Why Some Pub Quizzes Stink, And How to Improve Them

A recently published article in the BBC News Magazine caught my eye this week, entitled “Can pub quizzes survive in the Smartphone era?” The gist of the piece, as you might imagine, is that in a world where everyone texts and has Google in their pocket, can the traditional pub quiz night ever be the same- or be viable at all? I discussed this phenomenon myself in a recent blog post about how to thwart cheaters at quiz night, but as I see it, this is only one factor in an even broader problem for enthusiasts: namely, that some pub quizzes are just plain terrible altogether.

Between hosting, producing and playing, I’ve participated in more trivia nights than most, and can say with a fair degree of certainty what the worst aspects of these otherwise incredibly enjoyable events are. Here is my list below, in no particular order:

Host with No Personality – Let’s face it, we’re not only here to play trivia, but to be entertained. If all the host does is read the questions & answers in a flat monotone, that stinks! The host MUST be funny, or at the very least have fun with the event.

Questions That are Too Hard – Fact: nobody likes to feel stupid, and as such nobody likes trivia nights where the questions are too hard. Make them challenging, but come on- a math proof? Really?

Taking Forever In Between Rounds – In an era of laptops and Microsoft Excel, there is really no reason why scoring answers should take forever. Even with dozens of teams, you can quickly grade, input and sort.

No Audience Involvement – By it’s nature, an event held in a local pub should be about fostering community. If people aren’t encouraged to cheer, participate or even heckle, it’s just not as fun as it can be – and should be.

Drunks Who Shout Out the Answers – Hard to control, but still a problem that affects the event, and shouldn’t simply be ignored. This is really something that the pub should deal with, as they are the ones serving the booze; however, every effort should be made by the host, bartenders and even other attendees to keep these chucklehead boozehounds in line.

Lame Prizes – I firmly believe that people go to trivia nights for the competition, not for the prizes. That said, the prize still has to be something worthwhile, at least a $25-$50 bar tab or equivalent. A bar that asks people to play trivia for  hours, and then offers a round of kamikaze shots to the winners, well- that’s just silly. The prize doesn’t have to be extravagant, but it at least has to appear valuable.

I’m a huge lover of pub quiz, and you likely are, too. What other observations do you have about how bar trivia nights can be improved?