The COVID-19 pandemic made it blatantly evident how necessary it is to stay connected to the people in our lives. Whether that’s friends, family members, or colleagues, the need is the same. And luckily today, regardless of what’s happening in the world, everyone can remain connected with the help of online tools.
Playing team trivia games is one such way in which you can bond and have fun with the people closest to you. This is a great online activity that you can play with your friends and family, but also colleagues and employees.
And since there are a plethora of online trivia games online, we selected the best ones that you can choose from based on your preferences.
So, join us on our team trivia adventure and learn all about team trivia games you can play online, event details, trivia participants, breakout rooms, and so much more.
Who Can You Play Online Team Trivia Games With?
Playing online team trivia games is an activity you can engage in with different groups of people. Whether you’re looking for a way to socialize with your loved ones, unwind with peers, or connect with your colleagues - team trivia games find their place in all these situations (and many more).
1) Friends
Human connections are an important factor in our everyday lives. And while nothing can quite replace in-person communication, online team trivia games come close to it. They help friends remain connected whether they prefer a fun activity while together or they’re scattered across the globe and are looking for a great virtual reunion.
2) Family
The time we spend with family members may sometimes seem predictable, but there are always ways to make things more dynamic.
Introducing online trivia games into the family can be both a fun and an educating way to spend some time together.
Similarly, like reuniting with friends, online team trivia games allow for family members who live in different locations to come together and enjoy a fun game night, an afternoon after work, or a carefully planned day. So, if your cousins live in the United States, but you and your family are based in Europe, Zoom, Google Meet, or Teams can always be a place where you get to come together and enjoy a team trivia game or two.
3) Co-workers
Hanging out with coworkers is a great way for colleagues to get to know each other in a much more informal way.
Online team trivia games are great for remote teams or employees working together in the office who are willing to try a more virtual approach to socializing.
With that said, apart from socializing, team trivia games can also be part of team-building events. Playing trivia games is a great way for employees to bond, collaborate, and get to know one another, which, in turn, can have a very positive effect on the company, which we’ll explore further below.
All in all, regardless of whether team trivia games are used as team-building activities or as an entertaining way for coworkers to connect on their own, they can definitely produce the same benefits and generate tons of laughter among peers.
4) Club members
Belonging to a club and hanging out with club members can sometimes involve activities that aren’t directly related to the club’s purpose at all. In other words, you can deepen the connection you have with your club members by engaging in activities that help you learn more about these people’s personalities, preferences, sense of humor, and so on.
And while there are many ways to do so, online team trivia games seem to be on the top of the list.
How Do Team Trivia Games Help Your Company?
Team trivia games have many benefits for companies. Below, we discuss the most important ones.
1) They allow employees to interact in an informal way.
First and foremost, online team trivia games are great for remote workers since these teams rarely get the chance to interact with one another or meet up in general. Also, if the only interaction these employees get is through work-related meetings, they certainly won’t get the whole picture of their peers. Plus, with virtual team trivia games, attendees don’t have to go anywhere - they can play these games from the comfort of their homes.
2) They’re an important aspect in corporate contexts.
Next, trivia games are great activities for team-building events, ice breaker sessions, and office breaks.
3) They help introduce new hires to already existing employees.
Team trivia games also help in introducing new hires to other employees. When new employees join a company, they may not feel like they’re part of the team right from the start. To instill this sense of belonging in them, you may opt for hosting team trivia games.
4) They allow employees to take a break and do something different.
Team trivia games allow employees to do something that isn’t directly related to their daily job tasks and responsibilities. Yet, all of them will still be working toward a common goal.
Plus, it’s a great way for employees to interact with peers they don’t really collaborate with on a daily basis. For instance, if most of your IT team works together, fixes issues, and holds meetings throughout the week, chances are they never quite get to talk to your accountants. But if you divide your employees into randomized teams and allow peers to meet new people from their company, this might open the doors for new friendships and connections in the long run.
5) They help employees improve their communication skills
Team trivia games help employees learn how to communicate better with each other. And as you probably know by now, proper communication among employees and different departments is key to every company’s success. Being asked to solve problems, provide correct answers, and discuss challenging and unique questions helps them work on their communication skills in an informal manner. This also increases staff motivation, engagement levels, and productivity.
