Trivia Mafia

What Trivia Mafia does

Trivia Mafia is a Minneapolis-based live entertainment company founded in 2007 by Chuck Terhark and Sean McPherson that operates what it describes as the Midwest's largest bar trivia network, producing recurring weekly trivia nights at 150+ bars, breweries, taprooms, and distilleries across five states, seven days a week, 359 nights per year. The company's flagship product is a two-hour, eight-round trivia session now delivered through a proprietary digital answering platform ('The App') that supports paperless play, real-time scoring, and venue-facing analytics on question difficulty, team turnout, and player engagement; data on these sessions feeds an attendance and score-history report function for venue partners.

Beyond the core weekly service, the product portfolio includes (i) The Initials Game Live, a co-developed spin-out format with KFAN host Cory Cove in which players are given two-letter initials and six clues, rewarding speed over knowledge accuracy, currently at 20+ venues; (ii) a theme-night content library of 350+ archived themes with two new themes premiering each month since 2016, plus a rerun catalog available to venues at least 15 days in advance; (iii) customizable private events for corporate clients (Target, Minnesota Vikings, Activision, Prepare + Prosper), weddings, and fundraisers; (iv) the annual Tournament of Champions, which scaled to 110 teams across 6 locations and 63 awarded prizes in 2025; (v) virtual/remote play on Zoom and Twitch plus a Patreon subscription at $10+/month; (vi) The Morning Rounds daily email newsletter; and (vii) a branded merchandise store with SKUs priced $20-$60.

The business model mixes a venue-side subscription/recurring service with transaction-based private event bookings, tournament entry fees, consumer merchandise sales, and small-recurring Patreon contributions. The company is privately held as Trivia Mafia LLC (Minnesota), has not raised disclosed outside capital, and is operated by the founding owners plus an estimated 51-100 person staff that includes hosts, content creators, and a remote Host Recruiter function; the founders formally stepped back from hosting the original Sunday night at 331 Club in May 2022. Distribution is community-led and event-driven, with growth largely via venue-network word-of-mouth, Meta-paid social on theme nights, the Morning Rounds and The Answer Key newsletters, and annual tournaments that function as both acquisition and brand events.

Name

Trivia Mafia

Legal name

Trivia Mafia LLC

Website

https://triviamafia.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2007

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Trivia Mafia is a Minneapolis-based live entertainment company that operates weekly bar trivia nights at 150+ bars, breweries, and taprooms across five states via a proprietary digital answering platform, supplemented by private events, themed content nights, tournaments, virtual play, and branded merchandise.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Minneapolis

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Supply Chain, Others

Revenue model

1. Venue-Hosted Trivia Services: Bars, breweries, taprooms, and distilleries pay Trivia Mafia to host weekly trivia nights. Venues benefit from increased foot traffic and drink sales.
2. Private Events: Corporate gatherings, fundraisers, weddings, birthday parties, bachelor parties, and other private events. Games range from 45 minutes to 2 hours with full customizability including custom rounds.
3. Merchandise Sales: TM-branded merchandise including t-shirts ($20-$25), sweatshirts ($35-$40), hoodies ($35-$40), socks, and accessories sold through their online store.
4. Patreon/Patronage: Recurring donations from patrons ($10/month and above) providing access to exclusive content including live patron-only games streamed on YouTube by Assistant Owner Sean McPherson.
5. Tournament of Champions: Annual trivia tournament with entry fees, sponsored prizes (63 prizes awarded in 2025), and prize value stipends from winning venues.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels6 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Trivia Mafia produces and hosts live bar trivia nights on a recurring weekly basis at 150+ bars, breweries, taprooms, and distilleries across five Midwestern states, running 359 days per year through a proprietary digital answering platform. The company's portfolio also includes custom private events for corporate gatherings and personal celebrations, themed trivia nights with monthly new releases, archived rerun content, an annual Tournament of Champions, virtual trivia via Zoom and Twitch, a daily trivia email newsletter, branded merchandise, and the co-operated Initials Game Live format.

Product overview

Trivia Mafia is a bar and brewery trivia operation based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, offering the world's best bar trivia as a portfolio of live entertainment products. The core offering is weekly classic bar trivia nights (two hours, eight rounds) running seven days a week across the Midwest, delivered via a proprietary digital answering platform. The portfolio includes: The Initials Game Live (a separate three-round speed-trivia sub-brand in partnership with Cory Cove/KFAN), themed trivia nights with new topics monthly (Theme Nights), archived rerun content (Rerun Themes), custom private events for corporate and personal occasions, the Tournament of Champions as a flagship annual tournament, virtual play-at-home experiences via streaming, The Morning Rounds as a daily trivia newsletter, and a retail merchandise store.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• The Initials Game Live: A live bar trivia game format that rewards speed and quick-thinking. Players are given two-letter initials followed by six clues to determine an answer. Created by Cory Cove of KFAN and operated in partnership with Trivia Mafia.

