In Pursuit of Trivia
By Sandy Balayan
October 2025
Every Thursday night people start streaming into the Knox Trail Inn and by 7:00 tables are filled, pens are poised and anticipation fills the air. You must be wondering why. Of course, it’s Trivia Night! Brooke Tame, owner of the KTI, is doing her job of providing the community with a plethora of activities to keep us all entertained and busy. Trivia Night is quite popular with the crowds and my husband and I are always glad when we can make it.
The legendary Team One. Photo courtesy of Sharon Adams
Trivia is different from a band or musical bingo, horseshoes, line dancing or corn hole. Trivia represents the unknown because you never know what the categories will be. With each announcement of the five weekly categories, cheers or groans can be heard in the crowd as each person immediately thinks of their knowledge in the particular categories. Then the inevitable thought, will I be able to answer any of the questions?
People generally form teams, choose a team name and begin their collaborative effort with the first question. Three of the teams will place 1st, 2nd and 3rd and receive a gift certificate to the Knox. There are two bonus rounds on top of the five categories, ten questions each, that changes each week. The bonus rounds consist of identifying five celebrity pictures, and five music rounds that include identifying the name of the song playing, the artist singing and sometimes where they are from. This gives the teams chances to build more points. After each round, the scores are announced and we start the next category. Categories range from AI, football, headlines, space travel to animated TV shows, weather and MTV, just to name a few.
The evening is presented by a company out of Trumbull, CT called BTE, Best Trivia Ever. Director of Staffing and Operations Christian Turnquist says that they do roughly 95 weekly shows at bars, breweries and restaurants all over the country. In addition, they do corporate shows and private events where they can tailor each question category to the interests of the group. They try to fit the categories with the venue, finding that their demographic is ages 21-39. The prevailing niche market is most up on pop culture, which seems to be their “sweet spot” as Christian says but they are always open to adding random categories and changing it up as needed. “We get familiar with staff and regulars who understand the audience of the particular venue. At the Knox, we are lucky to have a former participant, Abbot Pittman of Becket, run the weekly Knox trivia night. He can take creative liberties as needed and is always happy to get feedback from participants,” says Christian. Abbot is part of the BTE team and enjoys meeting people and interacting with the crowd. As a part-time gig, Abbot is happy to mix and mingle with the local crowd at the Knox. He is both personable and positive. He encourages us all and keeps us on the right track.
Asking the participants their thoughts on Trivia Night, a team of six people of different ages gathered enjoying food and drink while they shared their expertise in the different categories, hopefully for a win. One person serves as secretary, writing down the answers, as guesses are made and final answers agreed upon. “I enjoy getting out of the house, sharing a meal and a beer with friends and using my brain in a way I don’t normally do. You have to think about things you don’t often think about and hope your guess is correct. We have a lot of fun and I enjoy the competition,” says one player. Another team of two says that it is like playing Jeopardy with other people. As a self-described trivia fanatic, the weekly event fulfills that need and is just plain fun. The notorious “Team One” which can be 4-10 people, wins a lot and thwarts the efforts of many other teams with their smart play. “We gather many generations, with a forty-year span, and try to cover general knowledge and pop culture with our team members. We have a lot of fun.”
Christian from BTE explained that his boss, BTE founder Ken Tuccio, makes up the questions and loves the research aspect of it. For Christian, he says he has met so many people in the eight years he has been doing this and has made endless connections and friendships, even meeting his girlfriend through BTE. “For two hours, participants can turn their normal thoughts off and tap into knowledge they might not even remember they have. You can forget the world, politics, your own troubles and just have a good time. Our goal is to stay with trends in the industry, try to provide a wide range of topics and stand by our decisions and what we offer.” A particular category celebrating Pride Month was found too political by a restaurant group and BTE dropped the restaurant rather than the category. “We represent all people of any race, religion or sexual preference, a rainbow of topics where no one is silenced. We are very proud of this aspect of our work,” says Christian.
So, let’s get more people involved and join forces to take on the strong teams at Trivia night. Come on down and give it a try. Even when my team loses, we have a lot of fun. Of course, winning is always more fun!
