Quiz games for work: 10 formats and how to run each one
Ten quiz games your team can play in the office or on a call. Start with a quick quiz you can play right here.
A quiz game is any game where players or teams score points for answering questions, from a written answer-sheet quiz to a buzzer race or a phone quiz on a video call. The best quiz games for work are played in small teams, last 10 to 60 minutes, and mix question formats so the same trivia buff doesn’t win every round. Below are ten formats with how to run each one, plus a 8-question quiz to play first.
Play a quiz game: 8 questions about games
Two questions in each of four formats you can borrow for your own quiz. Tap an answer to see if you got it.
Question 1 of 8 · Multiple choice
Which classic board game is played on a grid of 19 by 19 lines?
Score so far: 0
10 quiz games to run at work
Each one works with teams of three to six. Most need nothing but questions, a timer and someone to keep score.
1. Answer-sheet quiz
Teams write every answer for a round on one sheet, and you mark between rounds.
How to run it: Five rounds of ten questions. Teams swap sheets and mark each other's while you read the answers out. Plan a full trivia night.
Office or video call · 60 to 75 minutes
2. Buzzer race
The first team to buzz gets to answer, and a wrong answer locks them out of that question.
How to run it: In a room, give each team a desk bell. On a call, the first message in the chat counts as the buzz.
Office or video call · 20 to 30 minutes
3. Phone quiz
Questions go up on a shared screen with four options, and everyone answers on their phone against a timer.
How to run it: Use a free quiz app. Faster right answers score more, so keep each question short enough to read in five seconds. Compare quiz apps.
Office or video call · 15 to 30 minutes
4. Picture reveal
A photo appears in four stages, from a tight crop to the full picture.
How to run it: A right guess at the first stage scores 4 points, then 3, 2 and 1. Each team gets one guess per stage.
Office or video call · 15 to 20 minutes
5. Climb the ladder
Each team climbs ten rungs of harder questions and can bank its points at any rung.
How to run it: Rungs run from 100 to 1,000 points. A wrong answer drops the team back to its last banked rung, then the next team climbs.
Office or video call · 30 to 45 minutes
6. Least obvious answer
Teams score for right answers that no other team thought of.
How to run it: Ask open questions with many right answers, like a country that starts with M. A right answer only your team wrote scores 3; a shared one scores 1.
Office or video call · 15 to 20 minutes
7. Last team standing
Everyone stands up, or keeps their camera on, and a wrong answer sits you down.
How to run it: Use quick true or false questions read out loud. It takes about ten minutes for any group size. Get true or false questions.
Office or video call · About 10 minutes
8. Head-to-head bracket
Teams face off two at a time in short matches, and winners move on.
How to run it: Best of five questions per match. With eight teams, play the first round Monday, the semifinals Wednesday and the final Friday.
Office · 10 minutes a match
9. Fake answer bluff
Teams invent a fake answer to an odd question, then everyone guesses which answer is real.
How to run it: Read the fakes shuffled in with the real one. A team scores a point for spotting the truth and a point for every team its fake fooled.
Video call · 20 to 30 minutes
10. Groups of four
Sixteen words hide four groups of four, and teams race to sort them.
How to run it: Three wrong groups and a team is out. One grid about your own company makes a good ten-minute meeting opener.
Office or video call · About 10 minutes
Prefer a board of categories and point values? Our online category board game comes ready to play.
Which quiz game fits your team?
Start from the time you have and where people are. Two formats in one session keep the energy up.
- A 10-minute meeting opener
- Groups of four or Last team standing
- Lunch hour in the office
- Buzzer race or Picture reveal
- A remote team on a video call
- Phone quiz or Fake answer bluff
- 50 people or more
- Phone quiz or Last team standing
- A week-long office challenge
- Head-to-head bracket
- The big finish at a party or all-hands
- Climb the ladder or Answer-sheet quiz
How to run a quiz game on a video call
Every format above works on Zoom, Teams or Google Meet with a few changes. These five fix most remote quiz problems.
- Buzz in the chat, not out loud. Audio lag is different for every player. The first chat message is the fairest buzzer you have.
- Mute everyone while you read. Ask players to stay muted until you say go, so nobody blurts an answer to their whole team mid-question.
- Keep remote players on their own teams. In a hybrid quiz, one remote person on a room team gets talked over. Make room teams and remote teams.
- Show pictures at full screen. Share the image alone, with no slide text around it, and tell players to switch to speaker view.
- Post the scores after every round. A scoreboard screenshot in the chat keeps trailing teams playing for the comeback.
How to write multiple-choice quiz questions
Multiple-choice questions power phone quizzes and most quiz apps. Five rules make them fair and fun.
- Write the right answer first. Then add three wrong ones from the same family: four planets, four decades, four car brands.
- Keep the options the same length. One long, carefully worded option is usually the right one, and players know it.
- Skip all of the above. It turns the question into a guess about the writer instead of the topic.
- Ask it the positive way. “Which of these is not…” trips up fast readers on a timer. Flip it into a plain question.
- Move the right answer around. Before you play, check that the right answer never sits in the same spot three times in a row.
Short on time? Borrow a ready set: office trivia questions for a work-themed round, general knowledge questions for a warm-up, or true or false questions for last team standing. To plan a full lineup of rounds, start with these trivia topics.
Want a host to run the quiz?
Writing questions and keeping score is a lot for one person, especially on a call. A hosted quiz show takes all of it off your plate.
KraftyLab books live-hosted quiz games for remote and hybrid teams. Trivia with a Twist mixes trivia rounds with challenges that score points beyond right answers. Blockbuster Bash is a film quiz played on your phone, with clip and soundtrack rounds. Your Favorite Game Shows puts small teams through classic game show rounds all at once. Each runs about 60 minutes with a live host on Zoom, or Teams, Google Meet or Webex on request. Book about 2 weeks ahead. See all hosted virtual trivia and virtual game shows.
Trivia with a Twist!Starting at $39 USD / person
Blockbuster Bash! The Ultimate Film QuizStarting at $34 USD / person
Your Favorite Game Shows!Starting at $39 USD / person
Quiz Showdown!Starting at $39 USD / person
Planning a holiday party? Christmas Trivia Party is a festive quiz with holiday movie, music and picture rounds. For a party on Friday, December 11, 2026, book by Friday, November 27. Teams in one office can have live trivia at their office in 17 US cities: see in-person events. Or send your date and headcount and get a free quote with a full plan within 24 hours.
