiatry residency.  They heard about the trivia night through BRIDGE’s Facebook group.

While a handful of Madison bars have sustained an in-house trivia night, there are many bars that have opted to bring in outside help from services like Team Trivia, League Trivia and Geeks Who Drink.

Geeks Who Drink Director of Public Relations and Marketing John Smith explained how their service operates in an email:

“We run a quiz with eight different rounds that's edited by a six-time Jeopardy champ and written by a staff of dozens of freelancers. Our hosts take it as seriously as we do and put a tremendous amount of creative energy behind their presentations.”

League Trivia has many writers and editors as well who research and write questions, according to Jason Bennett, League Trivia owner.

Roast Public House on State Street recently added a trivia night to its Wednesday night routine.  The owners opted to bring in League Trivia because of its “recognizable name,” according to Roast Co-owner Doug Hamaker.

League Trivia night has brought in a mix of some new faces and regulars, according to Hamaker.

UW student Jonathan Hartzell has been to Buck and Badger trivia night on Thursdays, which is run by Geeks Who Drink, and he was not satisfied.

“It takes too long,” said Hartzell.  

Thronson had more to say on the subject of trivia services:

“I’m not a huge fan of the traveling team trivia.  I don’t think it has much of a rhyme or reason to it … but trivia is trivia.  I’m all for trivia,” said Thronson.

Greenberg and Braun have noticed a difference between the in-house trivia regulars and the trivia leagues.  The people who play the in-house trivia circuit tend to play the same bars like City and Chasers, according to Greenberg.

Since the number of bars that host a trivia night continue to grow, it seems that in-house trivia and the traveling trivia services have been successful in building a following within the Madison community.  On almost every night of the week, Madisonians can find a trivia night.