FIND OUT WHAT YOU WANT TO KNOW

  • Check out our FAQ for some of the common queries that come to us, or reach out via email.

  • If you’re looking for Theme Nights, go here! Promo tools are here.

  • If you need to call off an upcoming trivia night, please fill out this form or email info@triviamafia.com. Remember, we require 48 hours notice for cancelations!

Jump to:

check out "the Answer Key"

Subscribe to our exclusive email newsletter, The Answer Key, our communique for business partners and customers. It’s chock full of Trivia Mafia news, theme night announcements and reminders, helpful tips for getting trivia player-butts in seats, plus much more. You’ve got the speakers hooked up and a spot cleared for your host with the most… now take your trivia night to the next level.

Subscribe to The Answer Key!

* indicates required

trivia marketing 101

promote your trivia night on social media

Whether Instagram makes you jump for joy or roll your eyes, the fact of the matter is this: Social media is an imperative tool for promoting trivia at your site. If a player is looking for quick, digestible information about your event, there’s a solid chance they’ll check your Instagram or Facebook page before they check the website. Here’s what you’ll need to put together an effective social media post:

  1. A good photo. You can go a couple directions here — a photo of people playing trivia, the host reading questions, or a Trivia Mafia-branded answer sheet next to a plate of yummy food are all good options. You can also use the social media graphics provided to you by Trivia Mafia. If you don’t have these graphics, we can provide graphics using our logo and yours with square (for feeds) and 16:9 (for Stories) dimensions. Having a good photo sized for the method the user is seeing it will help!

  2. A good timeline. It’s not just about what you post, it’s about when. If you want to promote something a few days ahead of time, post it to your Instagram feed where people can check all week leading up to trivia. Facebook posts and Instagram Stories are great for day-of promos, since recent content trends to the top of peoples’ pages. Plan to post at least once a few days ahead, and once again the morning of trivia.

  3. A helpful caption. Snappy and clever helps, but a straightforward caption that tells people when and where trivia is happening is your bread and butter. It never hurts to include information on your food or drink specials, either!

    Examples:
    Sharpen your pencils and fill your drinks, trivia starts tonight at 8pm sharp! Whether you form an unbeatable team or just come for the camaraderie, trivia at [venue] is the place to be on Tuesdays at 8.

    Hump Day is surmountable thanks to Wednesday night trivia and $2 off domestic taps. See you tonight at 7!

  4. A clear message. If your trivia night starts at a certain time, but you know that it’s helpful for staff, patrons, or both to have people arrive early, communicate that directly. If you list an earlier start time without context, you might be missing out on attendees who don’t think they can make it in time!

    Example:

    Trivia Mafia every Wednesday night, starting at 6:30! Sign up starts at 6.

    Trivia Mafia every Thursday night at 7pm! Advance reservations strongly recommended to guarantee seating.

    Our hosts are told to arrive 15-20 minutes before trivia starts. If you need the host to arrive earlier, please let us know so we can make sure the host plans accordingly.

Get the Lay of the Land

It’s tempting to put a host in a corner to keep them out of the flow of traffic, but it’s hard to hold the attention of a crowd from behind a pillar. Here are a few questions to answer when situating trivia in your business!

  • Does trivia have a designated space, or is it a trivia takeover? For particularly big spaces, restaurants with a separate bar, or spots with TVs for sports, you may want trivia folks seated in a special spot. Consider saving a seating section just for trivia. And if you want players to call for reservations, make sure we know that so we can note it on our calendar and your landing page!

  • Where is that sound coming from? If you’re using a freestanding PA (yours or ours), the host will need to be near an outlet, for starters. Make sure the speakers can be positioned in front of where they will stand or sit. If you have an in-house sound system, make sure the host can access the controls or know who can, to adjust the volume and input levels.

  • Can you even see them? When a patron walks in, they should be able to know where to go to find the excitement. Make sure the host can be seen from everywhere players will be seated, and if possible, where walk-ins will be able to pick up on the fact that something rad is happening!

Feel free to call or email us with pictures if you want more particular advice on how to set up your space for success!

OK, You’ve got the PEOPLE… now keep them!

Here are a few ideas from our staff on how to entice players to linger beyond the announcement of answers.

People are already gathering in your space, and trivia helps keep them around. Tempt them to linger with smart specials and creative takes on your usual offering!

  • Happy Hour
    The trick for piggy-backing Happy Hour with trivia is that it should overlap the end just a little, or end right as trivia begins.
    So, if your usual trivia is at 7pm, the game would be ending between 8:45-9pm. Have Happy Hour start at 8:30pm, so the host can announce it during the game, and it’ll encourage players to linger over one more drink or eat as they go over the results of trivia! (Conversely, HH could end half an hour before trivia, incentivizing early arrivals.)

  • Specials Tied to Scores
    The average first place score is around 48 points… but the average THIRD place score is 41 points. For all those teams coming in fourth place or lower, you could offer a discount of whatever their score was off their next round of drinks. (Whether you make it 40 cents or 40 percent, people love to be acknowledged for their effort!)

  • Sponsored Prizes
    If you’ve got a good relationship with one of your neighbors, ask them to pitch in and sponsor one of the prizes! It could be one of the regular prizes, at the $20 or $10 value level, or it could be a unique prize: Most Average, Best Team Name, or Most Optimistic (for last place)!
    This is especially great for taprooms with regular food trucks or with nearby restaurants that deliver to the taproom. It rewards more players, and gives them more reason to stick around!

Whatever you might choose to do to enhance the offerings on your trivia night, please make sure everyone knows about it! Tell the host when they arrive, send us an email with the details (and a picture or graphic if you have it), and have your staff mention it to every table.

Our Brand

Trivia Mafia’s tone is friendly and authentic. We want people to know that when they play trivia at one of our sites, they will enjoy a fun night with a real person who cares about building a community of players. Our staff and our content are intentional about being inclusive and welcoming.

While our name is Trivia Mafia, the imagery and stereotypical connotations of the mafia do not accurately represent our brand or the tone bar patrons can expect from our hosts and questions. In particular, we do not use violent imagery or innuendo that can be synonymous with “mafia.” We are a well-run syndicate of high-quality trivia nights, but our similarities with any other mafias end there.

We do encourage our venues to be creative with their marketing and want to support them as much as we can; we also want to make sure that we’re always downplaying the “mafia” aspect of our name. This comes as a result of a lot of feedback we’ve heard from the Italian American community, as well as players whose families/ancestors were victimized by organized crime. Because of this, we always want to be sensitive to the fact that, historically, the mafia has brought a lot of harm to a lot of people, and we never want to appear as though we’re capitalizing on historical violence or ethnic stereotypes whose time has come and gone.

need some ready-made graphics to promote your trivia night?

Click the image to expand. Right-click to save. (Reach out if you want help customizing a graphic! We can add your logo or make it different dimensions, etc etc.)

the perfect size for instagram stories

Need a Trivia Mafia Logo? Grab one here:

Click the image to expand. Right-click to save.

Featured Event

 

WANT TO RECEIVE AWESOME TRIVIA + OTHER GOODIES EVERY WEEKDAY MORNING? SIGN UP FOR “MORNING ROUNDS,” TRIVIA MAFIA’S WEEKDAILY EMAIL NEWSLETTER!

Cart (0)