Trivia is not new to Hattiesburg. For years, locals have enjoyed competing at general knowledge trivia games at night spots throughout town.

Michael Rhodes is a long-time trivia player in Hattiesburg.

“I’ve been playing trivia in Hattiesburg since the mid-90s,” Rhodes said. “It seems to be getting better all the time.”

Challenge Entertainment is a national outfit that hosts trivia all across the country. In Hattiesburg, CE hosts trivia Tuesday nights at Buffalo Wild Wings, Wednesday nights at the Thirsty Hippo and Thursday nights at Ed’s Burger Joint.

Brittany Purvis hosts the trivia nights at The Thirsty Hippo and Ed’s Burger Joint.

“I think because we are a college town and bar trivia is becoming more popular, that it is growing,” Purvis said. 

Evan Curry previously ran trivia at the Keg and Barrel but started running the trivia at the Porter in Downtown Hattiesburg.

“When I went over to the Porter, it was completely mine,” Curry said. “For the first time, it was just me. There wasn’t a set way of doing things, and it’s my favorite thing about doing trivia at the Porter. It’s all me; I come up with all the questions.”

“[Trivia] to me is one of the most fun things to do with a group of friends, actually doing something. Not just going to a place and sitting there, but working together and trying to win something. I think it works for college towns, maybe because people feel like they need to prove something,” Curry said.

Curry spoke about how trivia can have a positive impact on a business.

“I think that it’s good for like when I started doing it at the Porter, it was huge for that business. It added another night that you’d say, ‘okay, we’re going to be busy this night,’ which is good and is good for the town as a whole for more business to see and have stuff going on,” Curry said. “It really brings attention to what I think is one of the best bars in this town, just being able to be there every week and to have something to do.”

Chad “Boudie” Boudreaux runs the trivia at the 4th Street Bar, formerly the End Zone.

“We used to do a weekly trivia at 9 o’clock on Wednesday, but honestly you never knew what you were going to get,” Boudreaux said. “You’d get 40 one week, and then 12 the next week, and it just was hard to do. So, we’ve decided to do it monthly on Wednesday and make it to where we had a sponsor.”

Boudreaux said they have had Glory Bound, Insomnia Cookies, golf courses, different beer or liquor sponsors, which afforded them bigger prizes.

Boudreaux said that 4th Street Bar’s happy hour crowd got jealous of not having a trivia, so they’ve now added a happy hour trivia once a month on Tuesdays at 5 p.m.

“That way the people who need to get home can in spirit experience trivia and have a good time,” Boudreaux said. “You know it’s a different demographic. It’s the old people, so I skew the categories to, you know, older stuff. It’s not sponsored, but those people come in and play for a couple free drinks and t-shirts, and they’re happy about it. I love trivia and think it works out well.”

Boudreaux said trivia at 4th Street Bar strives to be different from other trivia games in town. They have tiebreakers, scavenger hunts, hula hoops and more.

“When we started trivia, we said we didn’t want to make people feel bad, but it’s to have a good time,” Boudreaux said, “We try to make it different from everybody else.”

WHERE TO PLAY TRIVIA

• Tuesdays-Buffalo Wild Wings at 7 p.m.
  • The Porter at 8 p.m.
• Wednesdays-The Thirsty Hippo at 8 p.m.
• Thursdays-Ed’s Burger Joint at 7 p.m.
• 4th Street Bar-Check Facebook for events and times