Meet the Mindless Minutia trivia championship winners who won $3,000 in prizes
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Mindless Minutia Championship participants. Photo: Courtesy of Jacob Gresham
Eight teammates, a three-hour road trip to Charlotte and several decades of combined trivia nights. That’s what ultimately won a team called “Coastal Division” the first-place prize during Mindless Minutia’s Amazing Colossal Big-A$$ Trivia Championship.
“They compete at a really high level,” said Jacob Gresham, founder of the popular local trivia company Mindless Minutia. “We were honored that they came to play with lil ole us.”
Context: Coastal Division is made up of two teachers, a pastor, an author, a USPS employee, two retirees and a senior director of business. Six of the eight teammates traveled from Wilmington to compete at the Amazing Colossal Big-A$$ Trivia Championship in March. They beat 89 other teams.
“I’ve been riding Kevin’s trivia coattails since high school,” participant Matt Smith said of his teammate, explaining that their love for trivia dates back to their Freedom High School days, when they won a trivia game show called “High Q,” hosted by former WBTV weatherman Mike McKay.
Why it matters: Mindless Minutia re-defines trivia. Their games involve puzzles, charades and deductive reasoning.
- “In the qualifier, they gave us an envelope of cut-up pictures of celebrities and we had three minutes to dump out all of the pieces, arrange them, and determine who were the two celebrities that were supposed to match,” said Laura Myers, a member of second-place championship winners “HEY THERE, RAP FANS!”
- Plus, because it hosts more than 50 trivia games across Charlotte Monday through Thursday, Mindless Minutia is a reason many local venues are packed on weekdays.
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Yes, but: You don’t have to be a trivia night veteran to win at Mindless Minutia. “It’s one of my favorite trivias in town because it’s challenging but I never walk away feeling dumb or defeated,” Myers said.
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Zoom in: Coastal Division regularly participates in national trivia tournaments. One of their teammates has been hosting trivia nights at Hell’s Kitchen in Wilmington for nine years.
- The second place team “HEY THERE, RAP FANS!” is made up of a group of friends who regularly play at Divine Barrel and Heist Brewery.
- And third-place winners “CARL!” regularly play at Town Brewing, a tradition that they started about seven years ago.
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What’s next: Gresham tells Axios they plan to host another championship. All three winning teams said they’d be back for it.
- In the meantime, get your Mindless Minutia trivia fix every weeknight in Charlotte. Check the Mindless Minutia Instagram page for where to go.