Here’s a bit of trivia for you: When is National Trivia Day?
If you guessed Wednesday, Jan 4, you’re ready for a game of Trivial Pursuit, which, trivially speaking, was developed by two Canadians in 1979 and first came to market in 1981. Unfortunately, gambling sites and apps like ESPN BET Massachusetts don't offer any trivia games, but we still decided to look into the industry more.
In 2008, Hasbro paid $80 million for rights to the game and, to date, more than 100 million games have been sold around the world.
BetMassachusetts.com mentions this because when it comes to passion for trivia, Massachusetts ranks second in the country behind only Maine, for states that love knowing obscure facts. That seems to bode well for the launch of big-name sportsbooks, like BetMGM Massachusetts.
In third place is Missouri, so the three states that love trivia the most all begin with the letter M. Montana and Minnesota also cracked the top 10, but the good folks in both Michigan and Mississippi must have better things to do.
Anyway, while residents of The Bay State are surely preparing for the launch of Massachusetts sportsbooks, in the meantime we took a fun look at the state's passion for one of the country's other oldest pastimes.
States With Most Interest in Trivia
You Learn Something Every Day
If you’re a fan of knowing stuff other people don’t or just want to win free beers at barroom Quizo contests – a good reason why trivia is so popular in beer-loving Massachusetts – "Jeopardy” genius Ken Jennings penned the “Trivia Almanac: 8,888 Questions in 365 Days" book.
There’s also “The Awesome Travel Trivia Book: 365 Weird, Random but Interesting Geography and World Fun Facts,” “The Bathroom Trivia Almanac,” and, of course, “The World Almanac" if you want to build out your trivia library.
As for National Trivia Day, it shares its big day status with four other days. What are they? If you guessed World Hypnotism Day, World Braille Day, National Missouri Day and National Spaghetti Day, then tell your local taproom you want a cold, frosty one.
It’s fitting that Massachusetts will celebrate National Trivia Day and National Spaghetti Day on a Wednesday this year, because if you watched TV in the 1970s, you’ll remember that Wednesday was Prince Spaghetti Day.
In the famous commercial, which aired for more than a decade, Antony ran home through the North End of Boston every Wednesday because his mother was making Prince spaghetti. And because you love trivia and you’re curious, Prince Pasta was founded in Boston in 1912.
And because you just won’t be able to sleep without knowing this, the first National Trivia Day took place in 1980 and was named by Robert L. Birch, a librarian and logophile. A logophile, by the way, is a lover of words – and we’re stopping now.
Happy National Trivia Day, Massachusetts!
And should your local trivia game need a calendar reminder, remember that online/mobile wagering on Massachusetts sports betting apps is set to launch sometime in March 2023.
Methodology
With National Trivia Day coming on Jan. 4, we decided to look at the states that have the most interest in trivia.
BetMassachusetts.com utilized Google Trends to see the search volume in each of the U.S. states for “Trivia,” “Trivia Night,” “Trivia Near Me,” “Trivia Questions” and “Trivia Game.”
Once receiving the results, we averaged out the ranking across the 5 categories to get the Top 10.
Stay close to BetMassachusetts.com for developments on the road to sports wagering in the state as well as for Massachusetts sportsbook promos.
