Independent trivia company Wicked Good Trivia gives the Marblehead community the opportunity to rack their brains, grab a drink, and hang out with locals once a week.
Wicked Good Trivia was started in February 2024 by Marblehead native and trivia enthusiast Malachi Rosen after he realized there weren’t many options to consistently play trivia available nearby. Shortly after presenting the idea to Three Cod Tavern owner Chip Percy, Malachi Rosen started hosting trivia night at the restaurant every Thursday at 7:30 p.m.
At first, Malachi Rosen tackled the hosting aspect, while he and his brother Wes Rosen handled writing the questions. However, when Malachi Rosen moved to Portland, ME, in May, he asked Three Cod Tavern regular Daisy Duncan to take over his role. Now, Duncan hosts, and Malachi Rosen tunes in with Wes Rosen via Zoom once a week to write the questions together.
Malachi Rosen said Duncan’s wit and charm made him confident that he was putting Wicked Good Trivia in good hands.
“I felt comfortable knowing she would be good with the crowd. I was nervous at first because I was leaving behind something I created into the world, but it’s continuing on great,” he said.
Duncan was originally intimidated by the undertaking but said she has quickly adapted to the role quite naturally.
“I was pretty nervous at first because I haven’t really commanded a room before. But it ended up flowing really nicely,” Duncan said.
The Rosen brothers are tasked with writing approximately 50 questions a week. Recurring themes include “this day in history,” “celebrity birthdays,” “common through line,” “guess the song,” and a trivial pursuit card.
Wes Rosen said it can be a challenge to find “timely” topics that are not too specific, yet not too general. However, over time, he and his brother have learned to gauge the needs of the crowd to keep them engaged.
“You want to hit the middle ground of accessibility and challenge. We’re not trying to stump people, but we also don’t want to make it so easy that just anyone can do it,” Wes Rosen said, comparing Wicked Good Trivia’s level of difficulty to Celebrity Jeopardy with its
pop-culture oriented questions.
He added, “Being siblings, some of the things that Malachi and I grew up with might not be as well known by other people. So then we have to figure out how to rephrase certain questions.”
Three Cod Tavern provides a $25 gift card for the winning team every week, a prize which Duncan and Wes Rosen say some of the regulars take very seriously.
“People can get very competitive. There have been times where I’ve said a question, and the whole bar goes silent because they’re trying to figure out the answer,” Duncan said.
Jack Sears, Three Cod Tavern regular and member of team “Quiz in My Pants,” talked about what draws him to trivia night at the Three Cod Tavern every Thursday.
“I just like drinking, and the trivia is a fun excuse to do it. Daisy is the GOAT. She’s super enthusiastic. The questions are hard. We’re terrible at it, and we always lose, but we still come back and have a good attitude. It’s always a good time,” Sears said.
The Rosen brothers and Duncan all agreed that Wicked Good Trivia helps build a sense of community in Marblehead, especially in the winter months.
“Its hard to find that in certain places. In Marblehead specifically, there aren’t always a lot of people who live here and work here at the same time. So it feels special to build new relationships with people that are contributing to the local economy,” Duncan said.
She added, “The part that hooked me the most was having something to do each week. And knowing that I could also provide that for other people is really cool.”
Malachi Rosen said, “I’ve met so many people in town, people who I didn’t know lived right around the corner from me. It creates this authentic connection.”
While he recently started hosting his own trivia night at a bar in Portland, ME, he said he doesn’t particularly have plans to expand Wicked Good Trivia into “a big trivia empire” or chain with pre-written questions. This is because he appreciates the personability aspect that he, his brother, and Duncan offer to the local crowds.
“Part of the charm is it’s just us, and we can ask questions specific to our community,” Malachi Rosen said.
He added, “It’s just something fun for people to enjoy. I wasn’t expecting it to mean as much to people as it did. I’m really touched by that.”
