How to Host a Pub Quiz

We write new quizzes every week, so we've spent a lot of time thinking about what makes a quiz night go well and what makes one fall flat. Most of it comes down to one thing: the people playing should have fun. Here's what we've learned about the format, the difficulty, marking, and the awkward subject of phones.

How many rounds, and how long it takes

Most pub quizzes run to six or eight rounds of ten questions. With marking and a break in the middle, that fills about two hours, which is as long as most people want to sit and think on a weeknight. Mix the rounds up: a general knowledge round, a news round on what happened this week, a picture round, a music round and something themed. A handout such as a sheet of dingbats is good for the break, because it keeps tables busy while you mark and gives the slower teams a chance to catch up.

Read every question twice, slowly. Leave a short gap before moving on, and don't be afraid to repeat one if a table asks. Put the scores up after every round or two, so teams know where they stand.

Getting the difficulty right

This is the hardest part, and the good news is that you're better placed to judge it than anyone else. If you host in your own pub, you already know most of the people who come in. You know which table knows its football, which one does the crossword every morning, and which one is mainly there for a night out. No quiz book or website knows that. Use it.

Then listen while the quiz is going on. People rarely heckle, but they will talk quite loudly about how hard a question was, or how badly they think they're doing. That's the best feedback you'll ever get, and it's free. If half the room groans at round two, make round four a bit kinder. If a round gets a cheer when you read the title, do more like it.

Aim for a spread in every round: a few that almost everyone gets, a few that most teams get, and one or two that only the best teams will know. Every team should go home with a respectable score. Nobody comes back next week after scoring three out of ten in every round.

Everyone who writes quiz questions does this, so it's not a criticism. It's just something to watch for. The things you know well feel like common knowledge, because you know them. If you're a West Ham fan, it's very easy to end up with three West Ham questions in a football round and think nothing of it. If you can sing every word of the theme tune to The Fall Guy, a question about it will feel obvious to you. To most of the room it's fairly specialist knowledge.

Knowing that sort of thing is part of the fun of being a quiz fan, and there's nothing wrong with putting the odd one in. But a question nobody can answer isn't fun for the people playing, however much you enjoyed writing it. When you read through your questions before the night, ask of each one: would most of the people in this room have a fair chance at it? If it's only you, swap it out.

Marking: three ways to do it

Teams swap sheets and mark each other's. It's quick and it saves you a lot of work. The downside is that it can cause arguments, especially when a rival team is being strict about spelling or a half-right answer. If you do it this way, be clear that the quizmaster has the final say.

You mark everything yourself. It's the fairest, and nobody can argue with a rival's marking. But it takes a lot of your time, and with a big room it can slow the whole night down. It's easier if you have a helper.

Teams mark their own while you read out the answers. This is the quickest of all. Collect the sheets afterwards, and if the scores at the top are close, have a quick look through them before you announce anything. In our experience it works well in a friendly pub where most people know each other.

Whichever you choose, a printed quizmaster scoresheet makes the adding up much easier, and our free answer sheets have a score box at the bottom of each one.

Phones and cheating

To be honest, there's no complete answer to this one. Anyone with a phone could look up almost every answer in a few seconds, and you can't watch every table. Ask at the start for phones to stay in pockets, and remind people that it's a bit of fun with a small prize. Most people are happy to play fair.

If you suspect a team is cheating, the signs are usually in the pattern rather than any one answer. A team that gets a really obscure answer right, then has no idea about an easier question on the same subject, can look a bit odd. Even so, accusing someone of cheating is very difficult, and it can go badly wrong, especially if you're hosting in a venue you don't own and the team are regulars. If you want to say something, a friendly chat with the table is usually better than anything said over the microphone.

Sometimes the best thing is to let the room deal with it. Other teams notice phones far more than you do from the front, and they'll usually say something. A bit of good-natured ribbing from the next table does more than any rule.

Have a tiebreaker ready

Sooner or later two teams will finish level. Have a question with a number for an answer ready, and give the win to whoever gets closest. We've got a list of tiebreaker questions and answers, and it's worth having three or four ready in case the first one doesn't settle it.

What to bring on the night

Your questions and answers, printed, plus a few spare questions in case one turns out to be wrong.
Answer sheets for every team and every round, and a few spares.
Plenty of pens. They always disappear.
A scoresheet, and a calculator if you don't trust your mental arithmetic late in the evening.
Tiebreaker questions and slips.
A microphone if the room is big or noisy. Your voice will thank you by round six.
A prize. It doesn't need to be much: a bottle of wine, a round of drinks or a bar tab is plenty.

Need questions?

We send out a free ten-question current affairs round every Sunday, as a printable PDF with an answer sheet, so you always have a news round ready for the week. When you sign up you'll also get a free pack of at least five of our quizzes, and our printable answer sheets and tiebreaker cards.

For picture rounds and themed rounds, have a look at our TV quizzes, advert quizzes and Christmas quizzes, or the whole range on our Etsy shop. They're all printable PDFs with answers, ready to use.