How To Utilize Music Bingo Cards Or Game Show Presentations To Entertain Guests And Draw New Customers. Plus, An Example Of A Weekly Entertainment Budget Of Less Than $150.

Hey trivia fans, music fans, fellow entrepreneurs, and entertainers!

I’ve spoken quite a bit in this blog about how to use music bingo cards and game show presentations easily by downloading and presenting in front of live audiences wherever and whenever you choose. Now I’d like to speak more about the strategy behind such and event, and some reasons why you might find that a games night might be right for your group.

---

Music Bingo & Game Show Trivia For Bars & Restaurant

My background is most prominently as a Restaurant Manager for a variety of different venues. One was a corporate franchise restaurant with over 70 locations across Canada. One a local’s type pool bar complete with foosball, darts, games, wing night, and the whole enchilada.

Another was a tiki-bar in Costa Rica straight out of the Tom Cruise movie “Cocktail”, with not-so-coincidental similarities. I fact, I spent 20 years in the Food & Beverage industry before I really separated and focuses mainly on the Entertainment aspects, which I have grown to love so dear.

The business strategies for each of these places were vastly different, but the one constant that travelled with me from location to location was a need for community, and a hole that could only be fed with Live Entertainment. My greatest moments at each of these venues was no doubt on nights when the ambiance was set perfectly, the kitchen staff were on their A-game, and the entertainment was running point.

These nights were the whole motivation behind creating an easy-to-use line of Music dobOFF bingo cards, and Fat Bottom Trivia download-and-present game shows.  

There is more to successful entertainment than just having the right games on hand.

People like playing pool and darts. This doesn’t mean that buy purchasing and installing a dart board or pool table means you will undoubtedly become a success. You must create an flow for your customers to know about your new additions, know about it ahead of time, plan for it, and then enjoy it fully. Then you want to ensure the nest event is already planned out, so they can continue the flow right into the next night.

You don’t want to fatigue your guests either. Too many events of too much intensity will not be received as well with your loyal regulars, so spacing nights out appropriately can be important too.

---

Pillaring Your Week Of Entertainment And Food & Drink Specials

One of my favorite new projects when consulting a new entertainment venue is appropriately “pillaring” the week’s events. This may be a new concept for you, so if I don’t explain it well enough here, please leave a comment below, or even shoot me an email, and we can discuss it further, and use direct examples from your business. I’m always available for our readers at dustin@fatcityentertainment.com.

Example 1: (Low entertainment budget)

• Monday - Weak Pillar
• Tuesday - Strong Pillar
• Wednesday - Weak Pillar
• Thursday - Strong Pillar
• Friday - Weak Pillar
• Saturday - Strong Pillar
• Sunday - Weak Pillar

This is a pretty basic style of entertainment pillaring with a budget that permits 3 nights of entertainment. You’ll notice that instead of going heavy on Thursday through Saturday, I have split the events up, and I’ll now explain a few of the reasons why…

First, customer fatigue. Give your regulars some time to decompress, and discuss the next event at the water cooler before shoving another event at them. Loyal customers want to be a part of all the major events, and there is no reason they would have to stay away on nights that nothing is happening in between. On the contrary, I believe you will find heightened sales on nights such as Wednesdays and Fridays between events as well, when guests come back to reminisce about past events, pick up leftover vehicles (don’t drink and drive, people), and come back for the food and drink specials they noticed when they were at your last show.

Example 2

Here, I’d like to actually use fun game examples to your weekly calendar that would work in almost any bar, restaurant, or other live entertainment venue. I’ll also add up the full expenses afterwards, but I will work with the assumption you are going to host the games yourself, or have one of your staff members host the games, that are already on paid salary. This will save you up to $300 per night in paying a local trivia company to host your games instead.

• Monday - Mingo Night! Or Music Bingo, Music dobOFF, whatever you call it this is an easy addition. Let’s try one game at 6pm for the after work crowd, and another at 8pm to keep your dinner guests around for an extra drink or two.

Game 1: “Body Parts” ($9.99)
Game 2: “TV Theme Songs” ($9.99)
These games are both classics. They can probably be used once a month and people will still love them!

• Tuesday - Your 2nd best food specials for the week
• Wednesday - “Game Show Trivia Night” - General Knowledge trivia games on the big-screen. I recommend the store 5 Below to find inexpensive prizes ($5 or less), but that people still get interested over!

Game: Fat Bottom Trivia “Wild Wild West” ($24.99)

• Thursday - Your #2 Drink Special (½ price wine night is still one of my favorites)
• Friday - Your #1 food and drink Specials

This is a consistently overlooked error for many up-and-coming restaurants… They think “oh it’s Friday, people want to go out anyways, so let’s make the maximum amount per customer.

Unfortunately, this is a short-lived philosophy. People will get fatigued quickly by over-paying on Fridays. My motto is: “Give the people what they want!” They will respect you for it, and become loyal on other days of the week. There is plenty of competition in town. Give your #1 on Fridays when you have maximum exposure to clients.

• Saturday - Music Trivia Game Show!

Game: Music Trivia Party - “Boy Bands & Divas” ($24.99)

• Sunday - #3 food and drink specials (Do a brunch special if you have it! Get them in early…)

Ok, so considering you were already running these food & drink specials, the games themselves only add up to less than $70 for the week. This gives you plenty of room to buy prizes for the top teams at 5 Below. And remember, when you buy these games, you can definitely use them more than once! Come back to them in a few months, and your entertainment budget will be even less. Of course, we’ll have some new games out by then, that we’ve tested in front of real audiences, as we do for all our games :) And I’m sure you’ll love them too.

Thanks for listening! Please reach out and let me know what’s new in your area for entertainment, and how it’s working out with Music dobOFF bingo cards, and Fat Bottom Trivia!

Dusty Ramsbottom
Fat City Entertainment