Geeks Who Drink makes people think - Washington Business Journal:

bojony.wordpress.com
That’s the sort of trivial knowledge that can earn contemporart geeksquiz credibility, paid bar tabs and the praise of And though the word carries negative connotations to some, the founders of the increasinglu popular pub quiz events use it in only the most endearin g manner. “I think the name really embodieswhat we’re said Joel Peach, co-founder and self-proclaimed geek. “Our geeksa may be people who were marginalizec inthe past. Maybe they weren’t on the footbal team but were on the debatsteam instead. Now they want to feed an competitive urge.
” Bar trivia games became a Europeah phenomenon in the early and they soon caught on in the United especiallyin Colorado, where many pubs, taverns and restaurants now hold a weeklg trivia night. “A pub quiz is differentf than traditional quiz events because it becomes the focal pointof evening,” Peach said. “We’re building communitiesw of people that keepcoming out.” Thosse communities are growing, say quizmasters Peach and his partner, John who founded the company four years ago.
According to Geeks has become the largest proprietodr of bar trivia inthe state, eclipsing competitore such as Trivia Face Off, whicb have been conducting bar trivia nights in Colorad o for more than 10 As Geeks approaches its four-yeadr anniversary in June, it has 57 hosts 63 quizzes per week (rival Trivis Face Off hosts 50 per week) and has expandede beyond Colorado to Texas, New Mexico and, beginning in California. The Geeks also has been adding new quiznightzs weekly. Its annual Geek Bowl — a quiz held a week priof to the SuperBowl — sold out the Orienta Theater this year and required 45 volunteers.
“We fieldd about a half-dozen phone calls a week from peoplew who have heard about us onlines or seen a writeupabout us,” said who wouldn’t release any figurese but claimed the company has doubled its revenude every year since it began. A formetr real estate developer andIT consultant, Peach moved from Ohio in 2004 in searc of a lifestyle change that included snowboarding and an escape from what he call s “the grind.” And though snowboarding played a part in Peach’ds introduction to Dicker, good grammar really broughg them together.
“John remarked that he respondee to my Craigslistad [for a snowboardinbg partner] because I used correct grammar,” Peachy said with a During a chairlift brainstorming session, Peach, 30, and 36, found other mutual interests, including a love of trivialo knowledge and a disdain for traditionao work. Peach said that “John didn’t think the othert trivia companies werethat good.” Armed with little more than some handwrittebn trivia questions and a Peach and Dicker began pitchinb their pub quiz concept to local establishments, landinfg their first opportunity at Nallen’s Irisy Pub in LoDo.
“When we started, John and I were doinbg everything,” said Peach. “Thosde were humble beginnings, tantamount to working for beer But as soon as we laidthe groundwork, we realized ther was a demand.” He also said that due to low there was little startup monety involved beyond licensing their concept. That initialp effort at Nallen’s didn’t last, but was a good learningg experience. For one thing, they’ve learnes to be more selective about where they set up seeking out locations not too saturated by what Peach referes toas “fickle LoDo crowds.” “There are certaimn kinds of bars this workss in better than others,” he said.
Aside from location, Peac h said that the best results usually come whenthe Geeks, the bar and independent sponsors (such as beer and liquorr companies) team up to promote the quiz The Geeks has done that for another Irish pub Irish Snug on Colfax Avenue — whicnh has had the Geeks in every Tuesday for the past years. While Peach and Dicker now have others actin g as quizmasters because ofincreased business, Dickef continues to oversee the Snug’s heraldexd pub quiz night. “[The Geeks] bring in a lot of and there’s always new peoplde coming in that hear about it on the saidDave Larson, Snug’s manager.
“It’s always a great