Organizing your own pub quiz: rounds, materials, and prizes
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by Verpakkingdeals.nl
6 min reading time
A quiz night rarely fails due to the questions, but almost always due to logistics. Here’s how to set up a pub quiz with the right rounds, the right materials, and prizes that suit the audience.
The questions are rarely the problem. What causes a quiz night to collapse is almost always something practical: there are too few pens, the music round cannot be heard at the back of the room, or grading takes so long that half of the participants go outside to smoke and never return. Anyone organizing a pub quiz spends eighty percent on logistics and twenty percent on content.
The season for it is starting now. From September, club canteens, community centers, and pubs will fill up again, and a quiz night is high on the list of activities that cost little and yield a lot. Below is what you need, in the order in which you arrange it.
First determine the length, then the content
A quiz of five rounds with ten questions, including grading and a break, takes approximately two hours. For most groups, that is the upper limit. Six or seven rounds sounds hospitable, but in practice, attention drops sharply after ninety minutes.
Calculate with this distribution:
Five rounds of ten questions, each approximately twelve minutes.
A fifteen-minute break after round three.
Ten minutes for the results and prize-giving.
Teams of four to six people work best. Smaller and it's too quiet at the table, larger and half don't participate anymore.
Rounds: variety works better than difficulty
The temptation is to make the questions increasingly difficult. Don't do that. A quiz becomes fun with variation in form, not variation in difficulty. A good structure looks like this:
Opening round general — easy, everyone scores, everyone is involved.
Image round — printed photos per table, no projector needed.
Music round — twenty seconds per fragment, play twice.
Final round with bonus question — where teams can wager points.
For the action round, you don't need to think of anything complicated. A 99-in-1 Games Set with dice, chessboard, and score pad (€ 14.95) provides enough material for a skill challenge, and you can just use the score pad for the entire evening. For a card round or a random draw, a Mini Poker Playing Card set of 54 cards (€ 1.95) is the cheapest tool available. And if two teams tie, one throw with an XXL dice (€ 9.95) is more visible — and perceived as fairer — than a tie-breaking question you make up on the spot. Do you need to divide large groups? Then an Automatic Card Shuffler for 1 to 2 decks (€ 12.95) is a quick way to draw random teams without hassle.
What should be on each table
This is the part that organizers underestimate. Per team, you need: an answer sheet per round, at least two pens (one always gets lost or breaks), and a table number.
For ten teams, that means at least twenty pens. A set of Top Write Ballpoint Pens, 10 pieces (€ 4.00) or the more economical Topwrite Ballpoint Pens 10-piece set (€ 2.00) covers five tables. Count on two to three sets and assume you won't get them all back — that's part of it and at this price, it's not a disaster.
For the quizmaster themselves: write table numbers and interim scores large with a Permanent Marker, 5 pieces in 3 colors (€ 4.95), or use a set of Markers, 4 pieces (€ 4.00) for the scoreboard. Three colors are enough: one for the score, one for corrections, one for the bonus round.
Do you need to arrange a room or cordon off an unused area? A roll of Barrier Tape of 25 meters (€ 2.95) does that in two minutes and prevents teams from sitting in places where they can't hear anything.
Sound is where it usually goes wrong
The music round from a phone speaker works in a living room with eight people. Not in a canteen with forty people. You need something that can go louder and on which you can place the phone so you don't hold it while also counting down.
A Stereo Speaker with Phone Holder, USB and AUX (€ 14.95) solves both: it has an AUX input, so you are not dependent on a Bluetooth connection that drops out at just the wrong moment. If you just want to have your phone upright when reading questions, a Desk Organizer with Phone Holder (€ 5.00) is sufficient — your pens and notes go right in there.
Play each fragment twice and count down aloud before you start. That saves you twenty times "wait, can you do it again?".
Grading without the evening grinding to a halt
Have teams grade each other's forms, not their own. Rotate the sheets one table clockwise. You'll get through it in four minutes instead of twenty, and the quizmaster only has to decide on debatable cases.
Collect the forms immediately after each round, not at the end. Otherwise, you'll be dealing with fifty papers at once in the last fifteen minutes of the evening.
Prizes: small, visible, and not too serious
The prize doesn't have to be expensive, but it should look impressive when you hold it up. A Golden Award Trophy of 15x5 cm (€ 12.95) is exactly that: cheap enough to give away every night, large enough for photos. Give it to the winning team and agree that it must be brought back next time — then you immediately have a challenge cup.
Keep it simple: something to nibble on the table and one place where people can get something. A pack of Jimmy's Popcorn Sweet of 100 grams (€ 4.95) per two tables is enough for an evening. If you serve coffee or tea during the break, Coffee Cups of 150 ml, 100 pieces (€ 14.95) are the cheapest route — fifteen cents per cup. For the quizmaster themselves, a Sports and Coffee Cup of hard PVC, 500 ml (€ 9.95) is more practical: it won't tip over your answer sheets.
Shopping list for an evening with ten teams
3 sets of ballpoint pens
1 set of markers for the scoreboard
1 speaker with AUX connection
1 roll of barrier tape if you need to arrange the room
1 trophy plus two small prizes
100 coffee cups and some nibbles
All together, you'll be under seventy euros, and most of it you can reuse next time. Pens, markers, and score sheets can be found in Office Supplies, game materials in Games, cups in Glasses, and prizes in Funny Gifts and Sweets. Are you organizing a quiz for a larger group or for several evenings in a row and want to know what that means in terms of quantities? Email your numbers to info@verpakkingdeals.nl, and we'll review the list.
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