A pub quiz should have six rounds of ten questions: five read aloud and one picture round on paper. That is 60 questions, and it is what fits a two-hour night once you allow three minutes of marking after each round and a 19-minute interval. Fewer rounds and the room is done by nine. More and you cut the interval, which is the part your pub needs.
Below is the order of the six rounds, a minute-by-minute run sheet from 8:00 to 10:00, one-line versions for 60 and 90 minutes, and twelve questions to start the night with.
Why six rounds and not four or eight
Count the minutes, not the rounds. Reading ten questions out loud, each one twice with a pause to write, takes about ten minutes. Tables swap sheets and mark while you read the answers, which takes three. Add a minute to announce the next round and take any joker declarations, and every spoken round costs 14 minutes of stage time.
Five spoken rounds is 70 minutes. A welcome, an interval, the final marking and the results take the rest of the two hours, with five minutes to spare. A sixth spoken round would take 14 of those minutes out of the interval, which is why the sixth round is the picture round: it runs on the tables, not on your voice, so it adds ten points without adding any stage time.
Eight rounds, the number some quiz guides quote, only works if the night runs to two and a half hours or you stop marking between rounds. Neither is a good trade. A quiz that finishes after last orders loses tables before the results, and a quiz with no running scores loses everyone who cannot tell whether they are winning.
The six rounds, in order
The order matters more than the topics. Start easy so every table scores, put the round one team will love in the middle, and save the hardest for last, when the scores are close enough for it to matter.
- Round 1, general knowledge: gettable on purpose. Every table should score six or more, because a team on two out of ten by 8:15 starts talking instead of writing.
- Round 2, a theme: geography, a year, food, anything with a one-sentence rule.
- Round 3, a specialist subject: sport, film or TV. Some tables will sweep it and some will sit it out, which is fine in the middle of the night and fatal at the end.
- Picture round: ten images on one A4 sheet, on the tables from the start, collected at the interval.
- Round 4, music: ten clips of about 20 seconds. It goes straight after the interval because it is the round people walk back from the bar for.
- Round 5, the final: harder general knowledge, and the one round you mark yourself, since it is the one people cheat on.
If you run a joker round, the rules and the score sheet are in the pub quiz scoring system guide, and the timings below already include the minute it takes to collect declarations.
The two-hour run sheet, minute by minute
Start the clock at 8:00. Paper goes on the tables at 7:45: answer sheets, pens and the picture round face down.
| Clock | Minute | What happens | Host note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7:45 | -15 | Sheets, pens and picture round on every table | Write team names on your score sheet as they arrive |
| 8:00 | 0 | Welcome, rules, picture round turned over | Say the four marking rules out loud now, not mid-round |
| 8:05 | 5 | Round 1: general knowledge, ten questions | Read each question twice, then move on |
| 8:14 | 14 | Swap sheets, read answers, collect scores | Three minutes, no debates until the round is done |
| 8:18 | 18 | Announce round 2, take jokers, round 2 | Running totals go on the board first |
| 8:28 | 28 | Swap and mark round 2 | |
| 8:32 | 32 | Announce round 3, take jokers, round 3 | |
| 8:42 | 42 | Swap and mark round 3, collect picture sheets | Picture sheets come in with round 3, no extra time |
| 8:46 | 46 | Interval | You mark the picture round and update the totals |
| 9:03 | 63 | Two-minute warning | Say it on the mic, then play music |
| 9:05 | 65 | Picture answers, top three at halfway | Read only the top three, never the full table |
| 9:09 | 69 | Round 4: music, ten clips | Play each clip once, then repeat all ten at the end |
| 9:20 | 80 | Swap and mark round 4 | |
| 9:24 | 84 | Round 5: the final | Announce that you are marking this one |
| 9:34 | 94 | Collect sheets, read answers to the room | Three minutes |
| 9:37 | 97 | You mark round 5 and total the night | Ten minutes for twelve sheets; play music |
| 9:47 | 107 | Tiebreaker, if needed | One numeric question, closest wins |
| 9:49 | 109 | Results from third place up, prizes | Totals are done before you pick up the mic |
| 9:53 | 113 | Next quiz date, thanks | |
| 9:55 | 115 | Five spare minutes | You will use them |
| 10:00 | 120 | Finish |
The interval is where two-hour quizzes become two and a half
Nobody comes back from the bar on their own. The two-minute warning at 9:03 is not optional: say it into the mic, restart at 9:05 whether the queue has cleared or not, and read the picture answers first so the stragglers walk back into something they want to hear.
