The pub quiz is a fixture of the British week. A pub sets aside a weeknight, a quizmaster reads out questions over a microphone, and teams of four to six people write answers on a sheet, argue quietly, and hand it to the next table for marking.
How it works
- Entry is a pound or two a head, paid into a pot.
- Teams are typically four to six. Larger teams are frowned upon and sometimes capped.
- Rounds of ten questions, usually six to eight rounds over about two hours, with a break in the middle.
- Marking is done by swapping sheets with another team, which introduces a small element of mutual suspicion.
- Phones are banned, and everyone knows who is cheating.
The standard rounds
- General knowledge — the backbone.
- The picture round — a printed sheet handed out at the start, showing celebrities, landmarks or objects to identify. Teams work on it throughout, and it produces the most argument.
- Music — intros or clips, identify artist and title.
- The wipeout round — get them all right for double points, get one wrong and score nothing. Genuinely tense.
- Connections — the answers share a hidden theme, worth bonus points.
- The tiebreaker — a “how many” or “how far” question, nearest wins.
The team name
A significant part of the entertainment, and the point at which British pub humour reveals itself. Names are expected to be a pun, usually topical, frequently rude, and read aloud by the quizmaster whether or not they should be. A good team name is worth as much social credit as a good score.
The prizes
Usually the entry pot split between first and second, or a bar tab. Many quizzes also run a meat raffle or a jackpot that rolls over each week if unclaimed, which is the real reason some regulars attend.
Nobody gets rich. A winning team of five might take twenty pounds, which is roughly what they have already spent at the bar, which is precisely the arrangement the pub had in mind.
Why pubs run them
Straightforward economics. A quiz fills a pub on the deadest night of the week and keeps people there for two hours buying drinks. It costs the landlord almost nothing beyond the prize pot and the quizmaster, and many pubs credit their midweek trade entirely to it.
For a good many regulars it is also a fixed social appointment — the same team, the same table, every week for years.
The unwritten rules
- Do not use your phone. Everyone can see you.
- Do not argue with the quizmaster. The quizmaster’s answer sheet is final, even when it is wrong — and if it is genuinely wrong, raise it politely at the break.
- Do not bring a ringer. A team that turns up with someone who has been on television will be treated accordingly.
- Buy a drink. The quiz is not the product.