How Pub Trivia Works

The Short Version

You show up with a few friends, grab a table, and give your team a name. A host reads questions out loud in rounds. Your team writes answers on a sheet, hands it in, and the host keeps score. Best total at the end wins a prize, usually a bar tab. Most nights take about two hours.

Teams

Most bars cap teams at somewhere between four and eight people. The listing usually says. Two people can play and win, and plenty of teams do. Showing up alone? Ask the host or the next table. Short-handed teams are often happy to take a stranger.

Rounds and Formats

Every host does it a bit differently, but you'll see some mix of these:

• General knowledge rounds. Ten or so questions on anything: geography, history, science, sports, food.
• Picture rounds. A handout with faces, logos or places to identify, often worked on between other rounds.
• Music rounds. The host plays clips. Name the song, the artist, or both.
• Themed rounds. One topic for the whole round, sometimes announced ahead of time.
• Wager or final rounds. You bet some of your points on one question. This is where most games are won and lost.

Some nights are fully themed, like a TV show or band night. Those usually say so in the listing and sometimes sell tickets.

Scoring

Usually one point per correct answer, sometimes with bonus points for extra details or for the best team name. The host or a helper grades sheets between rounds and posts a running scoreboard. Ties are broken with a closest-number question, like guessing a year or a distance.

What It Costs

Most bar trivia is free to play. The bar pays the host and makes it back on food and drinks. Some nights charge a few dollars per person, which usually goes into the prize pot. Each listing on Pub Trivia Map shows the entry fee when we know it.

The Unwritten Rules

• Phones stay away. Looking up answers is the one thing everyone agrees is cheating. Hosts will disqualify you, and the room will remember.
• Keep it down. The next table can hear you. Whisper, or write it down and point.
• Order something. Trivia is free because the bar is busy. Tip your server.
• Be nice to the host. Disagree with an answer? Make your case once, politely, at the break. The host's call is final.
• Get there early. Good tables go fast, and most hosts want team names before round one.

Find Your First Night

Pick your city on the city list or check what's on tonight near you. Then read up on how to win, and find a team name on the way over.