6) They allow employers to identify leadership potential among employees.
Moreover, team trivia games allow employers to identify leadership qualities in their employees. These are the employees who take quick action, approach the problem-solving activities first, and encourage other team members to follow suit. Leaders also take control of trivia tasks very effectively, so their trivia approach may help you assign them work-related tasks later on as well.
7) They allow for healthy competition.
Team trivia games are a great reason for employees to engage in a friendly competition. There’s nothing wrong with healthy competition as long as it doesn’t develop into rivalry and cause people to become frustrated or angry. It’s all about keeping things light hearted and enjoyable.
8) They boost employees’ confidence levels.
A boost in confidence provides the workforce with the necessary courage and skills to express their ideas freely, collaborate with peers, feel like their suggestions are valued in the company, and so on.
Moreover, a fun team game can show your employees you care about their mental health and you want to see them relaxed.
9) They help employees expand their knowledge.
Engaging in team trivia games tests employees’ already existing knowledge, but at the same time, it expands that knowledge by listening to what other team members have to say and brainstorming with their group.
10) They help employees learn about trust.
Playing trivia games with peers will certainly require some level of trust: trust in the team members, trust in the answers and suggestions a specific person from the group provides, and trust in people’s judgment to make the right decisions.
This level of trust obtained through such team trivia games will then be mirrored in your employees’ daily communication and work.
And now, onto the games!
9 Team Trivia Games For Virtual Setups
Below, we share nine team trivia games for virtual setups. We’ll help you with what we know and what we consider each trivia to be the best at, but we’ll leave the ultimate choice for you to make.
1) Trivia Nerd
At Trivia Nerd, you’ll find hundreds of thousands of amusing trivia questions, divided into twenty broad categories, some of which are:
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Art;
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Books;
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Cars;
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Business and Tech;
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Decades;
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Food and Drink;
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General Knowledge;
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Lifestyle;
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Pop Culture;
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Math and Spelling;
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History;
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Geography, and so on.
Once you pick a category, you’re taken to a separate page with a list of specific trivia collections within the broad category you’ve chosen. The trivia questions come with the correct answers and you can play all of them for free.
With that said, if you wish to sign up and receive more of the features Trivia Nerd has to offer, the monthly fee is $29 per month, but if you decide to pay annually, it costs $79 (that’s just $6.6 per month!).
Whether you’re on the lookout for versatile trivia questions to play with your friends, colleagues, employees, or family members - on Trivia Nerd, you’ll always find what you need. We’re constantly upgrading our categories, adding new collections of trivia questions, and making sure we improve all sections (easy, medium, and hard modes).
Moreover, there’s a multiplayer mode in case you want to host a live trivia game. Here’s a list of our other features:
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creating unlimited custom quizzes and trivia;
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live score features;
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multiple choice answers;
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custom landing pages and URL’s;
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and detailed analytics data for your team.
A little something before you move to the next team trivia game…
If you decide to join us, you can’t miss our Random Trivia Generator as well. As the name suggests, this generator “generates” trivia questions along with their corresponding answers from our library. You just need to click on the Generate Random Trivia button. This is meant to be a fun way of engaging in trivia and testing your knowledge with friends, colleagues, or maybe even on your own.
2) QuizBreaker
QuizBreaker helps teams stay connected and engaged with fun icebreaker quizzes. You just need to invite your team to answer a set of amusing icebreaker questions and either use an already made set of 100 icebreakers or add your custom questions. QuizBreaker is able to accommodate teams with as few people or larger groups with hundreds of participants.
Clients like that they can schedule a virtual team-building quiz and send it to their teams automatically on their chosen schedule. In other words, you can change the timing, the frequency, the date, and the volume of how often these quizzes are being sent out.
There’s also a comment thread and emoji reactions that allow teams to develop a deeper bond and engage in discussions. As you can see, QuizBreaker is about so much more than just answering icebreaker questions. Moreover, people can unlock achievement badges and levels as peers learn new things about one another in each quiz round.
Another thing that Quizbreaker takes care of is data safety. Your team’s data is secured through SSL encryption and it’s never shared with third parties.
Participants can engage in these quizzes using any Internet browser (QuizBreaker is mobile-friendly too!).
