Finding venues and landing a weekly night

Why a venue books a host

A venue pays for a trivia or game night for one reason: it wants people in the seats on a night that is otherwise quiet. Monday to Thursday is where most of these nights live. The staff are on the clock and the lights are on whether ten people come in or sixty.

A good weekly night gives the venue regulars. The same teams come back to the same tables, they stay for two hours instead of one drink, and some of them start coming in on other nights too. That habit is what the manager is buying. A single packed night is nice. Twelve teams every Wednesday for a year is the thing they will keep paying for.

It helps to be able to show the arithmetic, as long as you are honest that it is theirs to check. Here is how a manager might think about it, with made-up numbers:

Sales are not profit. The venue still pays for the food and drink, maybe an extra server, and the prizes. But you can see why a manager with a dead Wednesday listens. The venue knows its own till far better than you do, so offer the table as a way to think about it and let them fill in their own numbers. Do not promise a percentage increase. Nobody can, and a manager who has heard that pitch before will stop listening.

Where to look

Anywhere people gather and the owner would like more of them on a particular night is a possible venue. Bars, pubs, breweries, restaurants and sports bars are the obvious ones, but they are also the ones most likely to have a night already. Widen the list:

New openings

A new bar, brewery or restaurant is the best lead you can find. The owner is building a weekly calendar from nothing and has no host yet. Watch local food and drink accounts, neighborhood Facebook groups and "coming soon" signs, and introduce yourself in the first month after the doors open, before someone else does.

People who already know

Bartenders and servers work in several places over a few years and know which managers are open to new ideas and which nights are dead. If you know anyone in the trade, ask them. An introduction from a bartender the manager trusts gets you a real conversation; a cold walk-in gets you "leave your number".

Venues that come to you

Some owners already know they want a host and need to find one. On the Brainflood Gig Board, venues post the nights they want filled: the activity, the nights, a start time and a budget. You list your city, how far you will travel, your nights, what you run and your rate, and you get an email when a gig near you goes up. You answer with a short intro, and contact details are shared once the venue accepts it. The Free plan gives you three intros a month. It will not replace walking around your town, but it is a list of owners who have already said yes to the idea.

Picking the night and the time

Before you pitch anywhere, find out where trivia already runs in your area and when. Some cities have a public spreadsheet or map of every trivia night in town. If yours does not, make one: an evening with venue websites, Facebook events and a few phone calls will do it. It tells you which nights are crowded, which neighborhoods have nothing, and whether the venue you like is two doors down from a ten-year-old Tuesday night with a loyal following.

Do not pitch a venue against an established night on the same evening nearby. You will split a crowd that was happy where it was, and you will make an enemy of a host you may one day need to cover for you. If a venue already runs trivia on Wednesday, do not offer them a better Wednesday. Offering bingo or karaoke on a different night is fair: they already know entertainment works for them.

Within the week, Tuesday to Thursday is where most trivia lives. Monday works in some towns. Friday and Saturday rarely do for trivia, because the venue is busy anyway and the crowd is loud. A 7 or 8 pm start is typical. Ask the venue when their weeknight crowd thins out and start a little before that.

Once you have a night, protect it. Hosts who have had a venue move them from one weeknight to another report that it set the room back weeks, because regulars plan around the night, not the venue. Agree the night up front and treat a change as a big deal.

Scouting a venue

Go on the night you would run, at the time you would start. A Saturday afternoon visit tells you nothing about a Tuesday at 7. Buy a drink, sit for an hour and look at:

• How many people are in, and whether they look like they might play. Six regulars at the bar and empty tables is a good sign. A full room of diners on dates is not.
• Where teams would sit and whether you can see every table from one spot.
• The TV. Is there one everyone can see, does it have a web browser or an HDMI input you can reach, and will the venue turn off the game for two hours?
• Sound. Is there a PA or house speaker you can plug into, or will you bring your own? How loud is the room with nobody on a microphone?
• Power near where you would set up, and whether the wifi reaches that corner.
• What else is on the calendar. A chalkboard full of events tells you the venue promotes; a bare one tells you that you will be doing it yourself.

Read the venue's reviews too. Comments like "great spot but dead on weeknights" are the manager's problem written down for you.

Making the pitch

Ask for the owner or general manager, and go when they have time to talk: a weekday afternoon between 2 and 4 is usually quiet, or early evening before the dinner rush. Never on a Friday night. If the person who decides is not in, ask when they will be and come back. Leaving your pitch with the bartender rarely gets it passed on.

