40 Crazy Facts & Statistics About Trivia You'll Never Guess

Mike Oberman

by Mike Oberman · Updated August 15th, 2023

If you’re a trivia enthusiast, you’re likely interested in the history of how trivia became a thing. And if that’s not enough, in the lines below, we’ll share some crazy facts and statistics about trivia you’ll never guess!

We’ll go over how National Trivia Day came to be, who wrote the first book about trivia, details about the trivia game revenues, random fun facts, the largest trivia competition, and so much more.

But that’s not all - we take things deeper in our FAQ section, so if you’re up for a trivia adventure, jump on and enjoy the ride!

Why People Love Trivia

Why People Love Trivia

There are many reasons why people love trivia games. After all, what’s not to like about a game that’s fun and educating at the same?

You might have your own reasons, as everyone has an individual approach towards trivia as a concept, but below, we share the most common ones.

1) Creating stronger social bonds

First of all, playing trivia games paves the way for many inside jokes, fun moments, honest laughter, and wit. In essence, trivia games create stronger social bonds. They’re a great reason to spend some time with employees, coworkers, friends, family members, club members, and so on.

2) Breaking the ice

Trivia games also help break the ice in situations where the overall communication may be somewhat off or weird, as games, in general, can soothe tension. They nurture a positive atmosphere and allow trivia guests to interact in an informal way.

3) Improving collaboration skills

Next, trivia games help players improve the players’ collaboration skills. Getting to the right answers during a trivia game involves coming up with suggestions, generating responses, and contemplating possible answers, which is how collaborative skills are fostered. This is very useful not just for trivia games, but for everyday life too. This includes a person’s both private and professional life.

4) Showing general knowledge and expanding it

Moreover, trivia events help people not only show their general knowledge, but expand it too. And doing so in trivia games is easy because it doesn’t feel forced. In other words, cramming up information may be challenging, but when you’re exposed to bits and pieces of information and trivia during such events, the process of learning is much more valuable.

5) Unwinding and relaxing

On top of that, trivia games help people unwind and relax. And to achieve this, you don’t have to host a lengthy trivia game or include hundreds of questions. You can run a brief trivia event in the office, enjoy a small gathering at home with family members, or host a short trivia game with your friends before you watch a movie.

6) Winning various prizes

Trivia games are a great excuse for people to win random prizes, meals, free drinks, or even some money. Of course, the amount of prizes depends on the context the trivia game is played in.

For instance, corporate trivia games require more thorough preparation and organization, and they’re much more “generous” when it comes to the prizes they provide their employees with (especially if there are some sponsors involved). Playing trivia in a home setting, on the other hand, may not result in any special prizes or rewards, but you can always come up with something fun, like the losing group having to wash the dishes for a week.

7) Boosting the competitive spirit

It’s worth mentioning that trivia games help boost everyone’s competitive spirit. Every now and then, people may not feel stimulated enough to undertake something or participate in a specific event because they don’t seem to be challenged enough. That certainly isn’t the case with trivia games. It’s important not to overstress this competitive aspect, though, as you don’t want it to turn into rivalry. It’s important for people to enjoy playing trivia games and have a great time, regardless of who might win.

8) Having fun

Trivia games are fun and engaging. There’s something not only in the process of asking/answering trivia questions - but cheering your teammates, seeing who’s winning, counting your points, trying to win, and observing what the other teams are doing. Even consoling those who may have lost is part of the whole engaging experience. This may not be such a funny bit, though, but it’s still a meaningful interaction and an important segment of each trivia game as it increases empathy levels.

All in all, the reasons behind people loving trivia games are linked with the benefits of playing such games, which you’re also now aware of.

Next, onto some fun facts.

40 Crazy Facts and Statistics About Trivia

There are many facts and stats about trivia, some more interesting than others.

Below, we share 20 trivia facts worth knowing and 20 more awesome trivia stats to help you take your trivia knowledge to the next level.

