Guide

How to host a pub quiz

Most quiz nights fail for the same few reasons, and none of them are the questions. They run too long, the scoring falls apart, or the host cannot be heard. Get those three right and a middling set of questions will still fill a room every week.

How long should a pub quiz be?

Ninety minutes, including the break. That usually means six rounds of ten questions, or four rounds of fifteen if you want fewer scoring breaks.

The temptation is always to run longer, because the room is enjoying itself an hour in. Resist it. People leave a two-hour quiz remembering that it dragged; they leave a ninety-minute quiz asking what time it starts next week. If you are selling food and drink, a shorter quiz that people stay after is worth more than a long one they leave during.

How many rounds, and in what order

Six is the usual number. The order matters more than most hosts think, because it controls how the room feels rather than what it scores.

Open with something everyone can answer — food and drink, or easy general knowledge. The first round is not a test, it is a way of getting every table writing and talking before anyone has a chance to feel out of their depth. Put your hardest round somewhere in the middle, once people are warmed up and the scores need separating. Finish with something loud and communal: a music round, or a picture round people can argue over.

Vary the format as well as the topic. Six written rounds in a row is a long night. A picture round, a music round and one round where teams have to confer loudly will each change the temperature of the room.

Scoring without losing an hour

Scoring is where most quizzes fall apart. Swapping answer sheets between tables is traditional and it is also where the arguments start, especially if the teams are competitive or there is real prize money.

Whatever method you choose, decide these in advance and say them out loud at the start: whether spelling counts, whether you accept a surname only, and what happens in a tie. Announcing a rule after a disputed answer always looks like a decision about that answer.

Read the scores out between rounds rather than only at the end. A team that knows it is two points off the lead plays differently from a team with no idea where it stands.

The things that actually empty a room

Nobody can hear you. A pub at full volume will beat an unamplified voice every time, and teams that cannot hear a question stop trying. If you are reading aloud in a busy room, use a microphone or put the questions on a screen.

Dead air between rounds. Marking takes as long as it takes, but silence while it happens kills the mood. Have something running — music, the scores, a picture round on the screen.

Questions written to be clever. A question nobody gets is a wasted question. You are not trying to beat the room; you are trying to give it the pleasure of nearly knowing. The best pub quiz question is one where two people at the table each half-remember something and argue their way to the answer.

Starting late. Start within ten minutes of the advertised time, every week, even if it is quiet. Regulars organise their evening around it, and a quiz with a reputation for starting whenever loses them first.

Team names

Worth two minutes of thought as a host, because it is the one part of the night the teams write themselves. Ask for names as people arrive rather than at the start, or you will lose ten minutes to six tables deliberating. Keep a list of pub quiz team names behind the bar for the tables who cannot decide — it stops the first round starting late. Some hosts award a point for the best one, which costs nothing and gets latecomers invested before a question has been asked.

Prizes

A bar tab beats cash. It keeps the winnings in the room, it is cheaper than it looks, and it gives the winning team a reason to stay another hour. A small prize for last place is worth more than it costs — it makes losing funny rather than embarrassing, and it keeps weaker teams coming back, which is what actually fills a room week to week.

Where to get the questions

You can write your own, but it takes far longer than people expect: sixty good questions a week is a serious commitment, and the hard part is not finding facts, it is judging difficulty.

If you want the whole thing settled in one go, there is a complete 100-question quiz night laid out in five rounds, in running order. Otherwise there are free ready-made rounds here with the answers included, covering general knowledge, football, music, film, history, geography, science and food. Print them, read them aloud, or put them on a screen.

A festive night is its own problem — a busier room, a drunker room, and half the teams there for the works do rather than the quiz. There is a separate guide to running a Christmas quiz covering how to adapt for it, and a free Christmas round to go with it.