Trivial Matters

Wait. Pub Quizzing has an “etiquette” round?

Not quite. Rather, the entire pub quizzing experience requires some modicum of etiquette, and I think we should discuss that now.

What’s so hard? As long as you don’t shout out the answers, you should be fine… right?

You would think that, wouldn’t you. But pub quiz etiquette extends beyond courtesy to your fellow players. It also applies to how you treat your quizmaster.

Why would someone be rude to the quizmaster?

Many reasons, actually. They don’t like a particular answer. Perhaps they think they deserve more bonus points. Maybe they’re just jerk.

I don’t want to be mean to my quizmaster. What should I do?

The simple answer is to just be polite. Remember that it is just a game (even if you paid an entry fee). If you don’t like a given answer, wait until the round is over and ask your quizmaster about it. If they don’t agree with you, DO NOT ARGUE WITH THEM!

Woah, easy there. No need to shout.

Sorry. Just wanted to get my point across. If they disagree with you, take it like a man (woman, whatever) and go back to your seat.

No harm done. So, what else can I do?

That’s about it. Just be polite to everyone, remember that it’s a game, and tip (the waitress, quizmaster, whomever deserves it).

I haven’t contributed to the FAQs in a while, so here’s another.

WTF? I’ve been searching for “pub quiz” on Google and your blog came up, but you left me hanging after the Bingo Round. What gives?

Sorry about that. It’s been kinda busy around here, and there were some other things I wanted to talk about for a while.

Ok. All is forgiven. Just don’t tell me that I have to listen to quizzers sing in this round.

Nope. (Unless you really want to.)

So I just play a bunch of songs and have people write down the names?

Sure. That’s one way to do it. Of course, you don’t want to play the enire song. 1) It’ll be way too easy and 2) it’ll take way too long. You want to play just enough that the average quizzer can keep singing the song in their head and come up with the answer. It’s best to play a verse rather than a chorus because the title of the song is usually in the chorus.

How many times should I play the clip?

Like in any other round, you want to repeat the “question,” which in this case is the clip itself. But don’t play them back-to-back. Give the players a chance to work it out, then announce that you are going to repeat the clip so that they can pay attention.

Should I ask for the name of the song, the artist, or both?

That’s up to you. In my name that tune round, I played all cover songs and announced the artist that was singing in the clip. Then I asked for the name of the song and the original artist. It all depends on your style and theme of the quiz.

Another variation would be to announce the title and artist, play the clip, and then ask a follow-up question. Or have them complete the lyric. Or ask a totally unrelated question (but that would be kinda confusing… and a little mean).

Is there any way to set up my computer to play just the clip if I don’t have mp3 editing software?

If you’re using iTunes, then yes. I don’t know about other players, but I’m sure if you look around you’ll find something similar to the iTunes function.

In iTunes: First listen to the song and write down the timestamps for the beginning and end of the clip. Then, right-click on the song and select “Get Info.” Under the “Options” tab, you should see a start and stop time field. Check the boxes and enter the timestamps from before. Go back and play the clip again to make sure everythign it there. (The display will only give minutes and seconds for the timestamp, but you can tweak it by tenths of a second in the individual fields.)

It’s best to create a playlist with you clips, and uncheck all of the boxes to make sure they only play one at a time. Also, when you’re done, you have to go back and clear the start and stop time fields and uncheck those boxes to return the song to normal playing.

Any other tips?

If you are doing this in a public place, make sure you have a decent sound system. It’s unlikely that everyone there is playing, so they won’t be polite enough to shut their traps during the round. You want something loud and clear.

The campus was closed last night because of the holiday. I decided to take my night off and attend one of my old pub quiz haunts, the Bridgeport Brew Pub in the Pearl District. A couple of my friends joined me, and we demonstrated that we are really out of practice.

This week’s theme is Monty Python, of which we were familiar, but not too well versed. And apparently we weren’t too well versed in many of the other questions. By the end of the bingo round, we had 13 of 25 questions correct. We didn’t stand a chance at getting the bingo (which one team got after only 7 answers were revealed).

Round two was a little better, but not by much. We did a new type of game called “By The Numbers” which, personally, I thought it was a silly and confusing premise. Each question was based on a particular number, but the way the questions were phrased, it was difficult to tell what was being asked for. For example, the second question (which corresponded to the number 2) described The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. We knew which movie she was talking about, but thought she wanted the two members of Python that were in it, not the name of the movie.

By the end of the second round we had moved up to a respectible eighth place, and didn’t budge after the handouts were graded. Both were very easy and it seemed like everyone got the same number of points so the standings didn’t change. The three of us left before the final round.

Unfortunately, I won’t have any more time off from school other than Thanksgiving, and I doubt there will be a quiz that night. I guess we’ll have to go back in December and try to restore the supremacy of Mostly Confused.

I’ve noticed that many of my hits on this site are from searches for “pub quiz” and the like. So, in an attempt to pander to my audience, I’m going to expand on the original Pub Quiz FAQ in a special series. If you got here first, you may want to start with the original FAQ .

Why start with a bingo round?

The bingo round is probably the longest round in a pub quiz, both because it has more questions than other rounds and it takes longer to read back the answers.

How is a bingo round played?

A bingo round is 25 questions. Each team has two answer sheets. The first is just a page to record all of your answers on, in the order that the questions are asked. The second is a 5×5 grid with question numbers randomly placed. At Oregon Pub Quizzes, they have a specialty transfer-paper answer sheet, so that you actually fill out two “cards,” one for the quizmaster to grade and one for the team to use when playing the “bingo” game itself. At our pub quizzes, we just use a 5×5 grid and rely on teams to *not* cheat and change their answers to get a bingo.

More specific, please?

Ok, since you insisted… The quizmaster asks 25 questions. Each team fills out both sheets with their answers, making sure they put the right answer with the right question on the 5×5 sheet.

Wait, what if I get bingo while the quizmaster is reading questions?

Good for you! You get a gold star! What you don’t get, however, are any points. The “bingo” part of the round is not played until the correct answers are read back by the quizmaster. Can I continue now?

Please.

Thank you. Now, as I was saying, make sure you have the right answer in the right spot. And by “right,” I mean correct. You answer must be correct (according to the quizmaster) in order for it to count in the bingo round.

After all of the questions have been read, it is a good idea to ask for repeats just in case a team missed a question. I can’t count how many times a team had stalled on a particular question and then gotten off track and started putting answers in the wrong spot… you get the idea. Or, more often, the quizmaster has to deal with an obnoxious player, and gets offtrack themself.

Once everone is ready, they turn in their first answer sheet and one fo the 5×5 sheets. When it’s just our small group, each team holds onto the single 5×5 sheet. The quizmaster grades the main answer sheet, giving 5 points for each correct answer.

Now it is time to read back the answers. The answers are read back randomly, so it is a good idea for the quizmaster to reread the question too. Each team checks their answer and circles it if they got it right or “X” through it if they got it wrong.

What constitutes a “bingo”?

The standard five-in-a-row or four corners.

What do I do when I get a “bingo”?

Stand up and shout “bingo!” This will almost immediately be followed by groans and hissing fromt he other teams who were only one right answer away from getting it themselves. Turn in your 5×5 card to the quizmaster, who will them compare it to both his answer sheet and your other 5×5 card to make sure you didn’t change any answers.

What does a “bingo” get me?

Twenty bonus points or whatever the quizmaster decides for his/her game.

What if two (or more) teams get “bingo” at the same time?

The most attractive woman from each team has to compete in a special “jello wrestling” round… just kidding. Normally, each team splits the bonus points (so 10 apiece in this case). But, really, it is up to the quizmaster.

Is there a “free space”?

No. If you had been paying attention, there are 25 questions and 25 (5 times 5) spaces, so no free space.

