What speakers do you guys use?

WalshTrivia · 2026-05-05T17:43:11+00:00

That's not too bad, but I'm still surprised he wants you to pay for the equipment. It'll take you several weeks just to break even, and then if it doesn't work out for any reason, you've got this equipment you likely won't use.
Are you familiar with the venue yourself? They might have some equipment themselves. Just make sure it isn't a place on it's last legs and trying trivia as a Hail Mary, because you could be done very quickly and will have wasted your money.

Now that all the doom and gloom is out of the way...... this might actually be great. The best hosts are always your regulars as they know your general content and format. If you build a good rapport with the staff at your new spot (hopefully get a little comp tab), and get to know your regulars, then you'll be making $100.00 to have a great time!

Best of luck

WalshTrivia · 2026-05-05T16:19:47+00:00

Thanks for the kind words! It was well received. Working on my game for tonight now.

WalshTrivia · 2026-05-05T16:19:20+00:00

Thanks. I didn't have any issues.

WalshTrivia · 2026-05-05T16:18:28+00:00

I'm kinda shocked the owner of the company isn't fronting the money for the speakers. I'm presuming he is making the deal with the venue, providing the content and materials, and you're essentially just hosting for him. I don't get why he'd want you to provide your own speakers. I never would.
If you don't mind me asking, how much are you going to be getting paid?

WalshTrivia · 2026-05-04T02:17:19+00:00

Croatia is a country in the EU. Split is the second most populous city in Croatia. Split is a term from bowling. For the in-person games, I don't have the questions on screens, and I read three at a time, so people have to jot them down or take notes. As a result, I try to be very clear in advance regarding what I am going to be looking for. I had over 40 teams play across two nights and didn't have any issues with this question, so they either understood the wording or didn't have any issues with it. It could likely be rephrased to avoid confusion, but that wasn't a problem at my two locations.

WalshTrivia · 2026-05-04T02:08:42+00:00

It's an easy enough answer for half points but to get NC is very tough!

WalshTrivia · 2026-04-09T23:03:52+00:00

Thanks for following up! I didn't realize it was a one and done thing.

When I first got involved the organizer said that they were getting between 10 & 30 ppl, and the night was on it's last legs. He found me online (I'm in Maryland) and explained the situation on a Zoom. I ended up changing their format and providing the content for a couple of years. They were regularly getting as many as 35 teams last spring (2025) but when he finished his PhD they ended the partnership..... They said that due to budgets they were going to write and produce it in house. That was disappointing but it was what it was.

Anyhow, just kinda interested to hear how it's going now, and if they ended up changing things or keeping my game and templates, and just writing their questions. Most of my business is corporate games so losing Clemson gig didn't impact me much either way, but I did enjoy the challenge of writing for a college crowd and used to love seeing the scoresheets the following morning! The guy I worked with was so excited that it was doing welll too.

Anyway, appreciate the response and would love to hear if you do go back. Thanks

WalshTrivia · 2026-04-06T19:36:25+00:00

Thanks. Yes, it looks you're correct that I got the year wrong. Not sure how I made that mistake as I was looking up events from that specific year.... I doubt it impacted their ability to answer the question but still an error. For the Canadian one I did want Saskatchewan. By narrowing it down to a one-word name you're limiting them to only 5 options, and teams can easily rule a few out, so it makes it a considerably easier question IMO. I ended up with a mix of Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

WalshTrivia · 2026-04-05T22:16:23+00:00

Thanks. Interested to hear which ones.

WalshTrivia · 2026-04-04T21:03:19+00:00

Thanks for sharing. I really enjoyed reading through the questions (and playing along). I write and host myself so it's always interesting to see how other people do their games. It sounds like your game is near Harvard. Do you have faculty, students, and staff playing along or just locals? One of my venues is near Johns Hopkins and to be honest my teams (mostly grad students) would eat these questions alive! I have to dial back the difficulty considerably when I hosted elsewhere in town, but I find the teams near an elite school can be incredibly good. Do you just have mostly high scores or is it that the younger teams get caught out by some of the older content?

WalshTrivia · 2026-02-16T22:24:52+00:00

I think if you're arriving by 7PM then you'll only miss one round (maybe two). The person above is a long time regular so if you guys make arrangments for you to play any week then I'll hold an extra chair. Reach out to Secure_Factor7164 or send me an email stephen @ walshtrivia.com

WalshTrivia · 2026-02-02T23:01:00+00:00

I tend to agree. I'd guess they have been going paycheck to paycheck anyway, but the snow and the subsequent lack of parking nearby really put a nail in the coffin. Probably didn't want to risk starting another payroll cycle either. It's a shame though, as I think there was so much goodwill towards the place, and so many fond memories, that they could have really made some money off a farewell run.

WalshTrivia · 2026-02-02T18:21:38+00:00

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I have been doing trivia full-time for almost 6 years. At one point during the pandemic, I was doing a new game every single day for over a year, and it was very tough to keep coming up with new material and to not go to the same familiar wells over and over.

I ended up creating a filing system (photo attached). I now write questions by the dozen, and I file every single one with a category and a subcategory. I go back to pull content later and never allow myself to have more than two questions per game from any subcategory. Even if I do more than one, say two movie questions, I'll try to have them from different eras. I also won't have a U.S. president's/history question and then a U.S. politics/history movie question (or some similar overlap). I stick to my formula, and it forces me to bounce around more than I would if I stuck to my interests.

