We will never go to a Pub Trivia USA event again if the showing last night at Ridgeville Tavern in Evanston is any indication of the type of staff they employ. For years we've been attending Stewpendous Productions, geeks who drink, Whaddayaknow, and others. The hosts are engaged, entertaining, involved. The woman hosting last night at Ridgeville was checked out. She never introduced herself. She rattled off the rules so fast we had to ask people next to us how to play. She sat twirling her hair, yawning, and doing crosswords puzzles on her phone. When people went to her with questions she didn't even look up or say a word, she simply pointed at her screen. During halftime she left for 10 minutes.
Other trivia companies use hosts that participate. They are invested. They interact with the audience. This person simply read questions out loud. That's all she did, and not even very well at that. She was mostly garbled and didn't check to see if everyone heard.
When she announced the standings she didn't say what place the teams were in. So when she announced team X had 31 points...so what? Is that 10th place or 3rd place? No idea.
We had trouble with the app so we tried to use the paper sheet but she mentioned she doesn't look at those, so we struggled with the app the entire evening. We told her we were having trouble but she didn't seem to care. Way to feel welcome.
She never asked if anyone needed questions repeated. So many people had to walk up to her and ask. My team had to go up several times and each time she looked annoyed at being interrupted from her crossword puzzle, while begrudgingly pointing at her screen.
We all agreed we will not be back. And will be wary of attending any Pub Trivia USA events in the future. Too many other trivia companies in the Chicago area that we know are entertaining. Hosts that introduce themselves, that read and engage the audience, that act as if they're part of the experience and not simply reading off a screen. What a shame. read more