Products and services

• Weekly Bar Trivia (Classic) Flagship two-hour, eight-round live trivia nights hosted by professional trivia hosts at bars, breweries, taprooms, and distilleries throughout the Midwest. Delivered via Trivia Mafia's proprietary digital answering platform for paperless gameplay with real-time scoring, and run 359 days per year.
• Theme Nights Special themed trivia events curated around specific pop culture and topical subjects such as Toy Story, Greek Mythology, Psych, and Dancing with the Stars. New themes debut monthly, with marketing support including Meta ads, posters, and social media promotion.
• Rerun Themes Replay access to popular archived themed trivia content from Trivia Mafia's 350+ night library, including 80s, 90s TV, Game of Thrones, The Office, and Taylor Swift themes, available to venues at least 15 days in advance.
• Private Events Custom trivia events for corporate gatherings, fundraisers, weddings, birthdays, and bachelor parties with game lengths from 45 minutes to two hours. Content is customized to player interests and age groups, and includes a professional host with microphone. Discounts are available when booked with weekly venue events or through venue referral.
• Tournament of Champions Annual trivia tournament with regional qualifying events across multiple locations culminating in a championship final. The 2025 edition drew 110 teams across 6 locations over 2 weekends, awarding 63 prizes across two major seasonal tournaments each year.
• Virtual/Play-at-Home Trivia Remote trivia experience delivered via Zoom and Twitch streaming platforms, enabling players to participate from home. Includes a Patrons-only Tuesday night game with a live host, an offer launched in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic and maintained thereafter.
• The Morning Rounds Daily weekday email newsletter delivering five trivia questions each morning plus curated good news stories. Players receive answers in the following day's newsletter on an honor system.
• Trivia Mafia Store (Merchandise) Online retail store selling Trivia Mafia branded merchandise including t-shirts ($20-$25), sweatshirts ($35-$40), hoodies ($35-$40), kids' items from $18, organic oversized t-shirts from $24.50, baby onesies, and accessories such as the Axolotl Sweater.
• The Initials Game Live Two-hour, three-round live trivia game format co-operated with Cory Cove (KFAN) where players are given two-letter initials followed by six clues to find an answer. Rewards speed and quick-thinking over knowledge accuracy, and is offered at 20+ partner venues including Bulldog Tap in Fargo and The Thirsty Beaver in Elysian.

Quantifiable outcome

• 150+ venues across five states
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers13 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• Unmapped BrewingminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 15 November 2025Tournament of Champions sponsor. Provided sponsorship support for Trivia Mafia's flagship annual tournament.
• Summit BrewingminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 15 November 2025Tournament of Champions sponsor. Provided sponsorship support for Trivia Mafia's flagship annual tournament.
• The Initials Game / Cory CovecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 11 July 2024Trivia Mafia partnered with Cory Cove (KFAN radio's 'Power Trip Morning Show') to launch The Initials Game Live at bars and breweries. The Initials Game was invented by Cove in 2014 and has tens of thousands of weekly listeners. Trivia Mafia now operates the live version which debuted Aug 1 at Falling Knife Brewing Co. and expanded to 20+ venues including Bulldog Tap in Fargo and The Thirsty Beaver in Elysian.
• Pizza LuceminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 9 April 2020Trivia nights streamed on Twitch featured Pizza Luce gift card prizes ($50). Pizza Luce offered $2 off large 2+ topping pizzas on Thursday trivia nights with promo code TRIVIAMAFIA.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Kahoot: Platform for user-generated trivia/quiz games used in education, corporate training, and live events. Comparable to Trivia Mafia in the live group trivia experience, but at much larger scale and across digital channels rather than in-venue hosting.
• Quizlet: Large-scale consumer study and trivia/flashcard platform with live quiz modes. Comparable only at the broad trivia-and-quiz category level; operates as a digital consumer app rather than an in-venue hosted service.

Regional players

• Stump Trivia: Live hosted bar trivia operator in the New York metro area. Comparable business model and customer base (bars and restaurants), but serves a different geography than Trivia Mafia's Midwest focus.

Direct peers

• Sporcle Live: Live, in-venue pub trivia arm of Sporcle, operating scheduled trivia nights at bars and restaurants across the U.S. Comparable to Trivia Mafia as a hosted bar trivia operator with themed content and a digital play component.
• The Trivia Factory: Hosts live pub trivia events at bars, restaurants, and event venues across multiple U.S. markets. Directly comparable in business model and customer segment to Trivia Mafia.
• Geeks Who Drink: National bar trivia company running pub quizzes at hundreds of venues across the United States. Directly comparable to Trivia Mafia in business model, customer base (bars/breweries), and product offering (hosted live trivia nights).
• Brainstormer Trivia: Independent live bar trivia company that runs hosted trivia nights at breweries and restaurants. Comparable to Trivia Mafia in the hosted in-venue trivia model and SMB brewery/taproom customer base.

Others

• Slido: Audience interaction and live polling/Q&A platform used in corporate events. Adjacent to Trivia Mafia's private events business as an alternative engagement tool, but does not run hosted bar trivia.

Emerging players

• Crowdpurr: Live trivia and audience-engagement platform for events, parties, and brand activations. Comparable in the live multiplayer trivia use case, but operates as a self-serve software platform rather than a hosted in-venue service.
• QuizBang Quiz Co. Operates a bar trivia brand that already shares infrastructure with Trivia Mafia (the Trivia Mafia site links to QuizBang!!). Comparable as a hosted bar trivia provider serving a similar SMB venue base.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• TikToktiktok.com/@triviamafia
• Xx.com/triviamafia
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/triviamafia

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Trivia Mafia