Doesn’t that make the the center square more important?

Yep. So you better make sure you have that one correct.

How hard are the questions?

They shouldn’t be extremely hard (like some of mine were in the Music Pub Quiz). They also should not have really long answers, as these are hard to fit in the tiny square on the 5×5 sheet.

What if I want to dispute a question?

Good luck. Distputing a question in bingo is very tricky. The quizmaster is less likely to stop the game midway to address your grievance. Instead, they’ll wait until the end, which lets another team get to the “bingo” first. Then, once you have been vindicated and show that you would have also gotten a “bingo” (albeit, first) you’ll probaly split the bonus with them.

That’s not fair. We would have had it first!

Be aware, though, that other teams may have also put your answer down and now they too are correct and could have gotten “bingo” before you would have. So in the interest of fairness, everyone gets a bonus. (Including the other teams, in away, because the bonus is worth less as more teams claim it.)

Is there any other way to get bonus points in this round?

In the Oregon Pub Quizzes, the quizmaster usually has a movie clip as one of the questions. The movie is the answer they are looking for, and the actor speaking is usually 3 bonus points. I’ve used followup questions in my bingo round for the 3 bonus points. It is really up to the quizmaster.

So what comes after the Bingo Round?

That’s a FAQ for another day.

You’ve mentioned Pub Quizzing in other posts. What is that, exactly?

Pub Quizzing is a game played in bars across Portland (and other cities I’m sure). The ones here are run by a company called Pub Quiz Oregon (http://www.pubquizoregon.com), and they are a great bunch a folks.

To play, you only need to show up (either by yourself or with a team of up to six), pay $3 per person, and answer a series of questions that revolve around a selected topic. The topics are weekly, meaning that all of the quizes for that week will be on the same topic, but will differ in actual content at each location.

So you just answer questions? That sounds easy.

Each quiz is structured into four rounds, with the first round always being Bingo. Twenty-five questions are posed, and you fill out a five-by-five grid with your responses. Then the correct answers are read back in random order, and the first team to get a “bingo” (five in a row or four corners) gets an extra 20 points.

The second round is different each quiz, based on the preference of the quizmaster and the location of the quiz. There’s one venue here in Portland, The Thirsty Lion, that uses videos for its second round. Lately, we’ve been playing a version of Jeopardy for round two at a few of the other locations.

The third round involves handouts hat the team attempts to fill out throughout the rest of the quiz. The answers are given after round two, and the point totals are announced for the fourth, and final, round.

Only the top three teams (or five, if there’s enough people) go into the final round. The top team picks from two categories of questions and then each team wagers any, or all, of their points. Winning or losing them, depending on their response to the final question. The winning team is the one with the most points at the end.

Sounds like fun, but why do I have to pay?

All of the money collected goes into the pot. At the end of the game, the top two teams (or three, if there’s more than 50 people playing) split the pot and take home the cash.

Do I have to drink in order to play?

No. (But it may help.) Most of the venues have some sort of happy hour or pub quiz specials, so you can drink, eat, or just sit there and enjoy the company of other people.

How hard are the questions?

Some are very easy. Some are very hard. It depends on the theme for the week and your team’s strengths and weaknesses. Sometimes you will be so sure about a question until you hear the “correct” answer, and then you will just want to slink away and hide for missing it.

Can I look up an answer if I don’t know it?

No, you may not. There are no cell phones, laptops, or PDAs allowed during pub quiz. You also cannot shout out the answers. It makes the others angry, and they will either laugh at you if you are wrong, or slap you if you are right and just gave it away to everyone.

I don’t live in Portland. How can I play?

Look online for pub quiz groups in your area. I found this one through Meetup.com, and there are other similar sites for most major metropolitan areas.

Thanks for clearing this up. Will I see you at the next pub quiz?

Maybe. If you hear “Mostly Confused” is playing when they announce the team names, then you’ll probably find me at one of the tables. You’ll know who we are when we get up to claim our winnings at the end.