Trivial pursuit pays off Transcona couple’s bright idea brings customized, brain-bending fun to fundraising By: David Sanderson Posted: 7:00 PM CDT Friday, Apr. 28, 2023

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 28/04/2023 (862 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Ask, and you will receive… answers you probably weren’t expecting, when it’s your job to stump a roomful of brainiacs, with a series of tough trivia questions.

James and Tara Higham are the married couple behind Quizzlers, a venture that stages highly interactive quiz nights for a variety of groups and organizations, including sports teams, Royal Canadian legions and private companies.

The Highams recently hosted a sold-out event at the Norwood Community Centre, where 18 squads of eight were battling it out, for neighbourhood bragging rights, and a gift certificate or two. During a round titled “Disney movies,” James-as-quiz master asked those assembled, “In the film Peter Pan, what did Peter leave behind in Wendy’s room?”

As participants hurriedly scribbled their guesses down on provided sheets of paper, one person drew guffaws by yelling out, “His phone!” which caused another to bellow, “No, his car keys!” That was followed by a litany of retorts that, well, can’t be printed in a family newspaper.

“Even some of the written responses tend to get a little risqué,” says Tara, who, come quiz night, is responsible for the marking side of things. “When a team doesn’t have a clue what the answer is, they seem to do their best to come up with something comical instead, which, to me, only adds to the fun.”

Oh, in case you’re scratching your head, the boy who wouldn’t grow up forgot his shadow at the Darling residence.

In the fall of 2018, James and Tara were part of a parent committee that was tossing around fundraising ideas for their kids’ Timbits hockey team. Suggestions ranged from pancake breakfasts to Bud, spud and steak dinners to peddling chocolate bars, when James offered, “How about a quiz night?”

He explained that he and Tara attended one in support of an adult softball league earlier that year. He added that they had an absolute blast, despite the fact neither one of them will ever be mistaken for a trivia buff.

“Unless it’s Friends trivia, you definitely don’t want me at your table,” Tara says with a chuckle, seated next to her husband inside a Regent Avenue coffee shop, minutes away from the Transcona home they share with their three sons.

The more James went on, the more the other parents became convinced a quiz night sounded like a plan. Except who would run it, they openly wondered?

Leave that up to him, he replied. Not only would he determine what they would require in terms of equipment such as projection screens, iPads and microphones, he would also spend however long it took on the internet, deciphering categories and queries sure to tickle people’s minds.

Furthermore, he would willingly do his best Alex Trebek impersonation, by serving as host. After all, he is more than comfortable standing in front of a crowd, he let them know, thanks to a colourful side-career as a professional wrestler. (Since 2002, James has been a member of Premier Championship Wrestling. Grappling under the alias Dave “the Big Bastard” Dixon, his signature moves are the frog splash, the electric-chair slam and — we’re not sure what this entails, but it definitely sounds painful — the penile implant.)

The quiz night turned out to be a runaway success, what with over 100 people purchasing tickets to attend, plus what was spent on food and beverages. It was so well-received that other hockey parents began reaching out to James, to see if he’d be amenable to doing something similar for their children’s teams.

“The more that people kept asking, the more it got me thinking, ‘hey, there might be an opportunity here,’” he says, leaning back in his chair.

“Tell him the real story,” Tara says, playfully poking him in the ribs. “What happened was, I was in Charlottetown for a few days for work, when I suddenly got a call from him saying he’d bought a ton of gear, and that we were going into business for ourselves.”

Quizzlers was officially launched in the spring of 2019, for an event in support of the Transcona Nationals football club. Close to $10,000 was brought in through ticket sales, a silent auction and bar proceeds. That amount set tongues wagging. Before long, the couple was staging quiz nights, which feature up to 12 rounds covering an array of topics, as many as three times a week, from one end of the city to the other.

(Without a doubt, the most popular category is one called “finish-the-lyrics,” Tara says, before breaking into, “She was just a small-town girl, living in a _____ _____ ,” for demonstration purposes.)

Obviously, the pandemic didn’t do them any favours. As soon as restrictions were lifted, mind you, it was full steam ahead, once again.

“Even when capacity was capped at 50 per cent, the nights were rocking… everybody seemed so happy to be allowed to be out in public again,” James says, noting one of the unforeseen advantages of wearing a medical mask in those early days was that players couldn’t steal answers from opposing teams, by reading their lips.

Back at the Norwood Community Centre, organizer Jill Sutherland says this was the second time she has commissioned the Highams to run that neighbourhood’s quiz night. The first go-round, which was held in November, was such a hit that residents began messaging her to book a followup, almost immediately.

It’s up to individual groups to provide prizes, Sutherland points out, as well as to establish ground rules. For example, to add to the frivolity of what occurs at their get-togethers, teams are encouraged to arrive in costume. That explains why a group to our left is dressed like different flavours of Bubly soda water, while another to our right, who introduce themselves as — how great is this? — Trivia Newton-John, are each sporting colourful sweatsuits and matching headbands, reminiscent of what the late Australian singer donned in the video for her ’80s mega-hit, Physical.

Sutherland says she also let the Highams know participants would likely be aged “18 to 80.” Point taken: during a round called Celebrity Mugshots, one of the images was of a youthful-looking Frank Sinatra, and another was of rapper Tyga.

“To me, it makes for a much more enjoyable evening if everybody feels like they’re contributing in some manner,” Sutherland says. “And since 80 per cent of the people here tonight were also at the first one, that speaks to how much fun they had, and how they couldn’t wait to test their knowledge, all over again.”

The Highams are currently booked into December 2023, for office Christmas parties. This summer, they have also been hired by engaged couples, to provide an alternative to a traditional wedding social. (Question: What is “meat shoulder?”)

“You always worry about repeating questions, in case somebody has been to one of our quizzes in the past, so I spend a lot of my spare time coming up with new categories, and doing my best to stay up-to-date with TV shows and stuff,” James says. Also, if there is a topic a client wants them to include, name it. This weekend, for example, they are hosting a quiz at the Pembina Curling Club, and, ahead of time, were tasked with devoting a middle round to the history of the decades-old club.

“That’s totally fine, though I told them I was definitely going to need a little help, research-wise,” James says with a laugh.

And while it’s true they both work full-time outside of Quizzlers, and that they enjoy putting their feet up, come the weekend, as much as the rest of us, the moment James announces into his wireless microphone, “All right, everybody, here’s your first question of the evening,” they are instantly energized, and are good to go, for the next three or so hours.

“What I love is when James asks a particularly tough question, and later, when he’s reading out the answers, how the place goes completely silent, waiting to hear if they got it right or not,” Tara says. “Then, when they find out they nailed it, the whole room erupts.

“It’s only trivia, right, but to see people react like they’ve won the Stanley Cup or something is always the best.”

david.sanderson@freepress.mb.ca

Winnipeg Free Press | Newsletter

Jill Wilson | Applause

Weekly

A weekly look at what’s happening in Winnipeg’s arts and entertainment scene.

Sign up for Jill Wilson | Applause

Sign Up

I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement.