We’ve all wondered how to run a pub quiz… Well, we have! It’s a great way to bring people together and (*cough) increase revenue at your business. The trick – to blend some healthy competition, dad jokes and just enough mayhem to keep everyone coming back.
To make a great pub quiz, you’ll need a framework that’s feels natural and functions flawlessly. Here’s the break down of how we make our pub quizzes organised, fun and unforgettable:
Purpose
Before doing anything – decide why you want to run a pub quiz. For friends, revenue boost, charity event? Your goals will shape so much about your quiz: rounds, prizes, tone and difficulty. A charity night might lean more towards inclusivity and humour while a trivia buff night might demand a more serious tone. And a Harry Potter Trivia night will need to bring the magic (literally).
Venue & Setup
You’ve got they why, not let’s chomp into the how: Venues will set the mood for your pub quiz. A cosy pub works great for smaller groups while a bigger space with good acoustics suits larger crowds. Either way, you’ll need to ensure teams have the space to talk without shouting and the quizmaster can be heard clearly. Here’s a helpful checklist:
- Microphone & Speaker quality. Bad audio is unforgivable at a pub quiz.
- Lighting. There’s always a good balance to be had with soft lighting (mood) but bright enough to see you paper answers.
- Table spacing. Crowds of people need room to not feel like you’re on top of one anotehr.
Does your quiz require a screen, or are you 100% audio (reading questions only)? If so you’ll need to ensure all tables can see the screen(s). A good quiz space fools natural (not improvised).
A Perfect Pub Quiz Structure:
Your pub quiz is a well-paced story. It needs a beginning, middle and satisfying finish. Good quizzes read questions, great quizzes guide players through different emotions to fuel confidence, curiosity, laughter, frustration and triumph. And most importantly not loosing guests attention
#1 Warm Up Round
The first round sets the tone. You want to build momentum and confidence. Laughter and conversation. You want everyone in the room to feel they belong there. A fun first round will break the ice faster than any joke could.
#2 Themed Rounds
Now everyone is warmed up. Time to change gears and add a themed round(s) to keep things interesting. It’s a good idea to keep changing these (don’t repeat weekly) to keep the regulars intrigued. Here are some themed round ideas.
- Movies – Test knowledge of films from classics to blockbusters, including directors, quotes, and plot twists.
- Music – Identify songs, artists, genres, and chart-toppers across decades and styles.
- History – Explore key events, figures, and timelines from ancient civilizations to modern eras.
- Geography – Challenge with capitals, landmarks, rivers, mountains, and world flags.
- Science – Quiz on biology, physics, chemistry, inventions, and famous scientists.
- Sports – Cover rules, athletes, teams, records, and major tournaments worldwide.
- Literature – Questions on books, authors, characters, plots, and literary awards.
- Television – Focus on shows, episodes, actors, catchphrases, and TV trivia.
- Food and Drink – Identify ingredients, cuisines, recipes, and beverage histories.
- Animals – Facts about wildlife, habitats, behaviors, and endangered species.
- Mythology – Dive into gods, heroes, legends from Greek, Norse, Egyptian, and other pantheons.
- 1980s Nostalgia – Relive pop culture, events, tech, and fads from the decade.
- British Monarchs – Timeline of kings and queens, reigns, scandals, and achievements.
- Space – Missions, astronauts, planets, stars, and cosmic discoveries.
- Cryptic Clues – Wordplay puzzles, riddles, and brain-teasers for lateral thinkers.
- Superheroes – Origins, powers, villains, and comic book universes like Marvel and DC.
- Picture Round – Visual identification of celebrities, places, objects, or memes.
#3 Picture (visual) Round
A picture round is a great change of pace and reset attention. You can display them on screen, prunt or use QR codes linking to a share screen. Give everyone 5 to 10 minutes to discuss and fill in their answers. Here are some of our favourite picture round ideas:
- Celebrities (Then and Now) – Show childhood or early career photos next to current images for name identification.
- Landmarks – Identify iconic global structures like Eiffel Tower or Great Wall from unique angles.
- Movie Posters – Altered or cropped classic film posters to guess the title and year.
- Album Covers – Partially hidden or stylized music album art for artist and album name.
- World Flags – Flags with colors swapped or elements missing to name the country.
- Animal Species – Close-up photos of exotic animals or zoomed-in features for identification.
- Food Dishes – Images of international cuisines or desserts to name the dish and origin.
- Car Logos – Blurred or cropped vehicle brand emblems for recognition.
- Superhero – Comic book symbols with twists or missing parts to identify the hero.
