If you’re a trivia buff, here’s a golden opportunity to parlay your love of obscure information into fabulous prizes.
Well, fairly fabulous, anyway, when the live monthly game show Quiz Quest gets underway April 29 at Wire in Berwyn. Maybe not a brand new car or a dream vacation to the Bahamas, but the best local businesses can do to provide a classic game show score.
“I want it to be as much like a classic game show as possible,” said Forest Park’s Kamau Jones, producer, director and host of Quiz Quest. “We’ve even come up with buzzers for the contestants.
“I don’t know what it is about slapping those buzzers,” he added with a laugh, “but people love it.”
Jones, who created a trivia league last year that meets weekly at Kevil’s Restaurant in Forest Park, said he believes trivia contests are appealing because they combine the solitary pleasure of doing a crossword puzzle with the social satisfaction of water-cooler conversation. And their addictive nature has not escaped his attention.
“”It’s easy to get sucked into it,” he said. “The people in my trivia league are there every week, come rain or come shine. It’s like extended family almost. That’s what I love about it.”
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An evening of Quiz Quest comes complete with its own house band — the Top 40 cover group Trivia Knights, which opens and closes the show and plays brief sets between games. Jones hosts three games, with three contestants each selected from the audience, consisting of three rounds. Each round has its own randomly chosen category of trivia (history, music, movies, TV, science, etc.) and the winners of each game face-off for a final round at the end of the night — and the afore-mentioned prizes. The night includes questions, physical challenges and linteractive music trivia with the band.
“The trivia league is fun, but it’s individually focused and subdued,” Jones said. “Turning it into a game show makes it a spectator sport, with audience participation.
“If no one knows the answer to a question, I’ll kick it out to the crowd. That helps extend the sense of community — and it really helps keep things exciting.”
Quiz Quest
8 p.m. April 29
Wire, 6815 Roosevelt Road, Berwyn
21 and older
Tickets are $7
(708) 669-9473; http://www.wireismusic.com