Start with their night, not your need for a gig. Something like: "I run trivia nights. I noticed Wednesdays are quiet here and wondered if you'd ever thought about a weekly game night." Then stop and let them talk. They will tell you what they have tried, what went wrong with the last host, and what they are worried about. Those worries are your pitch.

Show them what a night looks like. Photos of a full room at another venue, a printed answer sheet, a sample round, or two questions read aloud right there at the bar will do more than any description. If you already host somewhere, invite them to come and watch. A public page with your schedule and venues helps too, whether that is your own site, a Facebook page or a Brainflood Host Site you can pull up on your phone.

Be ready to answer the questions every manager asks:

• What do you need from us? (A table near power, the TV, the sound system or permission to bring yours, prizes.)
• How long does it run? (About two hours is normal.)
• What does it cost? (Have a number. "What were you thinking?" makes you sound new.)
• Who brings the crowd? (Both of you. See the section on who does what below.)
• What happens if it doesn't work? (A review date, which you will suggest.)

Dress the way you would to host, and keep it short. You are someone who runs a fun night, and the manager wants to know you will show up on time, keep it friendly and not cause trouble. Leave a one-pager behind either way.

A one-page venue prospectus

A single page that stays on the manager's desk after you leave does a lot of work. Several hosts build theirs in Canva or a word processor in an evening. Put on it:

• What you run and how it plays: rounds, roughly how long, paper or phones or both, the kind of questions.
• What the venue provides: TV, sound, power, a table, prizes, a mention in their posts.
• What you provide: questions, scoring, answer sheets, a microphone and speaker if needed, posters for the walls.
• Your price, and the trial terms you are offering. Some hosts scale their price to the size of the room.
• Two or three photos of real nights.
• A line from a manager at a current venue, if you have one and they are happy to be quoted.
• How to reach you, and your public schedule if you have one.

Keep it plain and readable. A manager glancing at it a week later should be able to see what it costs and how to call you within five seconds.

Trials and the first six weeks

The old advice was to offer one free night, pack it with friends and close the deal at the bar. The problem is that one night proves very little. Hosts who have built many nights report that it takes about six weeks to get three to five regular teams, and the first few weeks are often four or five teams, half of them people you know. If the venue judges you on night one, or on night three, it is judging the wrong thing.

A better ask is a trial long enough to mean something, with a clear review at the end:

• Six to eight weeks at a reduced rate, then your full rate.
• Or the first two weeks free and the next few discounted, which some hosts offer, with the step up written down so nobody is surprised.
• Or full rate from the start with a review date: "Let's look at it together after eight Wednesdays."

Write the review date into your confirmation email. On that date, bring numbers: teams each week, how many came back, any comments from staff. That conversation goes very differently from "so, how do you think it's going?"

Bring your friends to the early nights by all means. A room with people in it is easier for strangers to join, and friends make good first teams. Just be honest with the manager about who they are, and don't judge the night by them either. The real test is whether people you have never met come back the next week. If newcomers tell you they had fun but don't return, ask a couple of them why, or put up an anonymous feedback form. The answer is often something fixable: the night ran long, the sound was too loud, the questions were pitched at the host rather than the room.

Rates, payment and who does what

Rates depend on your city and how established you are. These are the ranges working hosts report for a standard two-hour weekly night:

That last row matters when you set your price. If a company is already charging venues in your town $150 to $200 for a packaged show, the manager knows that number. Compete on the night itself and your own material. A price war with a company selling packaged shows is one you will lose. The earnings guide covers what those rates mean once you count prep time.

Hosts who have done this for years say to ask for enough that you feel slightly sick saying it. If the manager pushes back, offer the trial discount rather than lowering your full rate.

How you get paid

A flat fee per night is the norm and the one to push for. A fee plus food and drinks during the night is a common extra. A smaller base plus a share of the bar's sales on your night exists, but it is hard to check and easy to argue about. A few hosts agree a lower fee when turnout falls under a set number; if you offer that, write down how turnout is counted.

Being paid the same night in cash or by a payment app is ideal and common. Weekly or every two weeks through the venue's payroll is fine. Monthly, or "when the owner signs the checks", tends to mean chasing. If a venue asks you for a W-9, that is normal; the business basics guide covers taxes and paperwork.