20 Fun-To-Know Facts

  1. The first known use of the word trivia dates back to 1902 (Grammarphobia).
  2. “Trivia” (or “trivium” in singular form) denotes the three lower Artes Liberales: logic, grammar, and rhetoric (Short-Fact).
  3. One of the first forms of what we refer to nowadays as trivia more or less debuted on the Take It Or Leave it radio program in the 1940s (National Today).
  4. The American librarian Robert L Birch is said to have founded the National Trivia Day. The day was celebrated back in 1980 for the very first time. Since then, this celebration takes place each January 4 (National Day Calendar).
  5. The first book about trivia that was ever published was written by Logan Pearsall Smith, a British aphorist, and it’s called Trivialities Bits of Information of Little Consequence.
  6. The two longest ongoing trivia competitions in the world are the Williams Trivia Contest and the Great Midwest Trivia Contest. Both had their debut in 1966.
  7. The largest trivia competition takes place in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point’s college radio station (UW-Stevens Point).
  8. The contest is open to anyone - it’s played annually in April in the span of 54 hours over a weekend with 8 questions every hour. Usually, there are around 400 teams (1-150 players). The top 10 get trophies.
  9. As a concept, pub quizzes were established in the United Kingdom in the 1970s by a company known as Burns and Porter (The Big Fat Quiz Company).
  10. The original Jeopardy! game show ended in 1975 after 2,753 episodes (IMDB).
  11. John Carpenter is the first winner of the network game show Who Wants To Be a Millionaire? (The Washington Post).
  12. The show has five wins and 31 nominations for a wide range of awards (IMDB).
  13. The artwork for the game Trivial Pursuit was created by Michael Wurstlin, an 18-year old (Reader’s Digest).
  14. There are around 50 special editions of the Trivial Pursuit. Some of the most famous ones include: Trivial Pursuit: Country Music, Baby Boomer Edition, Power Rangers 20th Anniversary Edition, The Rolling Stones Edition, Lord of the Rings Movie Trilogy Edition, and so on.
  15. A dispute over a pub quiz question once led to the quizmaster suing a contestant for defamation after he accused him of cheating over a question. He managed to win £5,000 in damages, as well as the estimated costs - £12,500 (BBC News).
  16. Trivia games can consist of versatile rounds of questions, such as factual rounds, picture rounds, Who Am I?, music rounds, audio rounds, puzzle rounds, and novelty rounds.
  17. In popular culture, pub trivia quizzes have appeared in sitcoms such as The Office, Minder, Gavin & Stacey, Bottom, Early Doors, and many others.
  18. Trivia nights can sometimes be used as fundraisers for numerous nonprofit organizations.
  19. In the 1950s, there was a big scandal with trivia quiz shows such as Dotto, The $64,000 Question, and Twenty One, known as the 1950s Quiz Show Scandals. Namely, it was revealed that the shows’ producers provided assistance to some contestants (gave them the correct answers) in order to change the show’s outcome in the way they liked (Encyclopedia.com).
  20. This led to the cancellation of the following shows: Dotto, The $64,000 Challenge, Twenty-One, The $64,000 Question, Tic-Tac-Dough, and For Love or Money.

