How To Run A Quiz Night: Rounds, Scoring, Tiebreakers And Timings

A good quiz night is about ninety minutes of questions and about six hours of preparation, most of which is deciding whether a question is too hard.

Here's the structure that works, whether it's a pub, a church hall, a work do or a living room.

Structure and timings

• Six rounds of ten questions is the standard. Eight rounds if there's a break and food.
• Ninety minutes of quiz plus a twenty-minute interval. Any longer and the room goes.
• Teams of four to six. Bigger teams don't answer more questions, they just talk over each other.
• Mark after every two rounds, not at the end. It keeps the leaderboard alive and stops one enormous pile of marking.
• Read the leaderboard out after each marking break, bottom first, and never name the bottom team unkindly.
• Announce a finish time at the start. People need to know when they can get their coat.

Rounds that always work

• General knowledge to open - easy, to settle the room.
• Music: intros, one-second clips or a lyric round with the words read out flat.
• Picture round handed out at the start, done whenever - it fills the gaps and marks itself.
• Connections: four answers with a hidden link, a point for the link.
• A local round, which is always the most popular round of the night.
• The year round: five events, put them in order.
• Wipeout round: all ten right scores double, one wrong scores zero. Saves a runaway leader.

Writing questions people enjoy

• Aim for most teams getting six or seven out of ten. Below five and the room deflates.
• Every round wants two gimmes, six real questions and two hard ones.
• Ask about things people know but can't quite retrieve. 'Which country has a dragon on its flag' beats a date nobody could know.
• Avoid anything where the answer is ambiguous or has changed recently. Check it twice.
• Read every question out loud before the night. Half of them are longer than you think.
• Don't write a whole round about one decade or one sport, or you've excluded a third of the room.

Scoring and marking

• Teams swap answer sheets and mark each other, or a marker does it. Swapping is faster and works fine with a friendly crowd.
• One point per question, no half points - half points cause every argument that ever happens at a quiz.
• Spelling doesn't count unless the round says so. Say this at the start.
• Keep a running total on a visible board or a spreadsheet on a laptop.
• The host's decision is final, announced cheerfully at the start and meant.

Tiebreakers

• Nearest the number wins: 'how many steps are there in the Eiffel Tower' - closest without a second guess.
• Sudden death questions, first team to write and hold up a correct answer.
• Count back: whoever scored higher in round one takes it. Announce this rule before the quiz if you plan to use it.
• A physical tiebreaker for a fun crowd - closest to guessing the weight of a bottle of wine, name the most things in thirty seconds.
• Have two tiebreakers ready. You'll need one more often than you'd think.

Hosting the room

• Read every question twice, slowly, and repeat it a third time on request.
• A microphone if the room holds more than forty people. No microphone is the single most common quiz night failure.
• Names on the answer sheets before round one - always, or two teams will be called 'Quizteam Aguilera'.
• Prizes: a bottle, a tin of biscuits, a wooden spoon for last place. It's never about the prize.
• Take the money at the door, not during. Nobody wants to be counting change at question seven.

Shop cards

How to write it so it lands

• Mark every two rounds, never all at the end.
• No half points. Ever.
• A microphone if the room is over forty people.

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Frequently asked questions

How many rounds should a quiz night have?

Six rounds of ten questions, or eight if there's a break for food. That gives about ninety minutes of quiz plus an interval, which is as long as a room stays with you.

How do you score a quiz night?

One point per question with no half points, teams swapping sheets to mark each other after every two rounds. Keep a running total visible, and state at the start that spelling doesn't count and the host's decision is final.

What's a good quiz tiebreaker?

A nearest-the-number question - how many steps in the Eiffel Tower, how many countries in Africa - with one guess each and closest winning. Have two ready, and announce any count-back rule before the quiz starts.

How hard should quiz questions be?

Aim for most teams scoring six or seven out of ten. Two easy, six fair and two hard per round. If teams are scoring three, the room goes quiet and doesn't come back.

How many people should be in a quiz team?

Four to six. Bigger teams don't get more answers right - they just spend longer arguing and the quiet members stop contributing.

What rounds should a quiz night include?

General knowledge to open, a music round, a picture round handed out at the start, a connections round, a local round and a year-order round. A wipeout round late on keeps the leader honest.

Do you sell games, kits or party supplies?

No - we make greeting cards, art prints and pin badges in the UK. Everything recommended here is either free, an app, or something you already have, and the only products on this page are our own cards.