Good news and bad news…

Friends–

Happy holidays, of course. As the Big Quiz Thing gets ready to move into the New Year, I have good news and bad news.

The good news first:

As you are likely aware, the typical BQT event (in NYC, at least) features a cash jackpot of $250. The winning team gets $200, the runner-up squad receives $50. That buys a lot of drinks, folks. But starting with the January 3 episode, we're upping the numbers: $300 in cash prizes. The champs still get $200, second place still pockets $50, but now, third place will receive $25. Every team in the big Three-Way Finale will earn cold, hard cash. Useless knowledge isn't so useless, is it?

And that last $25? Get this—we're giving it to tenth place. Why tenth place? A little somethin' somethin' for those people aren't quite as nerdy as the top scorers. Sharing the wealth—I'm a Marxist socialist wealth redistributor, after all.

Now the bad news…

The cover charge is going to $10. Apologies, but a few things to keep in mind: (1) We haven't raised the price in over five years. In that time, the show has expanded and improved; you still get a completely original multimedia live show, approximately every two weeks, for less than the cost of a movie. We got value up the wazoo. (2) The fact that we're raising the cover charge isn't actually bad news from my and EDP's point of view. See how that works?

The next event is January 3—eight days away, at a new venue, Drom. We're hoping to stick as close to the every-other-Monday schedule in 2011, but we'll keep you posted. You're the best fans in the world.