Second Half

Second Verse, Not Like the First

The second half goes faster and has a bit more variety in it — and, the questions tend to get just a tad bit harder! It's super fun, you'll love it.

Round 5

Before you read the round, do a quick revisit of the rules: No shouting answers; Use your noodle, not your Google. This is mostly for people who joined late (or aren't playing, and need to know/remember not to call out answers). If you don't have any big teams, you can skip mentioning team size. If you do have big teams, then make it clear to everyone you are aware there are big teams and you are enforcing the eight-person limit (or whatever the limit is for your site). Make note of the prizes again, too.

Mention the fact that the Mega Round is in play for the second half, but don't get into it just yet. 

As with Rounds 2 and 3, read the name of the round and the full description before reading the first question of that round. Repeat the description or theme before you read question three or four, just to nudge them, as in, "remember, the round is called It's Not Easy Being Greeeeeeen." Leave a minute or so between each question. 

Round 6

Round 6 is a Lightning Round. This just means it goes faster, because the "questions" are not full sentences. As long as you properly give the round title and description, you can run it a couple different ways: 

• Reveal the question as you read it, then repeat it, with just 10-15 seconds between each.
  
• Read each one twice, sequentially, and reveal the entire round at the end of your reading.
• Read all five questions in a row once, reveal them all, then read them again. It could go something like this:

Brace yourselves, folks, it's time for the Lightning Round! It goes wicked fast, in a lighting-like fashion, because it is short, it is sweet, and most importantly it is short! I'm going to read these questions back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back, reveal them, then read them all again. Then we'll be done, because it's a freaking lightning round! Ka-chow!

The round is called: BEST PICTURE POSTCARDS
I'll tell you the year a movie won the Oscar for “Best Picture” and the city where it was set. You tell me the movie.    
#1. 2017: Miami.   
#2. 2009: Mumbai    
#3. 2001: Rome.    
#4. 1977: Philadelphia.    
#5. 1966: Salzburg.    [reveal all questions]

Again: #1. 2017: Miami.   #2. 2009: Mumbai    #3. 2001: Rome.    #4. 1977: Philadelphia.    #5. 1966: Salzburg.   

This has been your Lightning Round! You have two minutes until Round 7. 

mic drop [please don't actually drop the microphone]

Give them two or three minutes, and get some table touches in. Some hosts do like to hide these questions in the app after that break, to increase the difficulty, but that’s dealer’s choice (and neither necessary nor recommended). Never lock a round before the end of the half. If you do that, they can't select the round as a Mega Round, and it's just unnecessarily punitive, especially for new teams. 

Round 7

The Sound Round happens at Round 7. It is linked in the question email, and in the app; the link sends you to a Dropbox folder, and you can play the mp3 file right there (or, download it ahead of time, depending on your device and sound system setup).

Get it all queued up before you get back on the mic, then explain what the Sound Round is: "It's sounds - specifically the sounds of songs* where you identify the song title and artist for half a point each." 

Read the round title and description, then reveal the lyrics (questions) in the app. For accessibility, it's so valuable to have the lyrics visible before you start playing the clips.

It is one file with ten clips, with about eight seconds of silence between each clip. You can just hit “play” and let it run to the end, or you can manually pause to make the breaks longer. Tell the teams that each song* plays twice. Follow along with the song-snippets, and tell people which number they’re listening to: “That was #1, here it comes again... That was #2, here comes #3...”.  

*Note that very rarely, the sound round will only ask to identify the artist, or a musical, so they are worth one point. Even more rarely, the sound round will be a clip of other media — a TV show or movie or interview — but, due to the wide variety of sound setups and venues we're in, it can be really hard to hear the talking in a bar or cavernous taproom, so we mostly just do music.

Some locations CAN’T run the Sound Round. It’s possible that the tech setup doesn’t allow it, or they don't prefer 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, they need to have BMI/ASCAP/SESAC licensing for it. If Trivia Mafia plays music as an explicit part of the game, then the customer can be fined by those litigious organizations working to protect musicians licensing rights. If the ICOE or other instruction 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 in the “No Sound” blocks, or as a second unique URL for locations using paper (just like Round 4). Some hosts will reveal this image round at the start of Round 5, as they did at the beginning of the game, but we recommend that you introduce it after Round 6. Read the title and descriptions, then reveal the images, and give them about three to five minutes to work on the round. Might be a good time to nudge teams to either order one more drink, or call for the tab.

The Mega Round

Hope you didn't forget about those Three Speeches, because here is the final one!

SPEECH 3: The Mega Round

In the second half, you can give yourself extra points by assigning a Mega Round. You can choose Round 5, 6, 7, or 8 to be your Mega Round. Go to the Mega Round section in the app. Pick the round you feel the best about, the one where you know you got the most correct answers. Select that round number, and assign 5 points to the answer you’re most confident about. Your next best answer, give 4 points. Cascade down to 1 point in accordance with your confidence. That’s 15 points possible for your Mega Round! Let me know if you are confused! If you don’t assign a Mega Round, you can’t win, because of Math.

You don't have to do any of the math for calculating Mega Round points in the app, it's like magic. Or like a computer program. Whatever. Point being, you just have to make sure that teams assign them before you get to the end of the game!

Round 8

This is the home stretch, we're almost done! Before you kick off Round 8, give your Mega Round speech. Offer to use small words and diagrams if anyone needs extra support here, no team left behind, etc etc. 

Round 8 is back to General Knowledge — no special theme to hold these questions together, just some stuff people might generally know. 

You should be doing table touches between every question now, to give them any last clarifications. Maybe remind them that the descriptions and even titles of rounds can be hints! Also check that they understand the Mega Round; they can choose Round 8, of course, so don't hit the high pressure reminder until after the Question 5, The Last Question Of The Night. 

After you read R8Q5, give them about two minutes to wrap things up, just as you did at the end of Round 3 - except, of course, that you're also really selling that Mega Round. You're nearly annoying about it, actually, but mostly helpful and charming. Review the Leaderboard in the app to verify that teams have selected a Mega Round before you lock it down, but be for real about telling people when you are locking and grading. 

Grading and Sharing Answers

It's exactly like what you did at Intermission. Did you forget already? It was barely half an hour ago! 

Re-read the questions, slightly truncated, with the answers for Rounds 5-8. Make sure you have revealed the answers, so players know where they got points. Then, give them a minute to come up with any quibbles, complaints, corrections, or situations with scores BEFORE you update the Leaderboard and announce winners. 

Thank the staff again — that Velma, she really makes everyone smile! — and remind people that they can come back every week, same trivia time, same trivia channel. Perhaps mention our delightful newsletter, The Morning Rounds, and upcoming Theme Nights that players might enjoy. Then, when you've really built up the anticipation, and can cut the tension with a knife...

Reveal the Leaderboard, and announce the winners! Some hosts will read every team name, from the bottom to the top, to celebrate all the cleverness. Some hosts get right to business and just rattle off third, second, first. If you do some kind of honorable mention prize — Most Average, Best Team Name, Best Team Spirit — share that before the top two. Ask the winners to sit tight and you'll bring the prizes to them. Thank everyone for coming out to play!

Next: Post-Game

Answers to the Lighting Round Example!
#1. 2017: Miami.    Moonlight
#2. 2009: Mumbai    Slumdog Millionaire
#3. 2001: Rome.    Gladiator
#4. 1977: Philadelphia.    Rocky
#5. 1966: Salzburg.    The Sound of Music