Agree who does what

Most arguments between hosts and venues start with something nobody decided. Settle these before the first night:

• Prizes. Usually the venue's cost: a bar tab, gift cards, a round. Agree what and how much each week.
• Promotion. You will put up posters and post about it. The venue should put it on its social accounts, its chalkboard, its menu inserts and in the staff's mouths. Ask for it to be promoted at least as hard as the venue's other events.
• Equipment. Whose TV, whose speaker, whose microphone, and who fixes the house sound when it breaks.
• Reserved tables, and what happens when a private party books the room on your night.
• Cancellation. How much notice each of you gives, and whether you are paid if the venue cancels on the day.

Put it in writing

You do not need a lawyer's contract for a weekly night. You do need something written that you can both point to. An email after the handshake is enough for most hosts:

• The night, start time and finish time.
• Your fee, the trial terms and when the full rate starts.
• How and when you are paid.
• The review date.
• Who provides prizes, promotion and equipment.
• Notice either side gives to cancel a night or end the arrangement.

Ask them to reply "agreed". The business basics guide has an example confirmation email you can adapt. If the venue changes manager, forward the same email to the new one in their first week.

Red flags

Some venues are not worth the drive. Watch for these early:

• A trial with no end. "Let's see how it goes for a while before we talk about money" usually means they will never pay. Offer a defined trial with a review date instead, and walk if they won't agree to one.
• A venue that expects you to bring the whole crowd. You will help, but the venue has the regulars, the walls and the social accounts. If it won't use them, the night will struggle.
• A venue that promotes everything except you. Hosts tell of bars that advertised the D&D night far more than the trivia night it was paying for. Ask once, nicely, with the posters in your hand. If nothing changes, it is telling you how much it values the night.
• Bumping your night for private parties, a big game or because the owner felt like closing early. Regulars stop trusting a night that might not happen.
• Moving your night without asking you.
• Late pay. Once is a mistake. Twice is a pattern.
• No room for basics: nowhere to set up, no power, a TV that can't be switched off the game, music turned up during the questions.
• Staff who treat the night as a nuisance. A rude bartender loses you teams faster than a bad round.

Keeping the night once you have it

Landing the night is the short part. Keeping it for years comes down to a few habits.

Be reliable. Arrive early, start on time, and never cancel without real notice. Know a host who can cover you when you are ill, and give them your answer sheets, your format and the manager's number. The venue has scheduled staff and ordered stock around your night; a no-show costs it money.

Keep a simple log of teams and players each week and share it with the manager every month or so: "We averaged 14 teams in March, up from 11 in February." Managers have to justify the expense to an owner, and a host who hands them the numbers makes that easy. If you run the night in Brainflood, the game history shows how many teams played each week, and Host Books (Starter and up) keeps track of what each venue has paid you.

Keep the night fresh without changing what people come for. Theme nights, a seasonal round, a special for the venue's anniversary or a big sports weekend all help. Regulars like the structure staying the same and the content changing.

Promote the venue as well as yourself. Tag it in every post, mention the kitchen's special between rounds, and be someone the staff are pleased to see on a Wednesday. When something goes wrong (the sound dies, a team gets rowdy, the kitchen is slow), stay calm on the mic and raise it with the manager privately afterwards. Never blame the staff in front of the room.

After three to six months of steady numbers, it is reasonable to raise your rate. Bring your log. The earnings guide has more on how hosts approach it.

Adding a second and third night

Get one night running well before you chase the next. A good first night is your best pitch for the second: you have photos, a manager who will take a call, and a format you know works.

Spread later nights across different evenings so you are not competing with yourself for the same players, and keep them close enough together that the drive doesn't eat the fee. Mixing formats helps too: trivia on Tuesday, bingo on Wednesday, Pick'em on football Sundays. And be honest about your capacity. Most hosts carry one to three weekly nights alongside another job. Running a room for two hours is tiring, and five nights a week leaves little time for writing questions. The guide to growing past one night covers more venues and bringing in other hosts.

Checklist

Before you pitch

• Map the trivia nights already running near the venue.
• Visit on the night and at the time you would run.
• Check the TV, sound, power, wifi and where teams would sit.
• Find out who decides and when they are in.
• Print your one-pager. Know your full rate and your trial offer.

At the pitch

• Go at a quiet time and ask for the decision maker.
• Ask about their week before talking about yours.
• Show a real night: photos, a sample round, an invitation to watch.
• Name your price and a trial with a review date.
• Leave the one-pager.

After a yes

• Send the confirmation email and get an "agreed".
• Agree prizes, promotion, equipment and cancellation notice.
• Get posters up and the venue posting at least two weeks before night one.
• Start your weekly log on the first night.
• Put the review date in your calendar.

The next guide, filling the room, covers getting people through the door once the night is booked.