"Denver's got a great community for it because there's a large transplant community here," says Clarke. "That means a lot of new people looking to get out and meet other new people. And with all those people came this huge influx of people moving into downtown, the Highlands, Wash Park, Baker, so we have a lot of thriving neighborhood bars right now, and trivia is the perfect neighborhood-bar activity."
Could the market ever be saturated? Alec Warner doesn't think so.
Jim J. Narcy
The geeks behind the Geeks: John Dicker and Joel Peach.
Jim J. Narcy
The godfather of Denver trivia: Alec Warner.
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"I've been in this business a long time," says the TFO founder, "and I've seen trends come and go. Poker will go hot or cold. Karaoke seems to have taken its cycle in terms of popularity. How many times can you hear a regular belt out 'You've Lost That Loving Feeling' without losing that loving feeling? With trivia, that's not the case. If you keep it fun, interesting, challenging, keep the people talking, that's the kind of thing that always will keep people coming back."
And keep competitors coming into the market.
"Some of these new guys have taken a few of my rooms from me, and that's just one of those things that spurns me to keep it fresh," Warner acknowledges. "I'm not going to stop someone from going into a bar and asking trivia questions. If we keep on the content and we have good people who do it, I don't even really consider it a threat to my business. I think our product is good enough and unique enough and we have that appeal and we're pretty established that people will look at our logo and know that we can come into the bar and run a fantastic night. Besides, if you look at Denver and the suburbs, there are so many places out there, I don't know if I can even take on all the business I want."
"When I first got into this business," Buzzwordz's Hays says, "I asked myself, 'Is this just a trendy thing?' I don't think it is. I think that people are always going to be interested in trivia. I've been playing it for years, people watch Jeopardy, people play those electronic NTN games. People will always be interested in showing off how smart they are."
And not just in Denver. "Obviously we have a really strong base here, and I think the goal after that is to go out to other cities," he says. "That's one of the big parts of my game plan. Fortunately, with my business model, it's not going to be difficult."
The Geeks have already crossed state lines. Earlier this month, their inaugural night at Burt's Tiki Lounge in Albuquerque, hosted by Eric the Jewish Viking, drew 38 teams, four shy of the Geeks Who Drink record. But even as they look at other markets, they pay close attention to their nights here, careful not to step on their own toes.
"That's something we always think about," says Peach, "because we really pride ourselves on the experience and the inclusiveness of being part of this Geeks community. If we have too many of our nights at too many bars near each other, then we dilute that experience. We'll wind up pulling people from one bar that's successful and bringing them to another one, robbing the people at both bars of the best experience they can have. Our goal is not to divide the city into pockets of ten people."
Or, as Dicker puts it, "I think the goal is to get big without sucking."
That's a noble goal for the entire scene, and one that Clarke believes Denver can achieve. "I think healthy competition is good," he concludes. "It lets people decide which night they like more. And the more competition, the lower the prices and the better the quality. Hopefully, more and more people will start to take it as seriously as some of us already do. But at the very least, you have more people going out with their friends, having a few drinks and racking their brains for some obscure trivia. And there's nothing wrong with that."
