How to host a trivia night, step by step

Plan your trivia night in 8 steps

1. 1Pick the format and the date. In the office, on a video call or both. For work, 60 to 90 minutes late on a weekday afternoon gets the best turnout.
2. 2Set the teams. Four to six people per team. Mix departments on purpose: it's the easiest networking you'll ever organize.
3. 3Plan five or six rounds. Eight to ten questions each, with one picture or music round to break up the reading.
4. 4Write or borrow the questions. About 60 for a 90-minute night, plus three spare tiebreakers. Check every answer twice.
5. 5Decide the scoring before you start. Points per question, how the final wager works and how ties are broken. Announce it in the welcome.
6. 6Set up the room or the call. A screen everyone can see, a microphone for the host, answer sheets and pens, or breakout rooms and a form.
7. 7Choose a host and a scorekeeper. Two people, not one. The host keeps the energy up while the scorekeeper marks sheets during the next round.
8. 8Line up the prizes. Something for first place, plus a small laugh-worthy prize for last place.

A 90-minute trivia night run of show

Six rounds, a break and a wager final. Cut rounds 3 and 5 for a 60-minute version.

1. 0:00Welcome, rules and team names · 10 min
2. 0:10Round 1: General knowledge · 10 questions
3. 0:22Round 2: Picture round · 10 images
4. 0:34Round 3: Music intros · 10 clips
5. 0:46Halftime scores and a break · 8 min
6. 0:54Round 4: Themed round · your company, the season or a hobby
7. 1:06Round 5: Lightning round · 20 quick questions
8. 1:14Final question with wagers · 1 question
9. 1:20Final scores, tiebreaker and prizes · 10 min

12 trivia round ideas

Mix reading rounds with ones people can see or hear. Two or three types per night is plenty.

• General knowledge: A warm-up anyone can score on. Open with this.
• Picture round: Logos, landmarks or extreme close-ups of everyday objects.
• Music intros: Play ten seconds; a point for the song and a point for the artist.
• Lightning round: Twenty quick questions in three minutes, answered on one sheet.
• Closest number wins: “How many keys does a standard piano have?” (88). Nearest guess takes the points.
• List round: Name the eight US states that start with M in 60 seconds, one point each.
• Who said it: Famous movie lines, song lyrics or (friendly) quotes from your own team chat.
• Company round: Launch dates, office lore and “whose desk is this?” photos.
• Emoji round: Movie or song titles spelled out in emoji.
• Odd one out: Four answers, one doesn't belong. Teams name it and say why.
• Before and after: Two answers joined by a shared word, like “Lord of the Rings of Saturn”.
• Wager final: One last question. Teams bet up to 10 points before they hear it.

How to write trivia questions people enjoy

• One right answer per question, with no room for argument.
• Check each answer in two reliable sources.
• Skip anything that can change: records, current champions, “the latest” anything.
• Per round, aim for three easy, five medium and two hard.
• Keep each question short enough to understand when read aloud once.
• No trick wording. The fun is knowing, not decoding.
• Avoid questions that only one age group or one country could answer.
• Read the whole set out loud the day before. Clunky questions jump out.

Weak: “Who has won the most Grammys?” The answer changes, and someone will argue. Better: “Which band released Abbey Road in 1969?” One answer, and it will never change.

Short on time? Borrow ours: 120 Trivial Pursuit-style questions cover six general knowledge rounds, 110 sports trivia questions make a sports round, and there are more fun trivia questions for a warm-up.

Scoring rules and a printable score sheet

• One point per correct answer; two-part answers score half a point per part.
• Collect answer sheets at the end of each round and announce scores at halftime and before the final.
• Spelling only counts when it changes the answer.
• In the final, teams wager 0 to 10 points: win it if right, lose it if wrong.
• Break ties with a closest-number question. Nearest answer wins.
• The host's call is final, and nobody argues with the scorekeeper after the prizes.

How to host a trivia night on Zoom or Teams

Virtual trivia works as well as the in-person kind, as long as answers stay private and someone else runs the tech.

1. 1Share questions on screen. People mishear on calls. A slide per question solves it.
2. 2Use breakout rooms for teams. Four to six per room to confer, then everyone back to the main room for answers and scores.
3. 3One person per team submits. A form per round, or a private chat message to the scorekeeper, so nobody sees other teams' answers.
4. 4Show a timer. Sixty to ninety seconds per question keeps the pace up. Play music while it runs.
5. 5Bring a co-host. One person reads; the other opens breakout rooms, collects answers and scores.

Official breakout room guides: Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet.

More detail in our guide to running a Zoom trivia game.

Trivia night prizes people actually want

• Gift cards, sent digitally so remote winners get them the same day
• A traveling trophy that the winning team keeps until next time
• Lunch on the company for the winning team
• The winners pick the theme for the next trivia night
• A donation to a charity the winning team chooses
• A booby prize for last place, the sillier the better

Rather play than host?

A KraftyLab host brings the questions, slides, timer and scoring, and keeps every team in the game. Virtual games run on Zoom by default (Teams, Google Meet or Webex on request), and in-person games come to your office. Book about 2 weeks ahead, or get a free quote with your date and headcount.