I was born at night, but it wasn’t last night. I’ve been doing this a while, and I spend a considerable amount of times during my quiz looking for cheaters. You may ask, “Why? It’s just a pub quiz.” I understand that, but I take pride in what I do, and I want every team that shows up at one of my quizzes knowing that the game is on the up and up. Those people spend their hard-earned money for a night out to play my quiz, and they deserve to take a fair quizzo where everything is on the level. When you take out your cell phone, plant guys at the next table who have one, or have a teammate make a late round run to the bathroom and return with quite a few answers, you are being disrespectful not only of me, but of every other team and person in the bar. I know that sounds harsh, but I see it as similar to fixing a sporting event. Once people start thinking things aren’t on the up and up, they lose interest. Ask boxing.
I have worked hard over the years to build not only a business, but a community. On that front, I feel like I have been successful. I was excited to start a quiz in University City because I felt like I could build upon that community. And after a few months, on every other level, the quiz at City Tap House is a success. We have a terrific turnout, they have a great staff that I enjoy working with, and I’ve gotten a chance to meet some great new people and new teams, most of whom would never consider cheating. To the people who do: please stop. You’ll gain much more respect in this community by playing hard and for being cool than you ever will for winning, especially if the winning is achieved through nefarious means. Furthermore, if I suspect it again, I will call any teams involved out on the site. And once you get that stigma attached to your team, you might as well start shopping around for another quizzo. I hope it doesn’t have to come to that. Semper vigilius-JGT
*I don’t want this post to call into question the results of last night’s quiz. The team that won last night sat right beside me and absolutely did not cheat. This is just a recurring problem I have noticed over the past few weeks.