20 Eye-Opening Statistics

20 Eye-Opening Statistics

  1. The total revenue in the trivia games department is expected to reach US$103.80m in 2022.
  2. The total revenue is supposed to display an annual growth rate (CAGR 2022-2026) of 7.22%, leading to an estimated market volume of US$137.20m by 2026.
  3. The IAP (in-app purchase) revenue in the trivia games department is expected to reach US$55.69m in 2022.
  4. Paid app revenue in the trivia games department is expected to reach US$4.79m in 2022.
  5. The advertising revenue in the trivia games department is expected to reach US$43.32m in 2022.
  6. The number of downloads in the trivia games department is expected to reach 184.6m downloads in 2022.
  7. The average revenue per download is supposed to amount to US$0.56.
  8. A worldwide comparison shows that the most considerable revenue is generated in the USA (US$103.80m in 2022).* *Stats 1-8 are all retrieved from Statista.
  9. The game Trivial Pursuit sold a record 20 million games in the US, and retail sales managed to reach approximately 800 million dollars (ThoughtCo.).
  10. The original Trivial Pursuit game had 6,000 questions printed out on 1,000 cards.
  11. More than 100 million copies of Trivial Pursuit have been sold in 26 countries in more than 17 languages.* *Stats 10-11 are retrieved from Sports Feel Good Stories.
  12. If a trivia game has low user retention one day after its launch, it’s either redeveloped from scratch or scrapped altogether. For instance, it’s common practice for many game companies to destroy games that retain less than 30% of their users after the first day.
  13. The gaming sessions of the top 2 percent of trivia games usually last between 16 and 25 minutes.
  14. When it comes to the top 25% of games, the sessions last between 6 and 7 minutes.
  • Stats 12-14 are all retrieved from Udonis.
  1. Here are the top ten grossing trivia gameson Google Play (in the United States).
  2. Here are the top ten grossing trivia games on the Apple App Store (in the United States).
  3. According to the Guinness Book of Records, the largest pub quiz was the “Quiz for Life”, which took place at the Flanders Expo Halls in Ghent, Belgium, with 2,280 players on December 11, 2010 (Wikipedia).
  4. The “World famous pub quiz” in Birmingham had around 2700 players across 260 teams back in 2016 (World Famous Pub Quiz).
  5. The $64,000 Question show attracted 47 million viewers in just ten weeks - no other program in the short history of television had ever attracted so many viewers this fast (American Experience).
  6. In the history of Jeopardy!, the first-ever three-way tie happened in 2007 when Anders Martinson, Scott Weiss, and Jamey Kirby finished the game with $16,000. Going into the final, they were at $13,400, $8,000, and $8,000. Afterward, all three participants were invited back for a rematch (Cinemablend).

71 Random Trivia Facts

71 Random Trivia Facts

We can’t write about facts and statistics regarding trivia without sharing some actual trivia.

Therefore, below, we provide you with 71 random trivia facts to inspire you for your next trivia event. Whether you’ll be playing it with your family members, friends, people at work, or other trivia lovers, our trivia facts are for everyone and every trivia event.

Let’s check them out!

1) United States Trivia Facts

  1. In the United States, the average person throws away 4.4 pounds of trash each day (Citibin).
  2. Harvard University is the first university in the United States.
  3. The Empire State building in the United States has its own zip code - 10118 (The Empire State Building).
  4. Since 1782, the bald eagle has been the national bird of the United States (History).
  5. In February 2022, it was revealed that the United States had a national debt of $30 trillion (VOA).
  6. The United States has the world’s largest Christian population (Pew Research Center).
  7. One in three American adults suffers from obesity (National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases).
  8. In January 2020, the median number of years that wage and salary workers had remained with their current employer was 4.1 years (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics).
  9. The United States doesn’t have an official language (WorldAtlas).
  10. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), as part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, funds almost 90% of all research in the United States (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism).
  11. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) stands behind the Alcohol Research: Current Reviews academic journal (Alcohol Research Current Reviews).
  12. The staff at the Washington Post along with affiliates have won The Pulitzer Prize more than 65 times (The Washington Post).
  13. Rhode Island is the smallest United States state by area.
  14. It shares a state water border with New York.
  15. It has never ratified the 18th Amendment prohibition.* *Stats 13-15 are all retrieved from Ri. gov.
  16. According to past year reports, there are approximately 82.5 million mothers in the United States, and more than 2 billion worldwide (HABA USA).
  17. Ranchers and farmers are said to be just 1.3% of the labor force of the entire American population (Insider).
  18. Just 9 percent of American adults say baseball is their favorite sport to watch (Gallup).
  19. In the United States, just 19 percent of men do housework on an average day as opposed to 49 percent of women (Time).
  20. Penn State increased tuition by 6 percent, blaming it on the ongoing inflation (Patch).
  21. Almost half of all millennials claim they’re living paycheck to paycheck, which is up 6 percentage points from the previous year (Bloomberg).
  22. Ride-sharing options have caused an increase in traffic deaths by almost 3 percent (UChicago News).