If, so far, you’re resonating with what we’ve shared about QuizBreaker, you can try the 21-day free trial. You can set it up in as little as three minutes, there’s free onboarding support, and you can cancel anytime.
The paid option is $3 per month per user (if you pay annually, you get four months for free and the price per user is $2). You can also create multiple teams within your accounts and receive a weekly leaderboard report.
A little something before you move to the next team trivia game…
If you’re still on the fence about joining QuizBreaker, perhaps the following testimonials can help you make up your mind:
“My team has been enjoying QuizBreaker so much my director has asked that we extend it to include the whole department!”
“QuizBreaker has given us a fun way to not only know each other better but to also understand what drives and motivates us as a team.”
“We got great use out of QuizBreaker and now our team is all ramped up. They know each other much better than before. Thanks for the great service!”
3) Trivvy
Trivvy takes pride in the fact that they handle everything team trivia-related: the questions, the live video, the scoring, the hosting, and so on.
All you’re supposed to do is dial in and have a great time.
Trivvy has professional hosts (highly trained quizmasters) who know how to keep everyone engaged. After all, it’s their job to make things amusing for attendees.
You and your team can expect awesome questions (both audio and visual ones!), themed rounds, and quickfire mode, to name a few. Variety is truly what Trivvy stands for.
Moreover, Trivvy has games that last 45, 60, or 90 minutes. It really depends on what you and your team’s preferences are. When you pick the trivia categories you want to play, you can choose up to four out of the following ones:
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1990s;
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Billboard #1 Hits;
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Costco;
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Deadly Animals;
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Dot Com Bubble;
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Food of the World;
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Food of Latin America;
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Ghosts;
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Great Fiction;
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Halloween Spooktacular;
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LGBTQ Entertainment;
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Los Angeles;
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Movies;
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Nerdy Trivia;
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Nobel Prize Winners;
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Reality TV;
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Red, White and Blue;
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Shakespeare;
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The Rich and Famous;
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Super Bowl Commercials, and so on.
Finally, here are the pricing options Trivvy provides:
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1-10 players - $299;
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11-20 players - $499;
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21-50 players - $699;
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and if you have more than 50 players on your team, get in touch with Trivvy for further pricing information.
A little something before you move to the next team trivia game…
Apart from its team trivia services, Trivvy offers bingo, riddles, and legos (mostly for team-building purposes).
If you feel like mixing activities or using something as a warm-up activity before your main team trivia event, we recommend a brief riddle session.
Here’s one from their blog to get you started:
Shotgun Riddle: Dean Winchester shoots himself between his eyes using his shotgun at close range in the bathroom. The bullets and the gun are real and functional. After one minute, Dean walks out of the bathroom alive, and there are no traces of blood or injury. How is this possible?
Dean Winchester shot the reflection of himself in the bathroom mirror.
4) Jackbox Games
Jackbox Games is a game-making studio popular for its games You Don’t Know Jack, Fibbage, Trivia Murder Party, and Drawful, to name a few.
Every year since 2014, there has been a new collection of games. Together, they’re grouped as a Jackbox Party Pack and sold in the same way. Each pack comes with five different games suitable for 1-8 players. In case there are more than 8 players, many of their games allow for the audience to play along, so no worries!
There are video tutorials and detailed instructions on how to play the games. Click here to get more information. The page also provides insights into how to access extra features and special options for every game.
To learn more about the prices, we suggest visiting the Jackbox Games online store and seeing ongoing discounts, offers, game packages, and so on, to make an informed decision.
A little something before you move to the next team trivia game…
If you don’t know where to start or which game you should play first, we suggest starting with the Trivia Murder Party. This is a “deadly quiz show where you match wits with a trivia-obsessed killer.”
If you don’t provide the right answers to the trivia questions, you’ll find yourself on the so-called Killing Floor, where players compete in minigames, like making the longest word you can come up with from a block of ransom note letters or attempting to memorize murder weapon patters, to name a few. The outcome of these minigames determines whether you survive and get to play another round or you simply become a ghost (with that said, ghosts can allegedly still win the game).
Good luck to you and your team, because with this game you’ll definitely need it!
5) Sporcle
Sporcle provides virtual pub quizzes that resemble in-person pub trivia events. The difference is that you get to play them from the comfort of your home.
