At Christmas everyone is together, and there's a phone next to every plate anyway. A Christmas quiz turns that into a game in half an hour, for the whole family or for the office Christmas party. Nobody has to install anything and you don't have to mark a thing. Here's how.
What do you need?
- A big screen: the TV with a laptop connected, or a projector.
- Internet for you and for the players.
- 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 go to sparqel.com, type in the PIN shown on the TV or scan the QR code, choose a name and they're in. Up to 50 players at once, so even a big family fits.
Four rounds for a Christmas quiz
Three or four short rounds of six to eight questions are plenty. Put a slide with the title of the next round between rounds. It gives everyone time to top up their drinks.
1. Christmas around the world
Facts about traditions. Where do lots of people eat fried chicken from a fast-food chain at Christmas? (Japan.) Which country did the tradition of a Christmas tree in the house come from? (Germany.) A Quiz question with four answers works well here, and a Pin answer on a world map makes it extra exciting.
2. Films and music
A Christmas film round always goes down well. What year did Home Alone come out? With a Slider, whoever gets closest to 1990 scores the most. For a music round, add a clip from YouTube or Vimeo to the question and choose where it starts and ends. The clip plays on the TV, so turn the sound on.
3. The family round
This is the round it's all about. Upload an old photo and ask who's the baby in it. Or use a Puzzle to put four cousins in order of age. With Type answer you ask for grandma's favourite dish: whoever knows it exactly, wins.
4. The finale
End with a question that has no right or wrong answer: "Describe this year in one word." A word cloud then shows in one picture how the year felt for the family. Read how it works in live word cloud.
With children and grandparents
Not everyone types equally fast or has a phone. A few settings help:
- Teams: let a child play together with an adult, or grandad with a grandchild. Teams talk it over first before they answer. The team score is the average of its members, so a big team has no advantage.
- No time pressure: fast or slow doesn't matter, only right or wrong counts. Nice when young children are playing.
- Images as answers: for anyone who can't read well yet. Read the question out loud and let them choose from pictures instead of words.
All the game modes are explained on the game modes page.
At the office party
It works the same with colleagues. Let departments play against each other in teams and finish with the podium and confetti. Is part of the team working from home? Share the screen with the game in your video call; they simply answer on their phones. Find more ideas for colleagues in team quiz ideas.
No time to come up with questions?
Then start with a ready-made quiz from Discover, such as the pub quiz: general knowledge. Make a copy and add your own Christmas questions after it. Need even more questions? Trivia questions with answers has forty of them, in five rounds.