2) Mixed Topics and Numbers Trivia Facts

  1. One study shows that almost 6 percent of children who had COVID-19 reported symptoms even after three months (CTV News).
  2. This year, the prices in Australia rose by more than 6 percent throughout, which is the biggest spike in almost two decades (Aljazeera).
  3. There are more than 80 different sleep disorders (MedicinePlus).
  4. Women have a higher risk (40%) than men of developing sleep disorders (National Library of Medicine).
  5. Based on 2020 statistics, 9.4% of high school students have reported they’ve been physically hurt, slapped, or hit by their partners (National Domestic Violence Hotline).
  6. Some of the earliest known references to vending machines are connected to the Hero of Alexandria, an engineer in first-century Roman Egypt. The machine he created accepted coins and dispensed holy water afterward (The Vintage News).
  7. Back in 2020, the revenue from vending machines decreased by 45% (SmallBizGenius).
  8. As of 2016, if a country’s GNI (gross national income) per capita is less than US$1,025, that country belongs to the group of developing countries (World Bank Blogs).
  9. According to the UN, 126 countries were defined as "developing countries" in 2020 - all of them located in either Africa, Asia, or Latin America and the Caribbean (Investopedia).
  10. Unsafe abortions are said to be the third leading cause of maternal deaths across the world (Amnesty International).

3) Substance Abuse Trivia Facts

  1. Substance abuse is more common in men than in women (The Pew Charitable Trusts).
  2. Smoking, illicit drug use, and alcohol kill 11.8 million people every year. This number is much higher than the number of deaths from all cancers (Our World in Data).
  3. Drug abuse and addiction are said to cost the American society more than $740 billion annually in healthcare expenses, decreased workplace productivity, and costs related to crime (American Addiction Centers).
  4. Babies exposed to drugs while in utero are at a high risk of experiencing developmental consequences such as birth defects, altered brain development, and growth issues (NCBI).

4) Mental Health Trivia Facts

  1. Anxiety disorders, ADHD, depression, and behavior problems are some of the most common mental health disorders diagnosed in children.
  2. Among children (2-8 years), boys are more likely than girls to have a mental health problem.
  • Stats 37-38 are retrieved from (CDC).
  1. As many as 1 in 5 women develop a mental health disorder during their pregnancy or throughout the first year after giving birth (NHS Inform).
  2. Allegedly, 9.7% of men and 25.7% of women (ages 16-24) have engaged in self-harm at some point in their lives (Mental Health Foundation).
  3. Anxiety disorders are the most common mental health disorders which may affect around 30% of all adult persons throughout their lives (American Psychiatric Association).
  4. 31.9% of teens are said to have some sort of anxiety disorder (National Institute of Mental Health). 1.The majority of US adults that deal with anxiety disorders have some sort of a mild impairment (43.5%), followed by 33.7% that have a moderate impairment, and finally around 22.8% have a serious impairment (SingleCare).
  5. Anxiety disorders may cause memory problems (Healthline).
  6. Women are twice as likely as men to develop anxiety disorders (Anxiety and Depression Association of America).
  7. Depression is said to be a leading cause of disability on a global scale (World Health Organization).

5) Intellectual Disability Trivia Facts

  1. Intellectual disability is said to affect between 2 percent and 3 percent of the general population (American Family Physician).
  2. Around 6.5 million people in the United States are diagnosed with an intellectual disability (Special Olympics).
  3. The most common genetic cause of intellectual disability is Down syndrome (MentalHelp).

6) Clinical Trials Trivia Facts

  1. Almost 14% of all drugs used in clinical trials get FDA approval (CenterWatch).
  2. The first person to do a clinical trial is the Scottish physician James Lind (ThePrint).
  3. The disease that has the most clinical trials in the US is cancer, followed by cardiovascular and circulatory diseases, and infectious diseases (Definitive Healthcare).

