Thinking Buddies : Trivia Buffs Gather at Bars for Showdown, in Which Patrons Compete Against Others Nationwide

What do Ruth, Esther and Judith have in common?

Five possible responses to the question appear on television screens above the bar at the Bombay Bicycle Club in Santa Ana, and nine customers in the restaurant lounge punch their guesses into remote keypads and wait for the right answer to be revealed.

At that exact moment, trivia buffs at nearly 900 bars, restaurants and hotel lounges in the United States and Canada are answering the same question. It’s Tuesday night and time for Showdown, a weekly test of knowledge that pits players and bars across North America against each other.

Showdown, one of several interactive electronic games produced by Carlsbad-based NTN Communications, has attracted a fiercely loyal core of aficionados who have made the Tuesday night games a ritual.

“This is our one night out a week. There’s no way we’d miss it, except for a funeral,” said Virginia Bola one recent Tuesday at Bombay. “And it better be someone we like,” husband Jim Bola chimed in.

The Bolas, along with friends Susie and John Kingman, started playing Showdown when it was first introduced in a handful of places about six years ago, and are currently Bombay regulars. “We were watching a Lakers game” when they first saw the game, Jim Bola recalled. “We played it once and got addicted.”

Perhaps it’s not surprising that Showdown has caught on in a country where “Jeopardy!” reigns among game shows and Trivial Pursuit was a board game phenomenon. While Showdown is played only Tuesdays, from 5:30 to 7 p.m., other NTN trivia games are offered daily beginning at 11 a.m. The company says about 3 million players take part each month, and Showdown is the single most popular game.

The games are free to players, although there is sometimes a wait for a game board. Most locations have 10 to 12 boards, called “playmakers.”

While all the NTN games involve some form of national ranking, Showdown is the game that stresses it with tournaments and prizes and a final, “Jeopardy!”-style round in which players can wager part of the point total on a single question. The flavor at a Showdown match can differ significantly from other NTN trivia games, with players cooperating-- sometimes --on answers to boost the location’s score.

“It can be hard to come up with a consensus. Sometimes ego gets in the way,” said John Kingman. But the incentive to work together remains: “We always try to beat Canada as much as we can,” said Susie Kingman.

“With the Showdown players, you have more of a banding together,” said Kevin Gallagher, promotions coordinator for NTN. “These players, they’re all playing for the glory of seeing their name displayed across North America.”

Many of the Tuesday night Showdown players also come in on other nights to play “Countdown,” NTN’s other general trivia game, played several times a day. Christyl Everleigh of Santa Ana usually plays twice a week, although she played more often when she started playing the game last January.

“There was a while when I first discovered it, when I was coming down three or four times a week,” Everleigh said. “I’m not particularly a trivia buff. I just like games. . . . It’s a pretty inexpensive way to pass an evening.”

The questions can be grueling, however: “It keeps you humble, this game,” Everleigh said.

Questions on Showdown and Countdown can range from Greek mythology to punk rock (What band included members Rat Scabies and Captain Sensible? The Damned), from geography to ‘70s television (Who played “The Bionic Woman”? Lindsay Wagner). All questions are multiple choice, and the fastest correct answer gets the most points. “It is so diverse,” says Susie Kingman. “You have to know a little bit of everything.”

On the recent Tuesday at Bombay, the question about Ruth, Esther and Judith threw some of the players a curveball. All three, it was revealed, are books of the Bible. If you’ve never heard of the Book of Judith, it might be because it doesn’t appear in the King James Version; it is, however, a book of the Jerusalem Bible.

The players at Bombay have on occasion ranked in the top 20 nationally in Showdown, but a few of the regulars didn’t show up this night and the final result isn’t as strong as usual. Reubens in Brea, another Showdown hot spot, took the Orange County title, finishing 17th among all 892 locations.

In all, Orange County has 19 NTN locations. According to Gallagher, some of the most popular Showdown locations include the Holiday Inn in Irvine, Reubens in Huntington Beach and Brea, Hofs Hut in Brea and a recent addition, DBS McKays in Huntington Harbour.

Although Tuesday is traditionally the biggest night, trivia buffs can be found at all hours during game times. Sisters Irene Gasper of Brea and Julie Rocke of West Covina meet each Monday at Reubens in Brea for a little Countdown-playing and familial bonding.

“Basically, the same people play all the time. You begin to know the names,” said Rocke. “It’s really the competitiveness and challenge that we like.”

NTN, one of the leaders in the field of interactive technologies, offers several “live” games in addition to the “programmed” trivia games. QB1 offers football fans to predict the next play call during live football telecasts; similar types of games are offered for baseball, basketball and hockey. During the recent Academy Awards broadcast, players were able to guess at the winners before they were announced, and compare their scores.

Other offerings include Nightside, an “erotic” game featuring adult-themed topics, and Undercover, an interactive whodunit.

As for the steady stream of questions needed to keep the games going, NTN has a network of people busily combing their encyclopedia and trivia books for the $3.50-a-question they are paid. Some of them come in to the Carlsbad headquarters (north of San Diego), others send their submissions electronically.

The two-way games were first introduced in 1985, and the network of locations has gradually spread. In late 1990, there were 450 locations in North America; last November, there were 750. Although some locations eventually drop the game, others pick it up and keep the total number growing.

In addition to revenue from the bars that pay a subscription fee to NTN, the company sells advertising that is shown between games and rounds. For bars, the value of the game is building repeat business, Gallagher said.

NTN is now trying to build its base beyond taverns to find individual players where they live. Cerritos was one of the first cities to be test-marketed for the home version of the game, which is offered via the GTE Mainstreet service at a cost of $9.95 per month. More recently, the company expanded into northern San Diego County, adding 50,000 subscribers.

While current NTN regulars tend to enjoy the group experience, one player identified at least one advantage to playing at home. “It gets kind of difficult to concentrate when karaoke’s going at the same time.”