Bars and to some extent coffee houses are always looking for unique (and cheap) entertainment for their patrons. I have seen everything in local bars from hermit crab contests to magic shows to slot car racing. But, one of the most enjoyable events and the cheapest to put on is a trivia contest.
With a trivia contest, you simply have an MC who calls out questions which teams of participants answer on slips of paper. The questions are usually asked in rounds. Each round could consist of 5 10 questions.
At the end of each round, one player from each group takes their answer sheet to the MC and he tallies the totals for the round. Sometimes a prize is offered to each round winner with a larger prize going to the final winner. Other times a prize is only given to the winning team at the end of the night.
Prizes can be furnished by the bar or by the MC or a combination. A typical prize for a round might be a bucket of beer or an appetizer. Larger prizes for the end of the game can be gift certificates, T-shirts, hats, etc. These prizes can come from the bar or be donated by other businesses in exchange for a promotional plug by the MC. They could also come from a local radio station that would also sponsor the event in return for a plug.
Trivia questions can be found on the Internet. You can have questions based on Sports, Science, TV Shows, Movies, History, etc. Just do a search for trivia questions in Goggle.com and you will come up with loads of ideas.
Your fee for a Trivia Contest would be paid by the bar owner and range from $50.00 -- $100.00 depending on the amount of time involved. This is a bargain for the bar owner compared to the cost of bands, karaoke and other forms of entertainment. A trivia contest such as this can turn a usually slow Monday or Tuesday night into a busy evening.
You will have to spend some time up front finding the questions and answers and organizing them into rounds. The contest itself should run 1 2 hours. Over two hours and your participants will start to lose interest. You goal is to build up a steady clientele of repeat customers who come in every week to play trivia thus keeping the bar busy on a slow night.
