Quizmaster: Meet The Geekwise Pub Quiz Community, Take Their Meta-Quiz About Quizzes

Knowledge + Booze = Geeks Who Drink

\ Dec 17, 2009

4 min read

In Denver in 2005, geeks John Dicker and Joel Peach began a business based on the pub quiz. Two years later they spread their tentacles of snarky trivia beyond the Centennial State and into Albuquerque. Nowadays the pub quiz called Geeks Who Drink can be found enriching multiple communities of booze-loving eggheads in Colorado, Texas, Virginia, Washington and New Mexico.

The Alibi spoke about Geeks Who Drink with Quizmaster John Dicker.

Why did you start doing Geeks Who Drink?

I started it personally because I had played pub quizzes in New York City and really enjoyed it, and when I came to Denver it wasn’t very good. It was very much like a DJ got ahold of 20 questions somewhere. They asked a question, played a song, gave the answer, asked a question, played a song—it had no character. So I just realized that if I wanted to do something I’d start it myself. It was just for beer money at first and kind of a social outlet, and then my partner Joel Peach and I had it in our heads that maybe this could work as a business, and sure enough it did, but it took a while.

Do the local quizmasters write the questions, or are they imported?

Well, it’s a combination. Kent Wilhelmi [or DJ Kentifyr, multiyear winner in the Alibi’s Best of Burque DJ category] does all of our audio rounds and Eric Kohen, or Eric The Jewish Viking as he’s known, writes from time to time, but it’s collaborative. There are actually writers from all over the country at this point—mainly based in the states where we’re located—but I have freelancers; they submit rounds, I edit them. It’s a hodgepodge.

What are your favorite quiz topics?

I like some of the funnier ones—they may not be the best questions, but the ones that make me laugh. There was one where you had to figure out, based on the quote, if it was Grandpa Simpson or Andy Rooney from "60 Minutes."

Why do you think people like competitive quizzing and pub quizzes?

Because it’s a structured way to spend your time socially—there’s plenty of time to hang out with your friends and have a beer, but there’s also a structure to the evening. Once it becomes a regular thing the rounds and the questions all change, but there’s a familiarity to it that makes people feel like they’re part of a community. There are teams that come week in and week out, and they’ll admit that they’re not competitive; it’s just fun.

Quiz Quiz

1) What toy created the idea of God’s Algorithm, where the fewest number of moves is sought?

2) This year a study was released saying that what classic puzzle video game may be a treatment to post-traumatic stress disorder?

3) This 9-by-9 inch mathematical puzzle game became a worldwide phenomenon in 2005.

4) New York Times Puzzle Editor and NPR Puzzlemaster Will Shortz is the only person in the world to hold a degree in what?

5) The city of Truth Or Consequences, N.M., was named after a radio quiz show. What was the town’s original name?

Extremely Difficult Bonus Question

6) What is the longest word ever used in a published crossword?

Geeks Who Drink Schedule

Quizmasters Eric The Jewish Viking and Kent Wilhelmi, scoremaster Fernando Gonzales, and Geeks Who Drink co-founder and quizmaster John Dicker

O’Niell’s Irish Pub (4310 Central SE)—Wednesdays hosted by Quizmaster Eric The Jewish Viking from 9 to 11 p.m., Sundays hosted by Quizmaster Kent Wilhelmi from 8 to 10 p.m.

Blackbird Buvette (509 Central NW)—Quizmaster Kent Wilhelmi hosts Tuesdays from 7 to 9 p.m.

Coaches Sports Grill (1414 Central SE)—Quizmaster Eric The Jewish Viking hosts Wednesdays from 8:30 to 10:30 p.m.