How KFAN’s Cory Cove created Minnesota’s most addictive word game

Broadcaster Marney Gellner is too much of a professional to show emotion when she’s covering the Wolves and the Lynx. It’s a different story when she’s the competitor.

During a recent edition of the Initials Game, a staple on KFAN’s Power Trip Morning Show since 2014, Gellner fell just short of busting her losing streak. That didn’t restrain her from celebrating every one of her right answers as if she had just nailed a fade-away jump shot, leaping out of her studio chair, jabbing a fist into the air, trash talking her opponents and initiating finger rolls with eventual winner Paul “Meatsauce” Lambert.

The thrill of playing the game, invented by show co-host Cory Cove, is no longer limited to radio personalities.

More than 60 bars and microbreweries in Minnesota and North Dakota offer weekly contests, catnip for lovers of Wordle and Trivial Pursuit.

At Falling Knife Brewing Co. in Minneapolis, you need to arrive 15 minutes early to guarantee a good seat. The teams at St. Paul’s Summit Brewing Co. recently ranged from a single woman to an entire family with baby in tow. There were fewer than 15 players at Bennett’s Chop & Railhouse in St. Paul earlier this month, but that didn’t make the team Quizzy Borden’s early round victory any less sweet.

“It’s a cool and easy date night for us,” said Woodbury’s Kyralyn Sullivan as she and her Borden teammate contemplated ordering desserts.

For those who would rather play at home, the sixth edition of the board game just came out, welcome news for St. Louis Park superfans Stephannie Kellogg and her husband, Scott Miller.

“It’s the best game we’ve ever owned for a large group of people,” she said. “We’re addicted.”

The game is a bit difficult to explain, but easy to play. Teams or individuals have to guess a person, place, thing or phrase with set initials. For example, if the category was “CB,” correct answers could be Charlie Brown, curve ball or coffee break. Players are given a series of six clues, starting with the obscure and becoming more and more obvious. The faster you figure it out, the more points you get.

At a recent showdown, the initials were “GG.” The first clue, “Had trouble in 1984,″ didn’t trigger many correct responses. The second — “Was given a red notice” — was also perplexing. But by the third clue — “Left Israel” — most had figured out that the host was looking for “Gal Gadot” with the first two hints referencing the “Wonder Woman” movies.

KFAN personality Mark Parrish, who routinely competes on the air, is amazed at how the game has taken off.

“When I started playing the game, it blew my mind how many women wanted to talk to me about it,” he said right before taking pictures with two listeners who won a chance to watch the studio showdown. “Cory created a monster.”

Cove, 45, who started at KFAN as an intern in 2002, came up with idea 11 years ago when colleague A.J. Mansour was leaving the station (he returned four days later). As a parting gift, Cove came up with a bit in which the on-air team would have to figure out other famous people who shared A.J.’s initials, like Angelina Jolie.

“They were terrible clues. It was like reading a Wikipedia page,” said Cove, sitting in a coffee shop booth a few floors below the radio studio, dressed in all black and a baseball cap. “It took me about a year or two to realize we should add things and titles and made it more of a puzzle than just trivia. The riddles are what makes it fun.”

Despite Cove’s criticism of the first 100 games, it was an instant smash.

“As soon as we started doing it, that’s when our ratings really started to grow,” said co-host Chris Hawkey. “People who would never listen to KFAN realized that we weren’t just talking about sports.”

KFAN program director Chad Abbott said digital listening gets a bump on Friday mornings when they usually play. He called it “the high-water mark of the week” for the entire station.

It helps that familiar names like Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell, comedian Chris Hardwick and Dave Simonett from Trampled By Turtles have joined in. The annual celebrity tournament, which kicks off this week, includes Kelsey Cook and Chad Daniels, the state’s most popular stand-up comics.

Cove writes all the copy for the radio version and board game. It’s not easy.

Each round of 12 questions takes him two hours — but it’s worth it. So far, he’s grossed $1.5 million.

He’s tempted to test it nationally, but worries that the investment will be too large and that those outside of the KFAN market might be hard to attract.

“I’m convinced if it was in every Target in Minnesota, it would fly out the door. I don’t know if I saw this in Arkansas, I would buy it,“ said Cove, who sells each set himself for $39.99 at initialsgame.com. “I’m a gambler. I love risk. But there are small risks and big risks. Going national would be a significant risk.”

The rosiest future might be through the bar scene.

Trivia Mafia, which operates many of the states’ pub quizzes, approached Cove over two years ago about licensing the game. After 18 months of testing and employing wordsmiths to write questions, it launched at Falling Knife last August and hopes to be in at least 100 bars by the end of next year. It’s even a staple at a California tavern and will soon be coming to Milwaukee.

“I could just in my head see a tavern full of people really enjoying it,” said Trivia Mafia CEO Chuck Terhark. ”I think of it almost more of like a bingo or meat raffle experience. Yes, it’s got trivia engagement, but it’s such a different experience."

Terhark said the game has particularly caught on in bars outside the Twin Cities area where entertainment options are more limited. The Thirsty Beaver in Elysian, a town of about 700 people, attracts about 10 teams a week. Paddlefish Brewing in St. Peter draws as many as 30 teams.

Cove is mulling over other ways to expand, including the development of a kids version. In the meantime, he’s probably sweating over questions for the initials “QZ.”

“My favorite part is that the radio show, the board game and the bar game all feed each other,” he said. “Hopefully, we’ll build an empire based on a stupid radio bit.”