The roots of trivia night parties go back to the ‘70s, originally known as pub quiz in the UK. Today, this activity also shows its prominence across local American bars, pubs, and restaurants. Trivia nights always make gatherings more interesting, putting a twist on regular quiz routines, giving yourself a chance to hang out with friends, and leaving them with an unforgettable night.
If you’re planning on throwing a trivia night party soon, you’ve come to the right place. We’ve got a few tips and ideas you can utilise to wow your guests and create a memorable experience.
Preparing for a trivia night
When hosting a trivia night, the first and most important thing to do is pick up a venue, along with the date and time. You can rent out a pub or restaurant for the event, or if you’re an introvert, host the trivia night from the comfort of your living room. Whatever venue you end up choosing, don’t forget to decorate it too!
Once you finalise your guest list, divide it into even teams. You can ask one of your friends to be the compère or emcee for the trivia night, or play the part yourself. Furthermore, you must arrange proper seating for each divided group and leave some space between them for allowing private team discussions.
Of course, a trivia night is far from being complete without party snacks like chips, pizza, nachos, fries, pretzels, etc. Make sure to cater to your guests’ preferences when preparing the menu. For drinks— perhaps pick up a few different brews to make refreshing cocktails. And at the end of the trivia night, an appetising dessert will help everyone make amends.
Writing up trivia questions
Now comes the crucial part: writing up questions for the trivia night. The options are infinite, but if you can’t make up your mind, check out our picks for fun trivia categories below, and then decide.
Personal Trivia
In personal trivia, each question is related to one of the participants. You can tell your guests to fill out a survey before the trivia night party, then collect the interesting answers from the surveys to write up the questions. Such questions can either be of “multiple choices” or “fill in the blanks” structure.
Personal trivia will help you and your guests learn more about each other and can result in some captivating storytelling.
Movies & TV Shows
This particular category of trivia can be based around one specific movie or show. You can also make it a broad topic if you want to, including both new and classic films, TV, and web series. It works only when all your guests are familiar with the content of your choosing. Thus, make sure to pick from popular media so that everyone can give a few answers.
Music
Another popular trivia category is music, given most people listen to at least some music. You can keep the trivia limited to a particular genre, or loosen it a bit to appeal to the broader audience with questions about pop hits, music videos, misheard lyrics, instruments, etc. Also, consider encouraging your guests to sing some parody songs!
Current Events
If you’re looking for an inclusive trivia category, this is the way to go. You can make the trivia night fun and engaging by asking questions most people know the answers to. They can be about pop culture, celebrities, sports, world events, general knowledge, or anything else.
True or False
This is another versatile trivia category that fits a variety of subcategories. The concept is exactly what it sounds like: tell your friends a fun or interesting fact, and they have to guess whether it’s true or false.
The questions can be about several things, including entertainment, nature, history, culture, food, etc. There are only two possible answers, so the attendees will likely try answering the questions.
Set up the rules and a prize
Here are some rules you can set up for your upcoming trivia night:
- Teams or individual participants can note down the answers on a paper sheet or hold them up on a whiteboard. The answer will be taken from the one who raises their hand first.
- Keep the answering time to just a minute. Play an audio cue when the time’ up to answer the question.
- The host or emcee will keep note of the score and make the final judgement, though players can make a limited number of appeals.
- Searching for answers on the web or asking for help, in general, shouldn’t be allowed.
For the prize, choose something that’s splittable with a group and fits in your budget. Attractive prizes like a large sum of cash or a free dinner to a 5-star restaurant always encourage people to play. And if you want to further up the stakes, ordering a personalised trophy for the winning team isn’t a bad idea.
Spread the word
To make sure everyone in your circle gets the memo, we recommend creating an attractive poster for your upcoming trivia night party.
But if you’re not familiar with using creative apps, pick from PosterMyWall’s huge variety of game poster templates instead for a quick and easy job. You can use their easy drag-and-drop editor to customise the templates to your liking.
They also offer hundreds of Instagram post templates for those interested in making social media announcements about such exciting events.
Bottom line
With the following tips and ideas in mind, you can make your upcoming trivia night party unique and engaging enough to create a memorable experience. Who knows, maybe your friends will show interest in hosting their own trivia night parties the next time!