Just choose one of their live-hosted online trivia games on their website and you’re ready to play.
To learn more about these events, you can watch Sporcle’s 2-minute video here. The price is $5 per device for a one-hour team trivia game or $8 per device for a two-hour team trivia game. The maximum number of devices per team is ten.
Keep in mind that there’s just one set of questions per game type every day, so if this doesn’t sound enough for you and your team trivia mates, make sure to mix and match various topics and game types.
A little something before you move to the next team trivia game…
Sporcle also provides its clients with stimulating trivia games specially created for specific groups. These are team trivia experiences created for groups of all sizes and various skill levels.
The events are fully hosted by people who know what they’re doing and how to keep their attendees interested in the trivia event. There’s a so-called “digital answering” option - a system which makes the whole gameplay thing a piece of cake. You also receive event recaps and team stats to keep as a souvenir once the event is over.
The fact that these games are fully customizable means you’ll receive the best game experience for your specific trivia crew.
If this sounds like something that resonates more than the other events Sporcle offer, consider booking it (of course, you can always try both!). Firstly, decide which game you want to play, complete the booking form, and wait for someone from the Sporcle team to get in touch with you. Then, once the team trivia details are finalized, you’ll receive a Zoom link that you can share with the rest of the attendees.
Prices start at $135 for individuals. To learn more about the details as well as what each pricing option includes, visit their site.
6) Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?
This free online US version of the famous game Who Wants To Be a Millionaire? allows players to feel what it’s like to play this game, provide answers to various questions, make a million dollars (virtually), and have a great time.
The game is a quiz competition where contestants are required to provide correct answers to a series of multiple choice questions so that they can move to the next question/level. There are fifteen questions in total.
The questions that belong to the same level also have the same difficulty. For instance, the first three questions are the easiest ones. Next, questions 4-6 belong to the second, more difficult level, and are followed by the third level questions (7-9). The last level (questions 13-15) are the most difficult questions of the entire game. Just like the real game you’ve seen on TV.
Each question is worth a specific sum of money. And here’s how much:
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15 - $ 1 000 000
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14 - $ 500 000
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13- $ 250 000
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12 - $ 125 000
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11 - $ 64 000
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10 - $ 32 000
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9 - $ 16 000
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8 - $ 8 000
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7 - $ 4 000
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6 - $ 2 000
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5 - $ 1 000
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4 - $ 500
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3 - $ 300
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2 - $ 200
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1 - $ 100
A little something before you move to the next team trivia game…
It’s worth mentioning that contestants have no time limit in answering the questions. Also, they get three Lifelines to help them in case they get stuck on a specific question. Every lifeline can be used just once:
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50/50 - this option eliminates one correct and one incorrect answer from the whole multiple-choice section, leaving the player with just one correct and one incorrect option they can choose from. This means the person has a 50/50 chance of guessing the answer.
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Ask the audience - this one is pretty much self-explanatory. The contestant is allowed to consult the audience and a quick poll is done, after which they’re answers are displayed. That said, it’s up to the contestant to decide whether they’ll stick with their own option or follow the audience's suggestions and help.
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Phone a friend - players are allowed to make a brief call (30 seconds) to a friend/family member and ask them for help.
Finally, to play this game, you don’t need to download it - it can be accessed online using your preferred device (tablet, laptop, computer, or smartphone) free of charge.
7) Trivia Crack
Trivia Crack is a great mobile trivia game that can be found on both the Apple store and Google Play store. The point is to win all six characters on the spinning wheel. These so-called characters are, in fact, a wide range of trivia subject matters and various categories, such as geography, pop culture, sports, history, art, and so on.
You can play it with friends, family members, colleagues, or any other trivia enthusiasts up for a challenge and see who will be the first one to get all the character wins.
The games you engage in are as follows:
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Trivia Crack Explorer - Milly is causing chaos (visit their website if you want to see what Milly and the rest look like) and needs to be stopped. It’s up to you to help the situation get resolved. To play the game, you’re required to complete question streaks to win, pick your preferred trivia topics, get top rewards with the bonus level, explore new maps, rescue Willy’s friends, and so on.
