their Blackberry (a trivia contest no-no) or texting a friend (another faux pas) for that elusive answer.

People around you whisper and nervously eye one another like something out of the Clint Eastwood standard The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. The pressure to reign supreme is mounting. Everyone in the place is keyed up, eager to share their wisdom, win a prize, or at the very least avoid complete embarrassment. The questions come in a steady flow—and so do the drinks!

“Trivia night definitely increased our sales,” says Mike Bowe, owner of The Piper’s Kilt, in Inwood, New York. “Three years ago we had no entertainment in here and things had gotten quiet. We needed to do something.” He decided to implement a trivia night using PubStumpers Trivia League, cre-ated by the folks at Braintrust Games, Inc., of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

PubStumpers Trivia League teases (some would say tor-tures) patrons’ intellect with trivia content powered by Nofrigginclue.com—The Online Trivia Game. “We started it almost two years ago,” Bowe states. “The nights were a little slow in the beginning of the week, so I checked the Internet and had a hard time finding an idea. Finally I found PubStumpers, which offered exactly what I needed.”

PubStumpers provides bar owners with a complete season package, including a training disk for the host and marketing tools for customer awareness, to help bar owners run an effec-tive trivia league. Each season runs 12 weeks and provides par-ticipants with questions and music clips that generate a com-petitive, but fun, atmosphere for all.

Visiting Piper’s Kilt on any Tuesday night during the trivia season is a highly recommended excursion. On a recent trip, the Bar Business Magazine staff was delighted by the turnout brought on by the trivia league, as well as the added promo-

tions from Guinness and Oak Beverage. Since starting trivia on Tuesday nights, Bowe has noticed a significant increase in cus-tomers and sales. “We started out with about 40 people coming in on the first night we held trivia,” he sys. “Now we’re averag-ing about 65. Every time we start a new season we get more folks to sign up. What happens is that teams that started out with three or four people now have five or six.”

In case you’re still pondering that question about the Bible, the answer is…hold on a minute, I’m texting a friend—ah yes—“In the beginning…”

Who?What?When?Drink!?

If you answered ‘trivia night,’ then give yourself a big pat on the back—you’re right! All over the country, trivia night has developed into a weekly affair for groups of friends and col-

leagues looking for a change of pace and some affable competi-tion. Trivia contests have brought patrons back week after week, often on traditionally slower nights, as friends go head to head to test their knowledge of question categories ranging

from pop culture icons to notable presidential speeches. An example: “What are the first three words in the

Holy Bible?” Usually broken up into teams, triv-

ia contestants take the events seri-ously and aren’t the least hesitant to call someone out for consulting

By Ian Sepp

Quiz nights on the mic are a great, interactive way to use your sound system and bring in customers on typically slow nights.Question: What can help bring scores

of thirsty patrons into your establish-ment each week and takes in some of the best profits bar owners see?

“Three years ago, we had no entertainment in here and things had gotten quiet. We needed to do something.”

www.barbizmag.com Nov/Dec 2009 Bar Business Magazine 19

Tuning Up

18 Bar Business Magazine Nov/Dec 2009 www.barbizmag.com

Tuning Up

20 Bar Business Magazine Nov/Dec 2009 www.barbizmag.com

2: Axl Rose: The biggest ego with the slightest talent, Axl took the best rock band since the Stones (Guns N’ Roses), which produced one of the best rock records of all time (Appetite for Destruction), and allowed his own massive ego to generate the

double mess known as Use Your Illusions I and II, which, as one entity, is the single most pompous collection of music ever created. We won’t discuss the plastic surgery . . .

1. Kurt Cobain: To quote Bart Simpson: “Making teenagers depressed is like shooting fish in a barrel.” Seriously, anyone can scream unintelligible lyrics into a microphone, otherwise known as a Nirvana album.

Top 2 Most Underrated Musicians of the Past 20 Years:2. Slash: A freakish blend of technical prowess and natural feel, the former Guns N’ Roses guitarist, with only four true albums to the band’s credit, cemented himself as a music icon. Just listen to his work on Sweet Child O’ Mine and Estranged. Sick.

1. Dave Grohl: Obviously the real talent in Nirvana, Grohl has spent the last decade or so cranking out Foo Fighters albums (six in all) that are better than anything his former Seattle trio ever produced. The Foo collection, along with those of The Black Crowes and Pearl Jam, represent the last bastion of true rock n’ roll in America today.

** Obvious Scientific Conclusion Based on Above Data: Lead singers suck.

Top 2 Most Overrated Musicians of the Past 20 Years:

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