The beginnings of Bar None Trivia

Hey everyone, Spencer here. Last May, as the pandemic that changed life for all of us was picking up steam, my business school reunion went virtual. As my section's president, I wanted to create an event to make the reunion still feel as fun as possible, so I created a virtual bar-style trivia game, inspired by the bar trivia I've played since college, to connect my 90 sectionmates during this weird time.

I hosted the game, everyone had a great time, and I didn't think much more of it. But later that night, sectionmates started calling and texting, saying that the night had been a highlight of quarantine. Soon a few of them were asking me to host games for their teams at work. Before I knew it, I was hosting 2-3 virtual trivia games a week, then 5, then 10.

In the summer, it became apparent that we had something on our hands. My close friend and co-founder Lilian Chen came on board, we quit our full-time jobs, and we started building Bar None Trivia to connect people when they couldn't be physically present.

In the nine months that followed, we learned more about building a company than I ever expected to learn on that first night in May. We learned to hire actual lawyers (and not people with law passions moonlighting on Craigslist). We learned that most people do not consider John Adams trivia as fun as we do. We learned that there is an incredible community of entertainers out there who all have very different day jobs, yet all share the ability to brighten up customers' events (shout out to our amazing hosts).

But more than anything, in a year full of what felt like non-stop negative news, we learned that at the end of the day, the world is still comprised of people seeking out fun and connection. The laughs and joy that people so visibly felt on our events sustained us through the hardest parts of the pandemic, and gave us the confidence that what we originally thought would be a one-off game night could actually fill a real need in the months and years to come.

The next chapter as Bar None Games

Today, we are so proud to announce that Bar None Trivia has become Bar None Games, a platform dedicated to bringing people together through live-hosted, team-based, high-quality virtual events.

With today's announcement, we also are launching our second game: Bar None Triathlon. Triathlon maintains the same DNA of our Bar None Trivia game, but instead of featuring creative and varied trivia rounds, it consists of a series of highly fun and creative mini games, including a Family Feud-inspired round of Survey Says, a mind-bending Word Puzzler, and a fast-paced Internet Scavenger Hunt.

Of course, we'll still be offering the Bar None Trivia game that's near and dear to our hearts, and with over 150+ custom rounds in our trivia bank, you'll be able to play fresh rounds of trivia for years to come.

Over the months and years ahead, we look forward to making thousands of memories with companies, schools, friends, and families looking to come together to celebrate special events, as well as those hoping to just to kick back, relax, and connect.

To those that have been with us from the start, thanks so much for supporting our journey. And to those just hearing about us now, we look forward to hopefully seeing you at a Trivia or Triathlon event soon.

Game on!

Spencer, Lilian, Julia, and the Bar None Games Team