WHO WE ARE
Thinker Themed Trivia is the themed trivia arm of Thinker Entertainment, operating in Sydney, Australia. Owned and operated by Jason Dean, Thinker Themed Trivia offers hand built themed trivia events to pubs and clubs, as well as those running private functions.
Jason is assisted in hosting duties by Jodie, who also hosts a number of general knowledge games for Thinker Entertainment.
THE THINKER PHILOSOPHY
The central goal of each themed trivia game is to remind players why they love the topic of the game they are playing. Playing a Thinker Themed Trivia game is designed to be a celebration and questions are written with the aim of walking players down Memory Lane; eliciting laughs, gasps and "naaaaw"s. Players come to a themed trivia game because they have a love for the material and we want them to leave feeling even more of that love.
THINKER'S HISTORY
Thinker Entertainment began in 2012, initially focusing on general knowledge trivia. At the time, there was only one themed trivia operator in Sydney and after venturing out to a Doctor Who trivia event, Jason felt frustrated with the experience; feeling that themed trivia should be a celebration rather than a test of obscure production knowledge.
Thinker's first themed trivia event, under the banner Thinker Themed Trivia, was a Simpsons Trivia event held at Coopers Hotel in Newtown. At the time, it was customary for themed trivia events were paid ticketed events, with each ticket costing $30, which included dinner at the venue.
In the beginning, Thinker Themed Trivia only ran a theme every three months with 2015 comprising of Simpsons, Doctor Who, and Star Wars. By 2017 themes were held every two months, moving to monthly by 2019.
Originally using a 40 question across 2 rounds format, similar to what was being used for the general knowledge game, the format got a significant redesign in December 2023 that uses significantly more multimedia elements and seeks to pose themed trivia questions in novel ways.
The Bonus Round, which was a part of the format until the 2023 redesign, was originally borrowed from the general knowledge format. The original premise was that teams, one at a time, would be offered a random quote and they alone would get points for answering with who said it. This round evolved over time to allow all teams to answer all bonus questions but this effectively now just made it another standard round; in what way was it a Bonus? This question helped to inform the 2023 redesign.
The Go Hard Or Go Home round dates back to the very first Simpsons Trivia event in 2015 but it looked very different back then. Every player competed in the game individually; we had everyone up to form a circle and they were asked rapid fire questions, with an incorrect answer eliminating them from the game. The winner of the game got to choose a Pop Vinyl from Jason's personal collection. By 2016, the Go Hard Or Go Home game became the more familiar "character and object identification" game that it is now but with limited access to screens in venues, all of the characters were printed and laminated on actual physical flashcards. As screens became more available in the venues that ran the events, Go Hard Or Go Home became a digital game. Eventually, the game became something that was played collectively as a team once the winner got points rather than the Pop Vinyl.
A filing cabinet in Jason's office still holds all of those original flashcards.
THE THINKER HOSTS
Jason
Jason hosts all but two Thinker Themed Trivia events and writes all of the questions/builds the game packs. Jason has been hosting trivia since 2006 and started Thinker Entertainment in 2012. His favourite themes to create content for is 90s Music, Doctor Who, MCU, Simpsons & Taylor Swift.
Jodie
Jodie's relationship with Thinker Themed Trivia started in 2018 when she attended one of our Buffy Trivia events. She quickly became a convert and was a regular for most themes moving forward. She loves dressing up in theme-appropriate attire, her Belle costume is iconic.