- Book Covers – Famous literature covers with titles/authors obscured for guessing.
- TV Show Props – Iconic items from popular series like wands or thrones to name the show.
- Flower Types – Close-ups of blooms to identify species or common names.
- Paintings – Cropped sections of masterpieces like Mona Lisa for artist and title.
- Band Members – Young photos of musicians in groups to name all members.
- Currency – World banknotes partially shown to identify country and denomination.
- Birds in Flight – Silhouettes or action shots of birds for species identification.
- Olympics – Logos from past Games or medal designs to name year and host city.
- Characters – Costumed figures or helmets from various eras for character names.
- Bottle Shapes – Silhouettes of liquor, beer, or soda bottles to identify the brand.
- Insect – Macro photos of bugs for scientific or common name identification.
- Logos – Distorted or minimalist versions of brand logos like Nike or Apple.
- Cartoon Characters – Sketched or stylized drawings to name the show and character.
- Instruments – Unusual angles or vintage models to identify the instrument type.
#4 Momentum (/ transition) Rounds
Outside of a ‘general’ question and answer round. You can ramp up the momentum with a fast paced inserter round. These are designed to grab peoples attention as they’ll need to pay close attention to increased tempo of this style of round. Here are some ideas to turn up the heat:
- Music or Audio Round – Play 10-15 second song intros, movie quotes, or sound effects for rapid identification.
- True or False – Fire off 20 quick T/F questions on general knowledge with no discussion time.
- Connection Round – Five answers share a hidden theme; teams guess the link after each clue.
- Speed Categories – Name as many as possible in 60 seconds: capitals starting with ‘B’, 80s bands, etc.
- Emoji Quiz – Interpret emoji sequences as movie titles, songs, or phrases in 30 seconds per team.
- Buzz-In Trivia – Teams buzz (shout or slap table) to answer rapid-fire general knowledge questions.
- Anagram Blitz – 10 scrambled words or names to unscramble within a 2-minute timer.
- Guess the Year – Quick clues for events, hits, or births; teams shout years in sequence.
- One-Word Answers – All responses must be single words; 15 questions in 3 minutes.
- Initials Challenge – Decode abbreviations like BBC, FIFA into full names super fast.
- Rhyme Time – Give a clue; teams shout rhyming answers (e.g., “feline queen” = cat hat).
- Alphabet Race – Name items in a category (e.g., countries) from A to Z, skipping turns.
- Quick Fire Capitals – Host reads countries; first team to shout correct capital scores.
- Sound-Alike Names – Homophone pairs like “pair/pear” to identify celebs or places fast.
- Number Crunch – Rapid math or counting questions like “How many sides on a dodecahedron?”
- Synonym Sprint – Give a word; teams yell synonyms in 10 seconds for points.
- Reverse Trivia – Teams write quick questions for answers like “Eiffel Tower”; host verifies.
- Chain Reaction – Teams add one word to a category chain (e.g., footballers) without repeating.
- Pictionary Speed – Draw and guess movie titles, bands, or objects in 20 seconds per turn.
Finale
The final round should feel like a real challenge. This is the time to separate the boys from the men (usually a handful of teams gunning for 1st place). This is where bragging rights are (and a free pizza) earned, These questions should be slightly harder but still fair. It’s time to test teams reasoning of depth of knowledge rather than obscure facts.
Add a bonus or tie-breaker question to heighten suspense (if needed). If you need to find a clear winner some good ideas are closest number wins:
- Jelly Beans – Guess the number of jelly beans in a standard large glass jar
- Length of the Great Wall – Nearest kilometer to the total length of China’s Great Wall (21,196 km).
- Steps in a Marathon – Approximate steps for an average person running a marathon (actual: ~50,000).
- Sharks’ Teeth – Total teeth a great white shark grows in its life (actual: ~30,000).
- Bacterial Cells in Human Gut – Number of bacteria in average adult microbiome (actual: 38 trillion).
- Lightning Strikes Globally – Strikes per second worldwide (actual: 44).
- Ants on Earth – Estimated total individual ants (actual: 20 quadrillion).
- Nerve Cells in Brain – Average neurons in human brain (actual: 86 billion).
- Red Blood Cells Produced Daily – By average adult bone marrow (actual: 2 trillion).
- Asteroids in Main Belt – Known objects over 1 km (actual: ~1.1 million).
- Grains of Sand on Earth – Estimated total (actual: ~7.5 quintillion).
- Virus Particles on Earth – Estimated total bacteriophages (actual: 10^31).
