the question before giving the answer. Feel free to use any of our quips to make yourself seem funny.
After you finish reading off all of the questions and answers, review the teams’ scores in order from the lowest to the highest. Repeat for Round Two and the Picture round, etc.
Each round of questions should take about 7–10 minutes to ask. You should have all answer sheets at the 13 minute mark. All puzzle rounds should be collected by 18 minutes.
15
You should be asking Round Two, question one, about 25 minutes after you first started Round One. A full event should run approximately 2 hours.
Every venue and every crowd is different. You, by no means, need to stick religiously to this schedule. Read the room and your players and do what makes sense.
However, remember the great proverb of Grandpa Lawrence Kaplan: “The mind can only absorb what the seat can endure.” In other words, if they are sitting too long they will become antsy. 1
1
1 Originally this is a quote from British solicitor Donal Blaney, but my Grandpa Kaplan loved to say this. (Solicitors are what the crazy Brits call lawyers.) God Save the Queen.
16
Materials
Scratch Pad
The Scratch Pad Should be handed out with the answer sheets and pens. Each team should receive one. It is a place for players to record their answers for each round and allows them to follow along when you read off the answers at the end of each round. The back is also blank if the host asks them to do long division.
18
Answer Sheet
The Answer Sheet packet should be handed out to each team in the bar. The packet should contain Rounds 1-4, the Music Round, and Round 5, in that order. 6 pages per team, stapled together. After each round of questions, teams will rip off the top sheet and turn them into the host. These are then scored and entered into the score sheet.
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
Score Sheet
Fill this in with team names and scores. Better yet, recreate it in Excel and have it do the math for you.
26
Preface
We’ve asked questions about religion to a room full of priests and nuns.
We’ve asked NBA stars about their own accomplishments and NBA franchises about their own origins. (Both got the questions wrong.) We’ve asked Olympic gold medalists about their moments and Superbowl champions about football.
We’ve asked architects about astronomical calculations and subway employees about art.
We’ve stumped doctors with medical questions and unwittingly asked the head of a government agency about his own organization. Like everyone else, we’ve asked meteorologists about the weather.
We have asked Crayola about crayon colors and Parker Brothers about tiny metal dogs. We have stumped Jeopardy champions and had players spin the Wheel of Fortune. We have corrected the National Archives.
We’ve facilitated engagements, married couples, and…we have celebrated life. But we have yet to ask you a question.
City Trivia…what can we ask you?
27
Opening Script
The opening script is how you can welcome everyone into the bar, pub, your home, or other venue for your trivia night. We have provided you a tongue in cheek example that you can use if you need one. Once you become comfortable with the main concepts, don’t be afraid to change it up and add your own personal touch.
Hello and welcome to trivia night at NAME OF VENUE every DAY OF WEEK at TIME OF EVENT.
My name is YOUR NAME and I will be your host for the evening.
We have three rules that you must follow tonight.
Rule #1: No shouting out answers. Real or fake, don’t do it. Everybody is trying to show off what they know and shouting out answers makes people unhappy. Including me…and I run the scoring. Making me unhappy is a bad idea.
Rule #2: No cheating. No googling answers, no phoning your friends. If you all had any friends they should be here by now. We want to know what you know, not how fast you can work your smart phone.
Rule #3: This is my game. That means I make the rules. I am not looking for the correct answer to the question, I am looking for the answer that is written down on my answer sheet. Luckily, those are usually one in the same.
So without further ado… Round One, Question One…
29
Game one
“There is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge.”
—Bertrand Russell
31
Round One
Q8 Aldebaran is known as the Red Star. Which is funny because it is actually classified as an Orange Giant Star. This debunks