Running a shorter quiz: 90 minutes or one hour
Cut whole rounds, never questions per round. Seven questions a round saves three minutes and makes every score harder to compare with the last.
- 90 minutes: drop round 3, collect the picture round with round 2 at 8:28, cut the interval to 12 minutes, and finish at 9:30 with five rounds and 50 questions.
- 60 minutes: four rounds (rounds 1 and 2, the picture round, the final), no interval, and tables swap-mark every round including the picture sheets and the final, so you finish at 8:55.
Below an hour, stop calling it a pub quiz and run three rounds of quick multiple choice. The quiz night ideas guide covers when that format beats a paper quiz, and it usually does in a room this short on time.
What overruns, and how to stop it
The questions are never the problem. The minutes go in three places, all of them predictable.
- Repeats: a table asks for question four again during question seven. Say before round 1 that every question is read twice and the whole round is not repeated. The music round is the one exception, and it is in the timings.
- Disputes during marking: someone argues an answer while sheets are still being marked, and the round stretches to seven minutes. Take challenges only after the last answer is read, and rule in one sentence.
- The late table: a team arrives at 8:20. Let them in, give them the picture round, and do not re-read round 1. That is what the picture round on the tables is for.
Twelve questions to start the night
Two for each round, in run sheet order, each with three wrong options if you are putting it on a screen. The picture pair needs one image each: show the flag only, with no name on it.
Six Round Quiz Night: two questions per round
One point each on paper. In multiple choice, use the wrong options given after each answer.
- 1.
Round 1: What is the capital of Canada?
Answer: Ottawa. Wrong options: Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal.
- 2.
Round 1: How many sides does a hexagon have?
Answer: Six. Wrong options: five, seven, eight.
- 3.
Round 2, geography: Which river flows through Cairo?
Answer: The Nile. Wrong options: the Tigris, the Euphrates, the Congo.
- 4.
Round 2, geography: What is the smallest country in the world by area?
Answer: Vatican City. Wrong options: Monaco, San Marino, Liechtenstein.
- 5.
Round 3, sport and film: In which athletics event would you perform a Fosbury flop?
Answer: The high jump. Wrong options: long jump, pole vault, triple jump.
- 6.
Round 3, sport and film: Which film, at the 2020 Oscars, became the first not in English to win Best Picture?
Answer: Parasite. Wrong options: Roma, Amélie, Life Is Beautiful.
- 7.
Picture round: Which country's flag is this? (Image: the flag of Nepal, two stacked red pennants with a blue border)
Answer: Nepal. Wrong options: Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh.
- 8.
Picture round: Which country's flag is this? (Image: the flag of Bhutan, a white dragon on a yellow and orange field)
Answer: Bhutan. Wrong options: Nepal, Myanmar, Mongolia.
- 9.
Round 4, music: Which band released the 1995 album (What's the Story) Morning Glory?
Answer: Oasis. Wrong options: Blur, Pulp, The Verve.
- 10.
Round 4, music: Rolling in the Deep is the opening track on 21, an album by which singer?
Answer: Adele. Wrong options: Amy Winehouse, Duffy, Florence Welch.
- 11.
Round 5, the final: Which is the only letter that does not appear in the name of any US state?
Answer: Q. Wrong options: J, X, Z.
- 12.
Round 5, the final: Which planet in the Solar System has the shortest day?
Answer: Jupiter, at just under ten hours. Wrong options: Saturn, Mercury, Neptune.
For the tiebreaker at 9:47, take one of the numeric questions from the scoring guide. Keep a second one in your pocket in case the first produces another tie.
What changes when the quiz runs on a screen
The run sheet above spends nearly half an hour on marking: three or four minutes after every spoken round, ten at the end, plus an interval you spend on the picture round. That is the time a screen gives back.
With a free trivia maker like PardyTime, the questions go up on the pub TV, each team answers multiple choice on one phone after joining with a PIN, and the scores total themselves. Turn the timer off for a pub quiz: untimed questions score flat, so the table with the fastest thumb does not beat the table with the right answer. The free plan takes up to 15 phones, so up to 15 teams, and includes five image or audio uploads, which covers a short picture round. A full ten-image picture round or a music round with clips needs Plus.
Keep the paper picture round either way. It is still the best thing on the tables at 7:45.