Knowledge On Tap: Patrons Only Here For The Trivia
Sydney Morning Herald
Saturday March 23, 2002
It is mid-week at Newtown's Marlborough Hotel and three teams - the Croakers, Cunning Linguists and the Committophobics - are running hot. What is is the highest order of chivalry in Scotland? In which book was Humpty Dumpty first mentioned?
Trivia night host Reta Svans is there, as always, with the answers the Order of the Thistle, and Lewis Caroll's Through the Looking Glass respectively.
In trivialand, knowledge has no hierarchy, she says. It is this equal weighting of information dead comedians and 1970s television shows, Booker Prize winners and philosophy that has made trivia nights ``bingo for the Generation X-ers".
It is a return to old-fashioned entertainment, she says, fuelled by a diverse demographic of university students, babyboomers, quiz show junkies and young professionals. All come for the social contact, not the prize on offer a keg of beer. There is also an element of ``self-esteem therapy" at work, she says, which comes from scoring that winning answer. ``Most people don't get that pat on the head during their working day."
Ms Svans and her partner John Barrand started their company, Trivia Magic, two years ago and now perform at 12 venues in the pub strip stretching from Sutherland Shire to Willoughby. She generates her own cult following, coming across as a milder, nicer version of The Weakest Link's acerbic host, Cornelia Frances. She is nurturing with punters, withering with hecklers.
Trivia nights at the pub now attract a tribe of devotees, with up to 12 regular teams turning up each week to do battle in the intensely competitive league. Questions cover everything from obscure pop culture references to theology, Greek mythology and literature, with a fair smattering of ``loopy questions" thrown in for good measure.
``There's something for everyone," she says. ``We don't want to piss off the Generation X-ers on one end and the babyboomers at the other."
The pub trivia scene itself is a competitive one, with its own series of turf wars. Two other companies, Fame and Complete, are rivals to Trivia Magic.
The couple say Sydney's declining live music scene and a demand for a more civilised pub culture, where social engagement, not mindless drinking, is the focus, has fuelled the popularity of the simple quiz night. Trivia Magic alone turns over $150,000 a year.
That is not bad, Ms Svans says, for a pair of pharmaceutical professionals who had to put the equity in their home into a new business after losing their jobs.
© 2002 Sydney Morning Herald
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