February 9, 2009

A Letter From the Quizmaster   

One Tuesday night in 1991, I walked into the lounge of Duke’s Hotel, in Belfast [coincidentally, right next door to the School of Education at Queen’s University, where I am currently working on a Masters degree – [funny how things work]. As we sat down, I noticed a sheet of paper on the table pictures on it – pictures of people’s faces. Well, half a face – the photocopied photographs had been cut in half.

      “What’s this?” I asked.

      “Oh, it’s just a pub quiz” replied my jaded friend.

Not to me it wasn’t.  I played that night [came in dead last], and every Tuesday night for the next six months. I was hooked. When I returned to the States in the summer of 1992, I immediately began to suffer from “pub quiz withdrawal.” I needed my fix, but there was nowhere to go.

I was working at a place in North Wildwood, New Jersey called O’Flynn’s. When the owner mentioned he needed something to draw the Irish summer workers to his bar, Quizo was born. If I couldn’t play a pub quiz, then at least I could run one.

Myself and my Irish friend [later brother –in-law], Sean McLoughlin did it that year for beer, and called it, as they do in Ireland, a “table quiz.” It wasn’t until some time later that year the name was born. It was during a particularly tough bonus round, and the crowd was hushed, heads bent over the table, trying to figure out the answers. An older woman walked into the bar, coming to pick up her nightly six-pack. She looked around the room, then up at us and said, “Is this Bingo?”

Sean quickly responded, “No, this is Quiz-O.” Thus, a name was born, and a quirky spelling. Many people have told me the name should have two “z’s,” but we’ve always used the one. I mean, “Bingo” only has one “g,” doesn’t it? There are many imitators [it’s the sincerest form of flattery, right?], but you’ll always know the original by the one “z.”

Now here we are, over 16 years later. O’Flynn’s is long gone, but we’re still going strong in Philadelphia, where we started Quizo at the New Deck Tavern in 1994. And the same principles that were there in the beginning still guide us today.

• One: Absolute fairness. Nobody gets the answers, we don’t give points, we don’t take them away. If a team thinks they have been cheated, they’ll never come back.
•  Two: Never skimp on the questions - always make them interesting, with a chance to answer everyone. Tailor them to the crowd in front of you. There ‘s nothing worse that going to a quiz and realizing the quizmaster’s gotten every question from an almanac, or taken them from a generic quiz on the internet.
•  Three: The quizmaster would be funny, sarcastic even, but would always be pleasant and nice. The quizmaster is there to entertain, not to stump, not to shout abuse.
• Four: That the quiz would start roughly on time and that there would ALWAYS be SOMEONE there to do it. People make an effort to get their teams together and show up, it’s our job not to disappoint them.
• Finally, that the questions would be checked and double checked, so that no one would have an unpleasant night because they felt they’d been cheated.

I may not be there in person, but I know that as long as the logo and name [with one “z!”] is there, I’m sure all the Quizo’s will meet this high standard.

Unfortunately, Dukes has become an “upscale” venue, and doesn’t do a quiz anymore. But there is one on Monday night at the Botanic Inn, and Tuesday Night at the King’s Head, and Cutter’s Wharf at 10 on a Wednesday…

Pat Hines