How to Maintain the Integrity of Live Trivia Events

Think about your favorite trivia-themed TV game show. What does it look like? Whether it’s a classic show like “JEOPORDY!” or a more contemporary one like VH1’s “The World Series of Pop Culture,” the basic structure is the same: a select number of contestants, an obedient studio audience, well-thought trivia questions, and a lot of money up for grabs. In a word, these game shows maintain a high degree of integrity, to ensure that the gameplay is fair, well-balanced and beyond reproach.

With live trivia events, however, this is not the case. Whereas the television studio is a controlled environment, trivia events in live settings – be they pub quiz nights, corporate team building activities or brand engagements for experiential marketing – are essentially out in the wild. While challenging, it is still important for the quizmaster to keep the game as honest as possible, regardless of the prize.

Below are crucial steps to impose at live trivia parties, to ensure that the integrity of the event is maintained throughout:

Enforce the “No Cheating” Rule – Perhaps the most obvious difference between television and live trivia, contestants on “Family Double Dare” aren’t liable to Google the answer on their Smartphone. The quizmaster, event hosts, bar staff and participants themselves must be constantly vigilant of cheaters, in order to keep the game honest.

No Shouting Out the Answers – This is more of an issue with public events rather than private ones, but it’s never good to have someone yell out the answers to questions as they are asked. At bar trivia nights, the guy who shouts answers out is usually A) just walking into the bar halfway through the quiz and doesn’t know the rules; B) drunk out of his mind; or C) a plain old jerk. Either way, shouters ruin trivia nights, and need to be kept in check.

Maintain Accurate Scorekeeping – Not all of the trouble keeping live trivia events clean comes from the audience. The quizmaster/scorekeeper needs to be on the ball, and make sure that A) all of the answer sheets are collected and scored; B) the scores have been added correctly; and C) the scores have been properly transcribed to the score sheet or laptop.

No Hyper-Specialized Rounds – Remember that famous episode of Cheers where Cliff goes on “JEOPARDY?” TV’s favorite mailman was given such softball categories as “Stamps,” “Beer” and even “Bar Trivia.” Though it’s not easy to predict for public events, to keep things fair trivia should cover broad categories; if a group of postmen came into pub quiz on the same night there was a “Stamps” round, that would be highly suspect. This is easily remedied at private trivia events, where the questions are all customized.

No Special Treatment for the Quizmaster’s Friends – Here’s one that every pub quizhost across the globe should learn well. No matter the situation, if the host’s friends are playing trivia and coming up to socialize during the game, everyone will take notice. It is INCREDIBLY important, therefore, to avoid even the perception that the host has got the fix in for his/her team to win. Hosts should be conscious of this whenever friends are playing, so as not to unnecessarily upset the other teams.

Do you host or attend trivia nights? What are some other ways you can think of to help maintain the integrity of live trivia events? Please let us know by leaving your responses in the space below!