A pub quiz without answer sheets, without marking and without arguments about who shouted first. With a projector and the phones everyone carries anyway, you can put together a quiz night in a few hours that runs smoothly. Here's how.
What do you need?
- A laptop with a big screen: a projector, a TV or a large screen in the pub.
- Internet, for you and for the players. Wi-Fi in the venue is handy, but mobile data works too.
- Speakers, if you want music or sound effects.
- A quiz. You can make one for free in Sparqel. You can start building straight away; you only create a free account when you play it live.
Players don't need to install anything. They open sparqel.com, type in the PIN shown on the screen or scan the QR code, choose a name and they're in.
Step 1: plan your rounds
An evening of four to six rounds with eight to ten questions each is a good start. Mix up the question types to keep things exciting:
- Quiz and True or false for the quick-fire stuff.
- Slider for estimation questions: how tall is the Eiffel Tower? Whoever gets closest scores the most.
- Pin answer for a geography round: drop a pin in the right place on the map.
- Puzzle to put things in the right order, such as inventions or films.
- Type answer for the real experts, with no options to choose from.
Put a slide with the title of the next round between rounds. It gives everyone a breather and time to get a drink.
Already have your questions in a list? Download the Excel template in the editor, paste your questions into it and import the file. It saves a lot of typing.
Step 2: choose how you play
When you start the game, you choose the game mode:
- Classic is the default. The faster the right answer, the more points, up to 1000 per question.
- Teams works well when people sit in groups. If you turn it on, teams talk it over first; then everyone answers on their own phone. The team score is the average of its members, so a big team has no advantage.
- Accuracy takes away the time pressure: only right or wrong counts.
Up to 50 players can join at once. Is your venue bigger? Let each table play with one phone and use the table name as the player name. That way even a packed pub fits.
Step 3: the night itself
Start the game on the laptop connected to the big screen. The lobby shows the PIN and QR code in large print, with lobby music in the background. You see everyone arrive; you can remove an inappropriate name with one click.
During the game, each question appears on the screen and players pick their answer on their phone. After each question you see the results and a scoreboard with the top 5. At the end comes the podium, with confetti for the winners.
A few handy buttons:
- Autoplay: the game moves on by itself after the results. That leaves your hands free to present.
- Reactions: players send emojis that float across the screen. Great for the atmosphere.
- Lock the lobby if you don't want anyone else to join. If you leave the lobby open, latecomers can simply jump in from the next question.
Afterwards
You get a report with the results, per question and per player. You can see which question everyone got wrong, which makes a great talking point at the bar. You can also download everything as Excel.
Want to use the quiz again, or share it with another quizmaster? Share it with a link, and they can play it or make their own copy.
Checklist for the night
- Play through the quiz once on your own phone.
- Check that the venue Wi-Fi works, and put the password on a card on each table.
- Plug the laptop into the mains and turn off notifications.
- Explain how to join before the first question.