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Trivia Crack - the most popular game. Allow Willy, the friendly spinner wheel, to choose which trivia questions you’ll answer from six distinct categories. There are hundreds of thousands of awesome questions (plus, you can create your very own questions in the Factory), you can chat with your competitors, and enjoy more than twenty languages at your disposal. Apart from playing, you also get to learn new, valuable pieces of information while enjoying yourself. As Trivia Crack’s warning states: “this game may cause an excess of fun. Please consult a professional if you notice your knowledge growing at an unusual rate.”
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Trivia Crack 2 - an upgraded version to the classic trivia game we’ve just discussed. New challenges, new knowledge, and new achievements!
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Trivia Crack Adventure - you need to help Willy find the treasure before Milly does. Displaying knowledge will be key in making sure you get to the top.
Finally, the games are free to download, but depending on what features you end up selecting, you may need to pay some fees.
A little something before you move to the next team trivia game…
If Trivia Crack gives you a bubbly feeling as though you’ve discovered a rather unusual game, yet a game that may teach you a thing or two, you’re not alone.
And if you want to take things further, we suggest checking out the Trivia Crack board game. Whenever you feel like you need a break from these online trivia games and you want to go back to the good old board games, Trivia Crack is here to support you.
8) PoppyQuiz
PoppyQuiz is a free platform to join and very intuitive to use. There are more than 200 topics to choose from that cover various subjects including, but not limited to history, geography, science, musical and literary topics, sports and games, to name a few.
You can also create your own trivia quiz, add relevant questions, and then play it with your team trivia buddies in real time.
Once you’ve settled on a topic, you should select the participants and add them in the so-called quiz challenge room. Wait for 30 seconds for the system to respond.
Here’s the interesting thing: if none of your friends have joined at that point (or if you don’t add them at all to start with), the system will match you with a random player in any part of the world automatically. At this point, we believe we should have added another category in the Who Can You Play Online Trivia Games With? section: strangers on the Internet.
When it comes to how the game is played and how you or your team score points, here’s what you need to know: each match has six rounds and one extra round that wraps up the whole game. In all these six rounds, every participant gets the same question with ten seconds to provide an answer out of the four given options. Players get points for their accuracy, but they’re rewarded for speed too. The maximum number of points one can get per round is 20. However, in the bonus round, points totals may be doubled. Providing very slow answers or no answers at all results pretty much in reduced points (or no points at all). The player with the most points is the winner.
A little something before you move to the next team trivia game…
There are more than 50,000 questions and 200 topics to choose from. All these questions are submitted by content contributors on a voluntary basis. Therefore, if being a PoppyQuiz player doesn’t seem enough, consider becoming a contributor as well.
When signing up to play on PoppyQuiz, it’s recommended that you use your social account so that you can find your friends right away and play the games with familiar individuals.
9) TriviaMaker
TriviaMaker is a great trivia tool for your next virtual team-building event, casual hang out with friends, or even for classrooms.
There are five different game styles people can choose from: List, Grid, Multiple Choice, Wheel, and TicTac. Just pick the design that resonates with you and allow TriviaMaker to handle the rest.
We especially like TriviaMaker for teams and organizations because of the features it offers. First and foremost, with an organizational account, you have a so-called “Resource Central” dashboard to make things such as logos, themes, and games. These are all available to everyone in your company/organization. Also, you can create and edit games using your phone, tablet, or laptop/computer, thanks to their cross-platform technology.
Moreover, there’s a 24/7 support team to help you host games if you’re unsure how it works. There are self-learning tools in their support center you can take advantage of too.
In terms of the pricing options TriviaMaker provides, here’s what you need to know.
The Basic plan is free, and is able to accommodate two teams and fifty buzzers (limited period). You’re free to choose from the following game styles: Grid, Trivia, and List.
The Premium plan allows for fifty teams and fifty buzzers, and costs $6.99 per month. Apart from the Grid, Trivia, and List game styles, you also have access to Wheel and Tictactoe.
Finally, the Enterprise option is suitable for fifty teams and a hundred buzzers. It has the same game styles as the Premium option. It costs as low as $2 per month per account.
A little something before you move to the next section…
The full customization option TriviaMaker provides for clients that opt for their Premium or Enterprise plans truly makes a difference in the team trivia experiences users can expect.
