Monday Business Profile: Good Times Trivia

This week’s Monday Business Profile is Good Times Trivia.

Find out more below:

Owners:

Steve Welch and Greg Rabinowitz

Vital Stats:

Phone: 813-767-0744 (Welch); 813-260-6327 (Rabinowitz). On the Web at www.goodtimestrivia.com. Doing business since 2010, Good Times Trivia just celebrated its one year anniversary.

Type of business:

Good Times Trivia offers custom trivia games and tournaments for a variety of businesses, organizations and individuals. There are six Tampa-area pubs where Good Times hosts weekly live trivia, including the in Carrollwood on Northdale Boulevard, but Good Times will also organize and host custom games and tournaments for private businesses, non-profits and weddings, among others.

About the Company:

Some go to a pub to catch a game or see a band. Other prefer karaoke. But for Steve Welch and Greg Rabinowitz, it’s trivia (also known as Pub Quiz in the UK) all the way.

Both Welch and Rabinowitz were both regular trivia players. Now, on any given night at several local pubs, you can find one of them hosting trivia tournaments. “I always loved it,” Rabinowitz said. “One day, I just showed up, and I wound up doing it.”

Welch, who grew up watching "Jeopardy!", was such a fan that he began working for a local trivia company where he met Rabinowitz, who was a regular player. 

"We became friends," Welch said. "After one show, we said, 'We can do this. We and make it better, more challenging.'"

Rabinowitz said the two wound up in “a perfect partnership.”

"To be a good host you have to have a good personality. I'm from Boston, so I like to heckle and be heckled to get the audience going." Welch said. "You also have to be pretty smart."

According to the Good Times Web site, the game is played in six rounds, with three questions in each round. 

Welch said he offers "general knowledge trivia," and makes a distinction between "trivia" and "minutiae."

Minutiae, Welch said, is knowing who the fourth Earl of Sandwich was (John Montagu, 1718–1792). Trivia is knowing that the sandwich you had for lunch was named for the Earl of Sandwich.

"The best part for me is learning these things," he said, "and that's what the players love, too."

The biggest part of the job is preparation. Good Times does not use a service that provides questions. Welch and Rabinowitz spend hours a week researching and verifying trivia questions and answers from a variety of sources. Rabinowitz said they carry tape recorders so they can make a quick note if they think up a good topic for trivia.

"The shows themselves are the easy part," Welch said. "The real work is behind the scenes."

Said Rabinowitz: “You have to research the facts, because people will call you out."

Writing their own questions allows Good Times the ability to tailor its games to whichever organization, business or players may be using their services. Good Times also has theme weeks where questions could revolve around a specific event, interest or holiday.

While he still watches “Jeopardy!” and also enjoys "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire," Welch himself hasn't taken the stage yet. The closest he's come has been in the final 40 person casting call when Millionairre recently . Meanwhile, he's happy to be a host.

"A lot of teams really get into it," he said. Some pubs, said Welch, will have 70 to 80 players every week, and they are "serious as a heart attack about it. … That's what I love, when the players get into it."

Love of trivia appears to be genetic, too. Welch's daughter, Lisa, has begun hosting a show on Sundays.

“Go out and play,” Rabinowitz  said. “You’ll make friends. I met one of my best friends and business partner because of trivia.”