| Rockland/Westchester Journal Information
Captain Jim’s Trivia hosts digital occasions
Jim Dale, who goes by Captain Jim, hosted pub trivia however pivoted to create his personal on-line trivia firm as soon as the COVID-19 pandemic shut down bars and eating places.
Tania Savayan, [email protected]
Query: What’s a suburban bartender to do as soon as COVID-19 shuts down all of the bars and eating places?
Reply: Begin a trivia enterprise.
Jim Dale had been tending bar at Maude’s Tavern in Hastings-on-Hudson for a number of years and started an advert hoc trivia evening as soon as a month as a part of the village’s Friday evening enjoyable nights.
It took off and Dale quickly discovered himself operating a weekly trivia evening each Saturday, too. “In small cities, there’s not a lot happening,” mentioned Dale, a lifelong village resident, who additionally tended bar at Doubledays.
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Patrons had been quickly clamoring for extra arcane data checks, so he added an evening on the close by Bread & Brine and developed a gentle and dependable clientele for practically a yr and a half.
Dale and his trivia had been using a snug wave of recognition when the coronavirus pandemic all of the sudden closed down eating places all around the nation.
However there was no crying in his beer. As an alternative, he went full-bore into his new enterprise, Captain Jim’s Trivia.
“It was really fortuitous timing,” mentioned Dale, who goes by the moniker “Captain Jim” when he hosts trivia contests. He additionally wears a captain’s hat and performs “yacht” music as he hosts, so count on to listen to some Christopher Cross or Boz Scaggs within the background.
Dale had already discovered a enterprise companion earlier than the pandemic struck and had begun to discover doing company trivia occasions. “So when the pandemic hit, we simply took it on-line,” he mentioned, noting that a lot of his earliest efforts, hosted on Zoom, had been “a multitude.”
“As a bartender, I had by no means used Zoom in my life,” he mentioned.
Most had been additionally free, with a Venmo tip jar.
Captain Jim had booked an in-person trivia occasion for a Yale College reunion simply because the pandemic was starting; he scrambled to host it on-line, as a substitute. The occasion was a rousing success.
“It was great,” Dale mentioned.
All of a sudden, issues started to maneuver smoother than James Holzhauer via a Double Jeopardy spherical. Feeling extra snug with the format, Captain Jim and his companion added a subscription price.
Different gigs quickly adopted — together with an occasion for his alma mater Westchester Group Faculty — and one for The Christian Academy, a boarding college that employed Captain Jim to entertain its highschool college students once they needed to are available two weeks early to quarantine.
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Dale has since labored with California tech corporations, ebook golf equipment and regulation companies, with individuals Zooming in from Brazil, San Francisco and Cleveland.
He mentioned corporations have employed him to place some enjoyable again into Zoom blissful hours, or to offer a much-needed break from the monotony of working at dwelling throughout quarantine.
Together with company occasions, Captain Jim’s Trivia additionally affords six-week subscriptions for particular person gamers or a crew. Haven’t got a crew? He hosts open play on Saturday evening for $20.
“You get placed on a random crew, however it’s a good way to fulfill new folks,” Dale mentioned.
All in all, he has about 100 common gamers.
Get able to play
Initially, his contests had been simply boatloads of questions which, when not mixed with the in-person setting of a pleasant neighborhood bar and a chilly craft beer, turned a snoozefest. He flushed the format, including music and mixing up the classes.
The best way a typical contest works is straightforward: 4 rounds of about 10 questions every, unfold over varied themes. The primary spherical is 10 questions of common trivia, adopted by an audio spherical (Dale mentioned he now routinely sees his contestants dancing of their residing rooms) adopted by a Who Am I Spherical (typically celebrity-focused) and at last a Image Spherical.
Dale comes up with all of the questions. “You undoubtedly do not need to get one thing fallacious as a result of folks will name you out on it,” he mentioned. “They’re ruthless.”
He tailors his inquiries to his viewers, particularly the age group, and took the recommendation of a pal enamored with trivia to maintain the questions tied to present occasions.
“The gorgeous factor about trivia is that everybody has their space of experience, however you’ll want to know the age group.” Early on, his trivia questions for a gaggle of 20-something techies fell flat “as a result of they only did not know stuff from the Seventies,” Dale mentioned. “It’s important to attempt to discover the candy spot.”
His purpose is to proceed to model and develop his publicity nationally, particularly for company occasions, now that all the pieces could be accomplished nearly.
He has employed a co-host, expanded his leagues and weekly occasions. He even affords a Captain Jim trivia T-shirt.
The contests will not be slick or over-produced and that is a part of the attraction.
“You’ll hear me speak about my new tattoo or ear piercing, what’s going on on this planet of sports activities, being a father and beginning my very own enterprise proper earlier than my fiftieth birthday, or my rock band, the Lords of Hawthorne,” he writes on his web site. “You’ll actually hear numerous gratitude.”
The trivia gig has grow to be one thing of a full-time job, a lot in order that Dale would not intend to return to mixology.
“I want there was no pandemic, however will I am going again to bartending full time? I do not assume so,” he mentioned. “We’re having an excessive amount of enjoyable on-line.”
Extra info is at www.captainjimstrivia.com or by calling 888-CPN-TRIV.
Karen Croke is the options editor for lohud.com and poughkeepsiejournal.com. Discover my tales here. Attain me at [email protected]
