While trivia options abound, some hosts set their games apart for the Seacoast

In the calm confines of Teatotaller Tea House in Somersworth, a pitched battle is taking place between the Cari and Andrew Ballew, who’ve adopted the team name The Freudian Slips, and their rivals, the staff of Teatotaller, operating under the moniker of Team Teatotaller. Their task: name as many European countries as they can before time runs out. Their prize: a free game of mini-golf at Hilltop Fun Center, a gift certificate to a Chinese restaurant, and all the glory of winning second place in the Sunday morning trivia contest.

Sitting at a nearby table, I watch the Slips as they scribble down answers. I’m the reason they’re fighting for second place — I’ve already claimed the day’s top trivia honors. Soon, trivia hosts Leigh Messier and Josh Masta call time. The Slips bring their answers up to the table in the center of the shop; Team Teatotaller brings theirs. Results are tallied and soon, it’s clear: The Freudian Slips have sailed comfortably into second place.

This is The Freudian Slips’ third time at Teatotaller’s Sunday morning trivia. “We like a variety of questions,” Andrew says after the game. “Half the time we feel smart; the other half, we feel really stupid.”

When it comes to finding the perfect trivia night (or morning), variety, challenge, and knowing the crowd are crucial. And not all trivia nights are created equal. Some are managed by large companies that create the format, write the questions, and hire someone to host at a local bar or restaurant. But others, like Teatotaller’s weekly trivia, are hosted by independent trivia gurus who tailor their trivia games to their loyal followers and bring in some local flavor as well.
Messier and Masta have been hosting trivia on Sunday mornings at Teatotaller for about two months. Their questions run from sports and science (which they say are the hardest to come up with) to pop culture and current events. There are also questions about Somersworth history. On a given Sunday at Teatotaller, you might have to know who is the largest single-site employer in the U.S. (Disney World) or which Somersworth High School team, coached by Jeffery “Lord Jeff” Francoeur, won 43 games in a row between 1950 and 1955 (football).

Including questions about Somersworth and New Hampshire are just one way to make the game unique and create a sense of community with their audience, according to Messier and Masta. “We grew up around here and we have pride in our city,” Masta says.

Lee Sims is the host of Friday night trivia at Rebel Chef Café in Dover. Sims worked for a large trivia company before setting out on his own. “I really enjoy the freedom,” he says. Writing questions each week can be difficult, but Sims says the narrow topics that trivia companies write questions for can be frustrating.

Sims began hosting trivia at Rebel Chef in December; because Rebel Chef is a restaurant, Sims said his audience includes kids in high school, parents, and people out for dinner. He uses audio and visual rounds to break up the usual trivia format and regularly asks for feedback from his audience.

“I try to keep it as interactive as I can, so the audience isn’t just coming to play. They can be part of the creative process,” he says.

For Zach Foote, who’s hosted a trivia night at The Barley Pub in Dover for the last three years, the key to a good trivia night is knowing who’s in your audience.

“Your crowd has to learn you and you have to learn your crowd,” he says. At The Barley Pub, that means considering that the audience can range in age from UNH students in their early 20s to folks in their 70s, or that the crowd might not like questions about sports.

“I might ask maybe three sports questions, and the crowd will complain that’s too many,” Foote says. He’s written about 6,000 trivia questions in the last three years; because he writes his own questions, he can morph trivia to reflect current events, include questions about Seacoast history, and respond to audience feedback. Foote surveys his audience; early on, he found that his trivia teams like questions about food and drink, but not sports. One of his favorite categories — in which he’d list three movies and ask which year they were originally released — was “uniformly despised” by everyone. Foote’s trivia night also includes audio rounds, during which he plays snippets of 8 to 10 songs and asks teams to identify something about the music.

“I try to keep it as varied and timely as possible,” Foote says. He’s also been called upon to fill some specific trivia niches. In August, Foote hosted a comic book trivia night, sponsored by Jetpack Comics, at AJ’s Billiards in Rochester. Foote is well-versed in comic book trivia, but it’s usually a small part of his regular Monday night trivia. For Jetpack’s trivia night, though, he got to indulge.

“The first 15 questions I wrote, I didn’t have to look up anything,” he says. “I had 30 extra back-up questions.”

For Foote, a good trivia night builds a sense of community. He maintains a Facebook page for his trivia night and gets lots of feedback and suggestions for questions from regulars. A number of trivia teams at The Barley Pub have been showing up every Monday night for three years. “The biggest draw,” he says, “is being able to share their knowledge in a community setting.”