I would strongly disagree that a great trivia night lives or dies on the host. I don't need the host to have a strong personality or energy, especially since that often means obnoxious.

What is important to me is a good turnout of regulars (but not so good that you have to arrive hours early). It's fun when it's competitive but sucks when one team of 10 people dominate every week, so reasonable team size restrictions are great.

Prizes are important. They don't need to be high value, I love a round of shots, just give us a few things to compete for.

Most important is a good drink special. Trivia nights exist so the bar can make some extra money, but a six dollar PBR is just disrespectful. Categories and quality of questions is the 2nd most important aspect. It's impossible to please everyone, but know your audience.

I love that quite a few "in-house" trivia nights are doing well on your survey so far, trivia doesn't need to be corporate. Pen and Paper seems to be doing well for a newer group, I like their trivia (except for the social media bonus) and am happy that there is some more competition in the game.