In essence, you’re allowed to build your games to match your current context perfectly. You can make changes to the colors (companies may use their brand’s colors, for instance), use your own content (this includes categories, questions, and answers), include your team trivia names, use your logo (you can upload it and use it during gameshows), upload your very own theme song, and so on.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I host a team trivia game for my employees?
Hosting team trivia games for employees can be a challenging undertaking. Especially if you want everything to be flawless.
To help you, below we share a step-by-step guide that you can follow for your next team trivia event.
1) Pick the team trivia game
The first step is to choose the team trivia game you want to play with your employees. You can either choose the game yourself, or run a brief survey and see how your employees feel about certain team trivia games.
We recommend the latter option, as it takes into consideration your employees’ preferences, trivia tastes, and opinions. It’d be fair to pick the game the majority seems to resonate with.
Of course, there will always be more team trivia games to organize, therefore, if someone didn’t get their trivia option chosen, there will be another time.
Before you make a list of team trivia games, however, only suggest games you’re able to organize. In other words, if your current budget doesn’t allow for paid trivia game options, pick free team trivia games for the time being.
2) Schedule a date and time
The best date to play an online team trivia game with your employees is the one when most of your employees can attend.
We suggested doing a short survey to pick a team trivia game, so you can also run a short survey to choose the most suitable time for such an event (you can run the two surveys together).
Include a few timeslots and several dates and see which one seems to be appealing to people the most based on the survey results you’ll receive.
3) Invite your trivia guests
After running the survey, it’s time to plan your invitations and email them to the attendees (include a link for the meeting too!). Do this well before the actual event so that guests have time to schedule the trivia event and you know in advance how many people you can expect to join.
You can also double-check whether the chosen game is suitable for the number of participants that will be joining. Certain trivia games are better for small groups, whereas others are great for larger teams.
4) Pick the game’s format
You can go with a fully hosted trivia game, hire a professional host, or host it yourself or someone else from the workplace - it’s up to you.
This is, again, connected to the budget options. Hiring professional hosts may be an effective solution, but if you currently aren’t in a situation where you can cover that, you can be the host or ask someone from your HR team to help you. Also, if there’s another employee who isn’t that keen to engage in trivia games, maybe they’d be willing to host it.
With that said, be mindful of how you go about this. You don’t want certain employees to think you prefer some of them over others by giving them “special” roles or allowing them to do things that others never seem to be asked to.
5) Create trivia teams
Creating the trivia teams before the actual event saves you time and allows you to think about certain event details, such as team sizes, number of participants and what happens if someone pulls out last minute, how many breakout rooms you’ll need to create on platforms like Zoom, and so on.
When it comes to deciding how to divide your employees into teams, there are a few ways you can approach this. First and foremost, you can team up employees who don’t really have the opportunity to interact at work. Engaging them in this way helps them meet new peers, improve their communication skills, and forces them out of their comfort zone. An easy way to do so is to simply put employees from different departments in the same trivia team.
Another way would be to allow people who hang out together to remain together in teams. This sounds like an easy solution as they’ll probably get along and feel more comfortable together, but this type of trivia experience doesn’t bring as much growth as when you opt for the previous option.
Finally, you can always allow your employees to create groups on their own or do a random draw.
6) Prepare for the trivia event
How are you going to welcome the group? What happens if the game starts at 7 pm but you have latecomers? What if some people cheat? What happens if you have problems with your Internet connection? What if someone else has Internet issues?
These are just a few of the questions you should address well before the event takes place. This helps you be prepared, and even if you have to improvise some things (after all, things may go wrong), it’s easier to be prepared for most situations than to leave things to chance. It also shows you care about the actual event and you really want things to go well.
Don’t forget to prepare the game rules too. How many rounds will you be playing? What will you classify as cheating? What happens in between rounds? Can people have drinks and snacks near them? What about their phones?
Think about the rules, but also consider how you will explain them to your employees. We suggest that you send the rules together with the invitation email so that your guests can be familiarized with them well before the event. That way they have the time to go through them in greater detail, but also consult you if they have some issues or they don’t seem to understand a specific rule.
The rules go hand in hand with the scoring system too. Think about the number of points (also how guests may end up losing points - is it by cheating, providing false answers, answering a question when it’s not their turn, and so on).