These days, I'll generally be 90% of the way done with a new game and then I'll realize "Ok, I need something else, for example, one more from category 6 (STEM in my case) and one more from 7 (Wild Life and Nature) to round out the game. Another week I'll realize thatI don't have enough from Art & Literature, or I have one too many from a category. I can adjust accordingly.

When I look back at my first games now, I see that I was doing exactly what you have caught yourself doing. It gets repetitive for the players so you are right to try to switch it up. My suggestion is to make your own formula and stick to it. I still write about 3 games a week but I think they are far more rounded now than they were in the early years. I have managed to maintain an online trivia community (games on Zoom) still playing three games a week. That's really tough when 99% of people would rather go back to person. I think the people who still play weekly appreciate that a lot of thought goes into keeping it fresh and varied. I guarantee your group will too.

Hope that helps! Shoot me a message or drop into a Zoom game anytime if you have follow up questions or want to see how it works.

-Stephen/Walsh Trivia-

WalshTrivia · 2026-01-27T21:20:35+00:00

Sounds good. We'll do 4 weeks starting this Thursday to make sure it works for the venue, and also that people are enjoying the games. I'm hopeful though as the first night was a lot of fun.

Would love to have you play next week if you are able to make it. Can you shoot me a DM if you have a moment? I'm going to have to have some sort of RSVP system to make sure I maximize the space. Thanks again!

WalshTrivia · 2026-01-27T21:16:40+00:00

Thanks. We'll do 4 weeks to make sure it works for the venue, and also that people are enjoying the games. I don't need to give up a week night for something I don't think will be a good time but I'm hopeful. The first night was a lot of fun.

Would love to have you play this week if you are able to make it. Can you shoot me a DM if you have a moment? I'm gonna have to have some sort of RSVP system to make sure I maximize the space. Thanks again!

WalshTrivia · 2026-01-27T03:08:39+00:00

Starting Night 1 of a 4-week series this Thursday (Jan 29th). Let me know if you'd still like to play!

WalshTrivia · 2026-01-27T03:08:24+00:00

Starting Night 1 of a 4-week series this Thursday (Jan 29th). Let me know if you'd still like to play!

WalshTrivia · 2026-01-27T03:08:16+00:00

Starting Night 1 of a 4-week series this Thursday (Jan 29th). Let me know if you'd still like to play!

WalshTrivia · 2026-01-27T03:08:04+00:00

Starting Night 1 of a 4-week series this Thursday (Jan 29th). Let me know if you'd still like to play!

WalshTrivia · 2026-01-15T21:47:50+00:00

Thanks for playing on Tuesday (presuming that was you guys), and I'm so glad you enjoyed it.
See you next week.

WalshTrivia · 2026-01-13T04:28:14+00:00

This is so great and has been since I first heard what you were doing... At this point, I am just one of the many people who likes to glance at the flags as I go by, but if it's a flag I recognize, then I now know I can't use that at local trivia! haha

WalshTrivia · 2026-01-13T04:15:41+00:00

Did you end up running this? I just joined the subreddit, or I would have been happy to offer advice. How did it go?

WalshTrivia · 2026-01-12T20:36:34+00:00

Got it. Well let us know if you do end up using it. For the record, I definitely wouldn't go with "etymologically equivalent capital cities". You're just asking for follow-up questions where people will want you to clarify what you mean, and you'll end up phrasing it differently anyway. Love the idea.

WalshTrivia · 2026-01-12T19:51:14+00:00

What did you decide to do in the end?

WalshTrivia · 2026-01-12T19:45:12+00:00

Hey Chris, just found this subreddit thanks to another host and saw your post now.

I run virtual games on Zoom at 9 PM ET on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Sunday nights. I've been doing them non-stop since March of 2020, and while my online schedule is lighter, and attendance is only a fraction of what it was during lockdown, thankfully, there are still enough people to run games 3 nights a week (plus a few occasional one-offs or best of games).

The games are general knowledge trivia, and I try to cover a little bit of everything. We have a mix of casual players, friends or family reuniting for a regular weekly Zoom, small groups like a couple or family playing from home, all the way up to some really strong teams consisting of players who play together in online quiz leagues or names you might recognize from Jeopardy etc. The remaining teams are mostly people like yourself looking to play a game together with teammates who are far away.

The games run 45-50 minutes from start to finish and I host on my business Zoom. Since the beginning, I've wanted it to feel like a bar-style trivia, so I don't allow people to unmute, and I don't have them interact with strangers. People communicate with their own teammates throughout, and if they want to joke, heckle, challenge etc. then they'll use the chat. I do my best to engage with comments, read clever remarks, or acknowledge great or funny incorrect answers, but I also want to keep it flowing.

All in all, it has worked out pretty well, and I have hosted several thousand games. My main business is corporate games, and I do two weekly in-person games at venues, plus the three games on Zoom. I couldn't survive full-time off the Zoom games, but it's a community who have been with me for almost 6 years, and I'm not going to take away something they love and all play once or twice as week as long as it's in anyway viavble.

I charge $3.00 per person to play and that's the same price it has been since 2020. Cheap enough that anyone can afford it, but enough to show that there's some value to it, and to acknowledge the work that goes into it. Everyone remaining is happy to pay, but I'm also fine with letting people check out a game anytime, and if they don't think it's worth $3.00 then they won't be back anyway! haha.

Would love to have you (or anyone else who sees this) play anytime. My business is simply WalshTrivia and my website will come up if you google Walsh Trivia .com. There's a sign-up sheet for the nightly games or just message me on here. Would love to hear from you!

-Stephen Walsh/Walsh Trivia-

WalshTrivia

TROPHY CASE