Putting your mind to the test for this week’s Hittin’ the Town

TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) - Games that test your knowledge have been entertaining people of all ages for decades. Trivial Pursuit, Jeopardy and Are you smarter than a fifth grader? Just to name a few. Trivia nights are also a big thing.

For those who want to be the smartest person in the room, trivia night is a good place to start. Rich Kincaid and Ron Guyor are the brains behind Rich and Ronnie G’s Trivia. Kincaid loves being out front and interacting with the audience.

“I always kind of dreamt of doing what you do, Lissa, to be honest. I wanted to be on the news or hosting shows,” said Kincaid. “ This is the closest thing I could get to it, unless you have any job opening for me.”

Both Kincaid and Guyor have day jobs, but they love getting a break from their routines to host their very own battle of the brains.

“We have a lot of smart people in the Toledo area, and a lot of them take trivia very seriously. And I mean that in the nicest way,” said Guyor.

We caught up with Kincaid and Guyor at The Stubborn Brother Pizza Bar, one of the places that hosts the dynamic duo. Guyor says they’ve built up quite a following in the last few years.

“We’ve had a lot of teams that go to the different venues with us, and they get a real rivalry going between them,” said Guyor.

Kincaid says the business of boosting people’s brainpower has expanded quickly.

“It started at our first night with about 20 people, and now we we have about 100 teams and 500 players around the Toledo area,” said Kincaid.

It’s as much about entertainment as it is education.

“Nobody wants to come just to come take a test. You’ve got to make it fun or you won’t have an audience,” said Kincaid. “You can be a team of one or ten. That’s what we tell people.”

Each session lasts a couple hours. Guyor says there are plenty of categories to choose from when it comes to testing your knowledge.

“Sports, pop culture, history, geography. We have a great mix,” said Guyor. “We try to have one question that will stump the audience and one that everyone gets, and the rest are in-between.”

And it’s important to stack your team with people who have different areas of expertise.

“Everybody is an expert in something, and sooner or later, you’ll get a topic that you’re an expert at,” said Kincaid.

It’s an activity for young minds as well as those with a few more years of experience.

“We’ve got a team that brings kids along. We have a lot of college students. We also have a wide range of ages in our adult competitors. It’s fun for the whole family really,” said Guyor.

Guyor adds that it can be serious business.

“There are some serious rivalries where the teams give each other dirty looks,” said Guyor. “But at the end of the night, they’re buying each other drinks, it’s all good.”

In addition to The Stubborn Brother Pizza Bar, Rich and Ronnie G’s Trivia makes regular stops at the Mayfly Tavern in Point Place and Amaya’s Fresh Mexican Grill in Monroe. There are trivia leagues every season. Kincaid and Guyor are also available for private parties.

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