First Half

The Rules

Use your noodle, not your Google.
Please don't shout out answers.
Teams should be eight people or fewer.

Notes on the Rules:

We ask people to use the internet to enter their answers, not to look them up! The game is much more fun when it's a conversation between teammates, and the results are more satisfying when they came from folks' own heads. Emphasize the value in being honest, and remind them that Googling is cheating, and cheaters get indigestion, bad karma, etc.

Shouting in a bar or taproom can sometimes be part of a fun atmosphere, but when it's trivia answers, it frequently comes from people who are not, in fact, playing. You can use the line, "I don't yell at you when you're at work, so please don't yell at me." Or you can tell them that they're giving away free points, and if they know so much, why aren't they playing? You'll find more options for managing hecklers in the What If section, but it's always valuable to remind people to behave up front.

As to team size - in general, use your best judgement. We have set eight as the limit for regular trivia (and six players per team for theme trivia); for every person over the limit, the team is docked one point. The point comes off of the final score (after you lock Round 8). Some sites' owner/managers will encourage large teams, and since the prize value is the same no matter how many players, you can follow the guidance of the staff at the site.
You'll also want to be judicious about children - unless it's "Bluey" trivia, humans who can get discount meals (i.e. 11 and under) probably shouldn't count against team totals. However, when a group of adults is pointing to the ninth person at the end and saying, "Oh, they're not really playing," you should still count that person because of how it appears to other teams.

Round 1 is always General Knowledge, so you can dive right in to the first question after the rules. Give about 1 minute between each question, and about 2-3 minutes between each round.

During Round 1, you’ll want to make sure to point out that Round 4 is an Image Round, and they have until the end of the first half to complete it! It is already revealed in the app, but you’ll still want to read the title and description. (If you’re on pen and paper, it’s at a unique URL provided in the Host Email, at triviamafia.com/XXX with the last three characters changing for each block of questions during the week.)
For subsequent rounds, read the name of the round and the full description (starting with Round 2). There may be an example; players can see the description in the app but not examples! That’s the only time they’re allowed to shout out answers, which can be fun.
Be sure to remind teams about completing Round 4 between questions. You can do it after every question 5, or before every question 4, whatever works for you - just as long as they get several reminders.
Once you get through the last question of Round 3, let them know that it’s the end of the first half! Give them about 2-3 minutes to finish submitting all their answers for the first FOUR rounds, and tell them you’ll be locking the rounds for grading (i.e. “you have three minutes, which on my clock means we’ll lock it up at 7:48”). Then at that time, announce that you are locking the rounds (or ask them to bring up their answer sheets). This is the Intermission, so it’s a great time to nudge people to order another drink/food item.
After you finish scoring (and hand back the sheets, if needed), read the answers to Rounds 1 thru 4. You can truncate the questions on this reread.
- For example, the question, "In Australia and the United Kingdom, they call something that you might find at a construction site or a music festival a 'thunder box.' In the U.S., it is most commonly known as what?" becomes, "In Australia and the UK, they call it a thunder box - but it's known in the US as a Port-a-Potty!"
Update the Leaderboard in the app, and ask teams if they have any quibbles, concerns, or corrections that need to be addressed. Give them a minute or two to review the credit they were given! Then congratulate the team that is currently in first place, and roll on into Round 5.

The halfway point is a good time to count how many teams are playing and estimate the average team size (which you need to know for the Host Feedback). If there are teams that joined in the app but didn't submit more than one round of answers, you shouldn't count them.

Before you start Round 5, be sure to mention the Mega Round. Some hosts do the full explanation at the top of the second half, some just tease it and do a full explanation around Round 7. Just make sure you do dedicate time to explaining it clearly, and give several reminders!

SAMPLE SCRIPT:

Don’t forget to give yourself extra points by assigning a Mega Round. You can choose Round 5, 6, 7, or 8 to be your Mega Round. Here’s how that works: Pick the round you feel the best about, the one where you know you got the most correct answers. Then go to the Mega Round section in the app, select that round number, and assign 5 points to the answer you’re most confident about. Your next best answer, give 4 points. And so on, down to 1 point for the answer you’re least confident about. That’s 15 points total if you ace your Mega Round. Let me know if you are confused! If you don’t assign a Mega Round, you can’t win, because Math.

Round 6 is a Lightning Round. This just means you read it faster. Instead of reading one question every minute or two, introduce the round name and description, and then read all five questions in a row. Reveal them in the app, then repeat all five questions (they’re usually single words or short phrases) and give the teams a slightly longer break (maybe 4 minutes) to work on it before moving on to Round 7. Some hosts like to hide these questions after that break, to increase the difficulty, but that’s dealer’s choice (and not necessary).
The Sound Round happens at Round 7. Don’t forget to tell people the theme of the Sound Round before you play the songs. Follow along with the song-snippets, and tell people which number they’re listening to (i.e. “That was #1, here it comes again... That was #2, here comes #3...”). The sound round is one continuous mp3 with breaks built in, so you can just hit “play” and let it run to the end, or you can manually pause to make the breaks longer. Each clip plays twice.
- Some locations CAN’T run the Sound Round. It’s possible that the tech setup doesn’t allow it, but in many cases, it’s because the venue doesn’t have the licensing for it. If copyrighted music is used for an event that the customer is paying for in their space, typically they need to have BMI/ASCAP/SESAC licensing for it. If Trivia Mafia plays music as an explicit part of the game, then they can be fined by those litigious organizations working to protect musicians licensing rights. If the ICOE says No Sound Round, please don’t ever play the sound round, even if you think you could make it work technically.
- Those locations have a second image round instead. This automatically appears as Round 7 in the app when Sound Round is toggled off at the point when you were setting up the game, or as a second unique URL for locations using paper (just like Round 4). We recommend introducing it after Round 6, and revealing the images one at a time with just 20-30 seconds between each.
At least twice during the night, lead a round of applause for the bartenders and servers, and remind everyone to tip them generously for all their hard work. Get to know the staff personally (they’re your greatest allies during a trivia night) and introduce them to the players over the microphone. They love that.
Near the end of the night, remind everyone to visit TriviaMafia.com, where they can sign up for the email newsletter “The Morning Rounds.” That has fun facts from our Editorial team, five free questions, and info on our schedule each day, and hints on the rounds at the very bottom. (It’s also a good idea for you, the host, to sign up to receive the newsletter, because it’s so good.) Winning teams can also see their pictures appear on the landing page for the location.