Pub Quiz Nights

Tutorials, Tips and Shenanigans

We thought it'd be good if we gave you a few hints and tips on how to effectively run our quiz nights.

We'll always recommend you drop into an existing one nearby prior to running your first regular event, however our tutorials will help you get your quiz night just right.

We go through every aspect of our quiz in great detail below, just click on each video - hopefully this helps!

Quiz Delivery

Technology & Scoring

Last Man Standing

Ponderous Puzzle

The List

Jackpot

Quizmaster Tips

You might think it's never easy to run a quiz straight off the bat… Once you're a couple of rounds in you'll be away. And by the second week you'll feel like you've been doing it for years! Here are some helpful tips from our experienced crew:

  • A microphone is a quizmaster's best friend. No need to lose that voice over trivial things!
  • Teams are not expecting you to be John Hawkesby or Eddie Maguire. Just be organised, friendly and inject a bit of humour and you'll be well-received. Quiz humour develops from the questions, make sure you mention silly answers – and bear in mind that it's usually those teams that expect you to give them a hard time!
  • Be fair on everyone, if it's an even playing field, you will make more friends than enemies. If teams perceive you are giving another an unfair advantage by helping them or dropping hints, they will feel somewhat aggrieved. Having said that, if a team is always struggling, and likely to be last, then I usually do what I can to encourage them…
  • If someone disputes an answer, remind them the questions are twice-verified, more often than not we're right and they're wrong! And rather than argue, if you are in any doubt, text 027 485 0375 and receive an instant reply with clarification to your question.
  • Try and convince a team to stay even if they're intending to only be there for a short time. It's simple to say “have a go, it's free”, and often they will join in, and still be there at the end of the night.
  • Encourage teams to make a note of the question in the margin if they don't know the answer. This way, they can quickly refer back to it at a moment's notice, not bothering you with “What was No. 4 again?” etc etc.
  • Cheating does happen, but very rarely. Teams cheat by using modern technology, i.e. laptops and cellphones, or swapping answers with each other. You can usually tell when it's happening – I usually put teams on notice to dob each other in!
  • Encourage teams not to call out answers, remind them before you start that it's a written quiz. Despite this, expect to hear someone say an answer far too loudly when you ask the first question!
  • A quick quiz is a good quiz. Aim to have everything done and dusted in 2.5 hours. If you allow 15 minutes per round you'll find this works out well.
  • Can't get the multimedia scoreboard to work? Or unsure about the exact sequence to run the quiz? Follow these instructions:

Shenanigans

Noun: she·nan·i·gans \SHə-ˈna-ni-gənz\

Definition: Silly or high-spirited behaviour; mischief; tomfoolery.

Need something out of left field for your quiz night? Try one of the following:

The Hot Seat – Gone In 60 Seconds!

Each team nominates someone to verbally answer as many questions as they can in 60 seconds. Find a gnarly old antique chair for this purpose and watch the shenanigans begin! Alternatively, draw someone's name out of a hat and every week just one person sits in the hot seat, with the highest score throughout the quiz season crowned as the winner.

The Lucky Envelope

The quiz host writes a number down on a piece of paper at the start of the quiz, which is placed into a sealed envelope. At the end of the night, the envelope is opened, and the lucky number revealed. Whichever team's score is nearest to that number wins a prize. A lower number is better – that way none of the top-placed teams win this prize.

Quiz League

Nominate a set period, say three months. Over the thirteen weeks, keep a tally of each teams score. At the end of the league, subtract each team's worst three scores, and award overall prizes plus a champion's trophy. This allows a team to miss any three weeks, yet still be in the competition.

Guess The Winning Score

When collecting in your Joker forms, ask each team to guess what the winning score will be. The team that gets it spot on wins a prize. In the event of a tie, toss a coin or play an impromptu game of Paper, Scissors, Rock.

Prize Pool

Keep track of every team's weekly scores, and reward them every time they hit a prize point. For instance, you might give them a pizza once their cumulative score hits 250 points, a round of beers at 500 points, and a platter and shots all round at 1,000 points. And perhaps an extra prize for the most points in a calendar year?

Cocktail Crazy

Place an array of liqueurs and mixers on the bar, then ask each team to nominate someone to create a cocktail or shooter of your choice. Judge who makes it most closely to the recipe. Beware, this one can get VERY messy!

Cellphone Racing

A member of each team places their cellphone on the middle of a nominated table. The cellphones must be set to vibrate. On 'GO', allow anyone else in their team to ring the cellphone. The first to fall off the edge of the table is declared the winner. By the way, a post-it note placed on each one makes commentary easier…

Twenty Questions

The quiz host thinks of a famous person/country/object that they know something about. Pick a team. They are allowed to ask a question which can only have a yes/no answer. If they ask a question whose answer is yes, they get to ask another question until they get one wrong, at which time the quiz host moves on to the next team, until eventually the answer is solved.

Champion's Table

Nominate a certain area of the pub and sit the reigning champions there, treat them like royalty and make a big fuss. It works best when the reigning champions are very proud of their achievements, as dethroning them then becomes a priority to all of the other teams.

The Generation Game Jackpot

Use our three question Jackpot to create a prize worth studying for! Approach local businesses to sponsor a prize, or broach the subject with punters in the various quiz teams. The first week you might pop in a large pizza and a bottle of wine; if not struck you could add a pair of movie tickets and a $20 bar tab in the second week. If it carries over to the third week (as it should, the Jackpot is very difficult after all), in the pot goes a round of tequilas plus a night's babysitting courtesy of the local lass who wanted her company mentioned every week when the jackpot prizes are announced. And so on and so forth, until the pool is overflowing with goodies to be eventually split among the winning team!

Second To Last Prize

It's easy to throw the quiz and come stone-cold-dead-motherless-last, however second-to-last requires more skill. Reward the teams who come relentlessly every week, despite never having a prayer of winning.

Many thanks to Tony Wheeler and his team at Raising The Bar Consulting for their contribution to this page.

Random Quiz Question


Top