7) Enjoy the event
Having fun isn’t usually written as part of the instructions about how to host trivia games, but we believe it should be. Because here’s the thing: sometimes employers such as yourself get so preoccupied with a team trivia event they may be planning that when the event finally happens, they forget to enjoy it.
While being professional and trying to provide your trivia attendees with the best possible experience is admirable, don’t forget that you can’t always control everything. Especially when it comes to virtual trivia games where the technology may fail you or when you have larger groups you need to pay attention to.
So plan that which can be planned, breathe, do your best, and have fun!
How do I pick great trivia questions?
To pick great trivia questions, you need to first pick the trivia theme you and your crew are fond of. Trivia themes can be as general or as specific as you want them to be.
For instance, you can opt for history, cars, movies, TV shows, and so on, or you can pick more focused topics, such as the 16th century, German cars, horror movies, The Office, and so on.
You should always choose trivia themes the majority of people are going to like (if not everyone). After all, what’s the point of hosting a trivia event with a trivia theme and questions no one has really heard about? Therefore, the team players’ personal preferences should always be taken into consideration, regardless of whether you’re playing with just a few family members or the whole company.
With that said, you should always take into account how easy it is to find trivia questions for the trivia theme you chose. In other words, if you pick a theme that isn’t that popular or there simply aren’t versatile questions about it, chances are the whole trivia event won’t be so memorable or challenging for the attendees. Plus, it’s good to include easy, medium, and hard trivia questions to make sure you keep things balanced.
Once you settle on a theme, you can proceed with choosing the trivia questions. Trivia questions are very specific, always to the point, and they’re meant to elicit brief answers.
Instead of theorizing about how to pick great trivia questions, we decided to provide you with such questions below instead. We’ll share three different trivia categories and questions for each one.
1) Halloween trivia questions
Halloween trivia questions are great for trivia games hosted around that period. Plus, you might make this a tradition. Every year around Halloween, you can gather with friends/family/coworkers and engage in a Halloween trivia game.
For trivia enthusiasts, hosting Halloween trivia might transform into hosting trivia games for every significant holiday period in the year, such as Christmas, Easter, St. Valentine’s, St. Patrick’s Day, and so on.
For now, we share six great Halloween trivia questions from our website to get you started:
1 . Which US State produces the most pumpkins?
Answer: Illinois.
2 . The first “Halloween” movie was released in which year?
Answer: 1978.
3 . How much money do Americans spend on Halloween every year?
Answer: $9 billion.
- During the Salem Witch Trials, how many people were accused of witchcraft?
Answer: 165.
5 . What’s another name for trick-or-treating?
Answer: Guising.
6 . In 2010, how many people broke the record for the largest Halloween gathering?
Answer: 17,777.
2) Marvel trivia questions
If you and your team enjoy the Marvel franchise, at some point it’d make sense to engage in a Marvel-themed trivia session.
That way, you’ll not only enjoy a nice Marvel afternoon/evening, but you’ll also see who truly knows the most about the Marvel universe.
So if a entertaining night of Marvel trivia sounds exciting, here are some potential Marvel trivia questions you should add to your list:
1 . Complete the name of the following Marvel character. “Agent of _______”.
Answer: Atlas.
2 . The Death of Wolverine comic was published in which year?
Answer: 2014.
3 . What’s the name of Tony Stark's building that the team uses as headquarters in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance?
Answer: Stark Tower.
4 . Who plays the role of Mr. Fantastic in the movie Fantastic Four?
Answer: Ioan Gruffudd.
5 . Eric Bana and Edward Norton both played which Marvel character on the big screen?
Answer: The Hulk.
6 . Thor has two war goats to pull his chariot, what are they called?
Answer: Toothgrinder and Toothgnasher.
3) History trivia questions
When you can’t make up your mind and can’t seem to find a specific trivia theme, we suggest going with the flow and opting for a broader category instead.
To illustrate how you can go about this, we included History trivia questions from our site that you can use right away for your next trivia event:
1 . Rosa Parks made her bus protest in which US state?
Answer: Alabama.
2 . What was the name of the ship which came to rescue Titanic survivors?
Answer: Carpathia.
3 . Tartan is a traditional fabric associated with which country?
