Round formats
25 ways to ask a question
Every format plays on the phones teams already have, shows on the TV, and is marked by the desk. Mix them however you like: one quiz can have them all.
Tap or type
The everyday formats: a button or a box on every phone, marked as answers arrive.
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Multiple choice
Teams: Lettered buttons
Up to eight options, with a speed bonus if you like and an optional 50/50 per team. Switch it to True or false, or Before or after, for two big buttons.
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Tick all that apply
Teams: Lettered ticks
Each right tick earns a share of the points, each wrong one takes a share away.
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Letter keypad
Teams: An A–Z keypad
The first letter of the answer: quick to play, quick to mark.
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Number
Teams: A number box
An exact answer, or within a margin you set: ± a number or ± a percentage.
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Typed answer
Teams: A text box
Marked as it arrives, with alternative spellings. You have the final say.
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Answer sheet
Teams: Several boxes
Artist and title, or ten capitals: a point an item, a share each, or all or nothing. Can carry a picture or a song.
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Vote
Teams: Lettered buttons
No right answer: the room decides, and the TV shows the tally.
Pictures, sound and video
The TV does the showing; phones do the answering.
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Picture
Teams: A text box
A picture on the TV and phones. It can start blurred or under tiles and show itself as the clock runs down.
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Audio
Teams: A text box
A sound or a song played through the laptop, or a Spotify track from a start time.
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Video
Teams: A text box (“Watch the TV”)
A clip plays on the TV as the question opens. Play again or stop it from the desk or your phone.
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Sound clips
Teams: One big THIS ONE! button
Several clips play in turn; teams tap during the right one. The quicker the tap, the bigger the bonus.
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Pinpoint
Teams: The picture, to tap
Tap the spot on a map or picture, with an optional second guess, or find several places on one picture.
Puzzles
Something to work out round the table.
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Word trail
Teams: A grid of letters
The answer runs through touching letters; teams trace it. A fresh grid every time, and an optional hint.
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Letter tiles
Teams: Shuffled tiles
The answer cut into tiles, shuffled differently on every phone; teams put it back together.
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Put in order
Teams: Items to tap in order
Oldest to newest, smallest to biggest. Give each item a song and teams order the songs as they play.
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Matching pairs
Teams: A choice for each item
Match each capital to its country, each actor to their role. A point for every right pair.
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Sort into groups
Teams: A group for each item
Two to five groups: fruit or vegetable, river or mountain. A point for every item in its group.
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Link groups
Teams: Items to group, and the links to name
Items from several groups mixed together: find each group, then name what links it. Points for each.
Guesses and lists
Formats where nearly right still counts.
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Nearest wins
Teams: A number box
Closest scores most, on a sliding scale; switch on “closest without going over”. Also the tie-breaker.
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List answers
Teams: A box for each answer
“Name as many as you can”: a point for every accepted answer, in any order.
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Survey
Teams: A text box
“We asked 100 people…”: an answer scores what it was worth on your list, and the reveal ranks them.
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Progressive clues
Teams: A text box, with the clues so far
Clues appear one by one, hardest first. Answer on the first clue for full points, each later one is worth less.
Live in the room
For when the whole pub should be shouting.
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Buzz-in
Teams: A big BUZZ button
First in answers out loud; a wrong answer passes to the next team. Every team has its own buzzer sound.
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Bingo
Teams: Their own 90-ball ticket
You call the numbers; teams dab and claim. The desk checks every claim.
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Music bingo
Teams: A ticket of song titles
Songs play at random; teams dab what they hear, and the quickest go up on the TV.
Ways to play them
Options any round or the whole night can have, on top of its format.
- Picture reveals
- A picture starts blurred, or under twelve tiles, and shows itself as the clock runs down. The quicker you guess, the less you saw.
- Wagers
- Teams choose how many points to stake on their answer: won if right, lost if wrong.
- Risk It
- A wrong answer loses the points it would have won.
- VAR Check
- A team that thinks it was marked wrong appeals from its phone; the TV plays the drum roll and shows your decision.
- Send Question
- The question waits on the TV while you read it out; phones get it, and the clock starts, when you send it.
- Six fixed buttons
- Multiple choice always shows A–F on phones, so nobody can tell the last option before you read it.
- Questions on the fly
- Ask one that isn’t in the quiz, and set its answer once answers close.
- Fast Track and wheels
- Put a team straight into first place, or spin for it; team wheels, random numbers and rollover jackpots that grow every week.
- Secret rounds
- Usually the last round: nobody sees how they did, and the leaderboard stays hidden, until you end the quiz and show the winner.
- Wipeout
- Tick all that apply, where any wrong tick scores nothing.
- Tie-breakers
- A nearest-wins question outside the scores, played only when teams are level for first.
- Team groups
- Put teams in groups, such as departments, and each group’s average shows above the leaderboard.
- Slides between rounds
- Your own pictures on the TV between rounds: food, offers, next week’s quiz.
- Speed bingo
- Bingo that only calls numbers on someone’s ticket, so it’s over sooner.
Plus fastest-finger bonuses, table numbers for the room, and a report of how each question went.