Pulse: Chatter: Five Questions For … Pat Hines, Quizzo King

In honor of National Trivia Day on January 4th — what? You didn’t know that? — we query Pat Hines, who launched Philly’s thriving pub-quiz biz at West Philly’s New Deck Tavern in 1992.

You started Philly’s first Quizzo after you’d seen it in Ireland. Was it America’s first, too?

Some people who came in had done pub quizzes in New York and, of all places, Atlanta. But those were ethnic-oriented — all in Irish bars. I hadn’t heard of any quizzes geared for Americans.

So what’s the biggest 
difference between Quizzo 
in Ireland and here? 

In Ireland, it’s very serious 
business. The American one is much more laid-back.

What is it that makes Philadelphians want to test our brainpower while downing cocktails?
I think it’s the universities. 
New Deck’s in the middle 
of Drexel and Penn.

In Quizzo: better to be 
a specialist or to know a 
little about a lot? 

The best teams are the ones that have specialists among them.

Last thing: What’s the 
capital of Wyoming? 

Oh, I hate you. Holy smokes. Wyoming? I don’t know. Why am I forgetting Wyoming? [Editor’s note: Hines eventually produced the correct answer, Cheyenne.]