Quiz Guides
What Kind of Quiz Should I Host in a Pub?
Jan
Pub quizzes have been popular in the UK for many, many years now with a huge number of different aged participants visiting their local pub for a bit of light-hearted fun. However, the traditional format can become tiresome – switching it up is where we can help.
At Quiz on Demand, we have a variety of fun and unique quiz rounds which are great for mixing things up if you feel like the standard format isn’t for you.
The different types of pub quizzes
There are a huge variety of different types of pub quizzes that you could choose from when you’re creating a pub quiz.
The most commonly used type is the traditional pub quiz format, which usually includes 5-8 rounds of a variety of different questions from music to general knowledge. This is generally the preferred pub quiz format and it is pretty much a fool proof method to create a fun and entertaining pub quiz.
Other types of pub quizzes include themed quizzes, in which the whole quiz is dedicated to a specific theme. This type of quiz is usually popular around events such as world cups, holidays like Christmas and even ones related to TV and film.
Most common pub quiz question rounds
There are a few different quiz question rounds which have become a staple for many for many pub quiz hosts.
General knowledge
General knowledge is one of the most common pub quiz rounds and they will usually feature in every kind of quiz, no matter whether it has a specific theme or not.
At Quiz on Demand, we create weekly quizzes which are full of current general knowledge questions that will help to ensure there are no unfair advantages, and it will also help to keep your contestants on their toes.
Picture round
Picture rounds are another very popular type of quiz round. They are usually used at the beginning or middle of the quiz, and they act as a great way to break up the usual question and answer format.
Our ‘Face Race’ quiz is made up of 12 pictures with 20 who? what? where? and when? style questions, and it acts as a great way to get your teams warmed up before you start the traditional quiz format.
Music round
Music rounds are another classic pub quiz round and many quiz goers specifically look forward to this round. Many music rounds are played in a simple format, with the intro of the song being played for a few seconds. The players are then asked to guess the song title, artist or the upcoming lyric.
TV and Film
TV and film rounds are similar to music rounds, in the sense that people love using their specific knowledge on subjects they love. There are a variety of different ways you can present this round, from showing clips on screen, traditional question and answer formats and even in pictures.
Most unique pub quiz question rounds
If you’re looking to switch up your traditional quiz format, take a look at our unique quiz rounds below.
Table Top
Table top quizzes are games that are commonly played on a flat surface, like tables, and are usually related to board games or tile-based games. Table top rounds are sometimes referred to as marathon rounds, and can be used as an additional round to keep your teams busy throughout the night and in between other rounds.
They can be focused around the theme of your quiz or you can use them to test a particular category such as sport, TV and film, music and so on.
Common types of table top rounds include:
- Cryptic puzzles
- Word or number puzzles
- Family fortunes style questions
At Quiz on Demand, we even have:
- Mystery Year
- Anagrams
- Dead or Alive
- Chart Toppers
- Catchphrase
- Spellbound
- Our Survey Said…
- Think Link
- Celebrity Birthdays
Pop Bingo
Pop Bingo is a unique and engaging round of bingo which includes famous bands and singers rather than numbers. Each team is given a bingo sheet which has the names of 20 artists on them. Throughout the night, music is played from a list of 50 selected songs. Teams then simply mark off the artists as they hear them. Your teams can play for a line and then a full house.
This is a great way to keep your participants engaged with the quiz, as they will have to pay attention to the music being played in order to win. At Quiz on Demand, we have our own Pop Bingo sheets ready to buy, download and print; and you can customise them to best suit your crowd too!
You can also read our full guide on unique pub quiz round ideas if you and your participants are bored of the standard quiz rounds.
What to avoid doing when hosting a pub quiz
The most successful types of pub quizzes and those which aren’t too complicated and follow a simple format.
Listed below are some of the most common mistakes when creating a pub quiz. Be sure to keep these in mind so you can avoid them when you make your own:
- Making questions which are too long
- Having questions that have too many possible answers
- Too many complicated rounds
- Only including one kind of question
- Having too many questions in one round
Is it easier to create a quiz with a theme?
Creating a quiz with a theme may be easier than making just a general quiz since you have a specific topic to follow, however, it really depends on how niche the theme is.
For example, themes such as World Cups are really broad, and since there has been so many, you will have a lot of content to use for a wide variety of questions from picture rounds to general knowledge, to statistics and even music rounds.
Using a theme can give you a good starting point since you will know exactly what direction you want your quiz to go in, however, you should be aware that going too niche can reduce the amount of people interested in your quiz.
Should you include table top rounds in a pub quiz?
Including different rounds, such as table top quizzes, are a great way to ensure your teams stay busy throughout the night. This can in turn help to keep the retention of your participants, especially if they have a tricky question to answer and they want to keep going back to it in between rounds.
Our table top rounds at Quiz on demand could not be easier to use. We have ready to use sheets that feature different quiz games on ready to print-off sheets that you can easily hand out to your teams before your actual quiz starts.