- Tree Leaves Globally – Estimated total (actual: ~2.5 trillion).
- Coral Polyps in Great Barrier Reef – Individual animals (actual: ~400 million).
- Lightning Bolts in Thunderstorm – Average per major storm (actual: ~10,000).
- Radio Sources in Sky – Detected by radio telescopes (actual: millions, exact ~3M).
- Neutron Stars Spins per Second – Fastest known pulsar (actual: 716 Hz).
- Dark Matter Percentage – Of universe’s mass-energy (actual: 27%).
- Distance to the Moon – Average in kilometers (actual: 384,400 km).
- Calories in a Big Mac – Approximate (actual: 563).
- Wimbledon Grass Court Length – In meters (actual: 23.77 m).
- Tesla Model 3 Range – Nearest km on a full charge (actual: ~500 km).
Example Pub Quiz Rounds:
Here’s a clean, guaranteed 2 hour pub quiz:
- Round 1: 10 simple general knowledge questions.
- Round 2: Themed round (pub classics: flags, music &geography)
- Round 3: Picture round, hand our sheets (popular: celebrities as kids)
- Round 4: Music/ Movie name the tune or move (audio round)_
- Round 5: Brain burners, hard questions (general knowledge)
Total: 50 question (51 with a tie breaker) with short breaks built in.
Sourcing Questions
To create quizzes that are always fresh, draw from mutipal topic areisa like local history, pop culture, science, spot, music etc. This way your audince wont slip into a comfort zone too early. Good Sources include reputable books, trusted website, recent news.Even with a high degree of confidence for any given question, it’s a good idea to get multipal references. Or run a quick AI prompt such as:
You are a meticulous fact-checker and QA reviewer
- Questions:
- Answer:
Your task is to verify the factual claim, Not what is correct, uncertain or incorrect. Scan for ambiguous wording that might have multiple valid interpretations or missing assumptions. Flag any unclear phrasing, weasel words or biased framing and suggest clearer alternatives.
Flow & Difficulty
A truely great quiz feels effortless. Questions feel in the right order, not too easy and challenging enough to keep everyone engaged. You’re stirring debate, pride and bran cells.
Difficulty drivers emotion. The sweet spot lies in the tension of answers being on the tip of your tongue. Your job is to guide emotional rhythm. Think of it like a running pace, bursts of energy with stretches of ease. Done right players feel tested and entertained. Always open with accessible questions. Invite particpaion and let teams score early wins to get them invested. This is the warm up act.
Switching between topics give everyone the chance to shite (the geography geek, music lover and movie buff alike). Don’t just change up difficulty, change how people think. Alternate between:
- Recall
- Recognition
- Reasoning
- Sensory
Waves of difficulty: Rather than a a straight slop from easy to hard try waves the ebb and flow. Example: Easy Start → moderate →slightly tough → fun → finale.
Keeping Score
Scoring might sound like the simple part of a pub quiz, but this is where trust lives or dies. How you handle scores (and conflict amongst teams) can shape how people hande the night. Fair scoring, open communication keep the atmosphere right (even as competition gets fierce). People don’t expect perfection, but they do expect honesty.
Start With Clear Rules:
Before each round, take a minute to explain how the scoring works. Make it simple and unambiguous. Example:
- 1 point per correct answer
- Half points for (specific circumstance)
- No changing answers after collection.
- No phones!
Deliver these with confidence and humour ^.
Use a clear answer systems: Once questions are written, think about how you’ll collect and check the answers. The system should be consistent, transparent and quick. The classic and time tested method is teams answer on paper, and swap with a neighbouring table to make answers. Addionally that team will submit your score to quiz mastert.
Socring alone while hosting is tough. A helpter (or scorekeeper) speeds everything up and reduces errors. If you can display teams scores on a screen between rounds is a great way to keep that healthy competition going.
Handle Tiebreakers With Style: Ties happen, and they’re SUPER fun! Always have one ready (ideas above).
Announce Results With Energy: As each round is tallied, bring energy building up to the top teams. Add drama and excitement (especially if prizes are involved).
Address disputes Diplomatically: Disagreements may arise you must be fair and firm in your decision making. Never argue in front of a crown instead opt to chat to teams privately.
Learn From Each Quiz
No pub quiz is perfect on day 1. Learn from your mistakes, build confidence, learn how to read a room and handle conflict. Asking for feedback is a great way to speed up the learning curve as well! Over time you should have a template to execute a clear, engaging and unforgettable pub quiz evening! Game on!