Answer: Scotland.
4 . Who became Prime Minister of the UK in 1940?
Answer: Winston Churchill.
5 . In WW2, what was the Luftwaffe?
Answer: German Airforce.
6 . What was Laika, the first animal in space?
Answer: A dog.
You can always make the questions more specific and focused on a specific historical period, country, franchise, and so. To get some ideas, follow this link where you get access to different trivia questions related to history, such as: History of Art, History by Numbers, UK History, Dutch History, Middle Eastern History, Ancient and Medieval History, and so on.
What are some tips for ensuring a great team trivia night?
Below, we share some tips that’ll help you and your attendees enjoy a great trivia night. These, combined with the steps we discussed above about hosting a team trivia game, is all you need to be prepared.
1) Variety is the spice of life
Remember to be versatile - make sure your questions include a mix of everything. For instance, if you’re running a Disney trivia game, don’t focus just on Walt Disney or a specific Disney movie. Include questions from various Disney-related categories.
Also, you might even ask the teams to come up with Disney-based names, so each team can be named after a Disney character, movie, song, and so on.
You might even include Disney-themed costumes where everyone can show what they look like before you start the game.
Don’t overdo it, though. In other words, don’t lose sight of what the main event is - a team trivia game.
2) Ask for help
If you feel like you’re struggling, ask for help.
This is why we mentioned the importance of getting a host to lead the game. And this is why we like fully-hosted games. If you can, look for a host who knows how to improvise, but is always prepared, and has a fun personality, but is serious about what they do. There are many awesome hosts out there - you just need to take your pick.
It’s better to ask for assistance than to burn out or make mistakes while planning the event. After all, you do have your everyday work responsibilities besides this trivia game.
With that said, asking for help isn’t just limited to the hosting bit. It includes the overall planning, organization, picking a suitable game, preparing the instructions, and so on.
3) Don’t forget about tiebreakers
This especially applies to trivia games where teams end up with matching points but you’ve run out of questions to ask.
This happens far more frequently than you might think. People plan the event, schedule the game, invite their guests, pick suitable questions, and then at the end, when teams with the equal number of points are fighting for the first place, they realize they have no questions left to give them.
Therefore, start the trivia event equipped with tiebreakers to ensure there’s a winning team at the end of your trivia event.
4) Give prizes
While having a fun time with peers is rewarding in and of itself, giving the winning team members prizes makes the whole experience a lot more special.
The prizes don’t need to be expensive or exclusive - you can give gift cards, free lunches, vouchers, goody bags, and so on. Some companies even give an extra day off from work to their trivia winners. This is certainly going to be an attractive offer.
5) Do a test run
This is one of the most significant tips and, although optional, we strongly suggest that you follow it. Many employers feel like they don’t have enough time to do test runs, but you’ll be grateful that you did it if you notice any errors or things not working.
Doing a test run means checking the platform you’ll be using, making sure everything’s ok with your technology, seeing if you have trouble using some features (such as the screen sharing option), and so on.
If you come across some issues you can’t seem to resolve on your own, don’t leave things for last minute. Talk to your IT employees right away and see if they can solve the issue instead. This gives you time to look for other solutions in case your current problem can’t be handled promptly.
6) Record the game
Of course, everyone should agree first. You can’t record the game if it makes your attendees feel uncomfortable or if they don’t feel like it’s necessary.
Explain that it’d be nice to keep the recording as a trivia memory that you can go back to.
Also, you can use the recording when you prepare for upcoming team trivia events in the future. You can go back to specific moments, see what worked well, what didn’t go according to plan, and so on.
Of course, if attendees don’t feel like it, step back and don’t try to persuade them. You can just try and take a photo (take a screenshot) at the end of the event and keep that image instead.
And you can always take some notes and go back to them if you need to recall specific instances about that specific trivia event.
Final Words
To wrap up, team trivia games help people bond, have fun, share what they know but also learn new things, and improve some useful skills.
Of course, these things don’t happen overnight just after one trivia event.
You need to engage in them regularly to reap the benefits. And while 9 team trivia games may not be enough for frequent team trivia games, it’s certainly a great start for you and your crew, regardless of whether you’re playing with friends, family, coworkers, or other trivia enthusiasts.