7) Human Body Trivia Facts

  1. There are between 5,000 and 10,000 taste buds in our mouth, most of which are found on the tongue (BrainFacts).
  2. More than 700 million bacteria live in people’s mouths (Doctor NDTV).
  3. Our noses and sinuses usually produce around 1-1.5 liters of mucus each day (Everyday Health).
  4. During a 24-hour timeframe, 18,000 to 20,000 liters of air pass through our noses (Boston Medical Center).
  5. Ears have the smallest bones in the body (Mental Floss).
  6. Ears are self-cleaning organs (New Hartford Hearing Center).
  7. There are 43 muscles on the human face (HowStuffWorks).
  8. Four of the body’s sense organs are located in the face.
  9. Prosopagnosia, also known as face blindness, means people can’t recognize other people’s faces.
  10. People only have two sets of teeth in their lives. Some animals, such as sharks, for instance, are capable of producing a lifelong supply of teeth (Florida Museum).
  11. No two people possess the same set of teeth - teeth are considered to be unique as our fingerprints (Today’s Dentistry).

8) Ice Cream Trivia Facts

  1. Each year, the average person in the United States eats roughly 20 pounds of ice cream (National Resource Conservation Service).
  2. July is national ice cream month (Dean & Draper).
  3. The average number of licks needed to finish one scoop of ice cream is 50 (Seacoastonline).
  4. 12 pounds of milk are needed for one gallon of ice cream to be produced.
  5. America’s favorite ice cream flavor is vanilla.
  6. George Washington allegedly liked ice cream so much that one summer he ran up a $200 ice cream bill. *

9) Friends Trivia Facts

  1. The TV show Friends wasn’t always called that way - the show’s working titles were Six of One, Insomnia Café, and Friends Like Us.
  2. Friends was supposed to have just 4 friends - Chandler and Phoebe were meant to be supporting roles.
  3. It wasn’t until 2016 that the identity of the actor that played the “ugly naked guy” in Friends was revealed. It’s Jon Haugen.

Frequently Asked Questions

What do great trivia questions look like?

To understand what great trivia questions look like, you need to understand what great trivia themes look like. Trivia themes can be as broad or as specific as you need them to be.

Namely, you can pick trivia themes such as TV shows, cartoons, celebrities, history, or geography, or you might make them more specific: Grey’s Anatomy, Tom and Jerry, Brad Pitt, 16th-century events, Asia, and so on.

In general, you should always go with trivia themes most of your trivia attendees will resonate with. To do so, you need to take into account your guests’ preferences, interests, and overall trivia knowledge before you settle on a theme.

This applies regardless of whether you’re playing a trivia game with colleagues, friends, family members, and so on.

However, keep in mind that you should also choose a theme that makes it easy for you to come up with or find trivia questions. Let’s say everyone in the office likes a specific cartoon you’ve all watched while growing up, but you can’t seem to find enough adequate trivia questions about it. Or you don’t think they’re challenging enough for you to run a whole trivia event that revolves around them. In this case, it’s best to choose another, more popular theme.

Moreover, apart from choosing a suitable trivia theme and questions, you need to make sure there’s enough versatility. Namely, you should include questions that are easy, medium, and difficult.

Great trivia questions are always to the point, easy to understand, and easy to answer. They shouldn’t mislead the trivia players, although sometimes tricky questions are meant to help great trivia players shine and truly think about the answers they provide.

How do I guess the correct answers to the trivia questions?

Below, we provide useful information which will help you arrive at the right answer during your next trivia event.

We recommend that you share these tips before the actual trivia event with your trivia attendees so that you can provide them with the best possible experience.

1) Foster a positive state of mind

Developing a positive attitude doesn’t mean you’ll get all the answers right or that your team will win. But being positive is better than panicking, having negative thoughts, or experiencing anxiety through the roof.

Moreover, being in a state of positivity means you will approach the whole trivia game in a much more relaxed and down-to-earth way. It’s just a game, after all. It’s meant to be a source of entertainment, not a cause for more stress in your life.

Plus, being positive is always “contagious” to the rest of the team members. If you are calm, focused, and know what to say to your trivia friends to motivate and encourage them, chances are they’ll get in that mood as well.

Likewise, if your hands shake, you’re absent-minded, and it seems like you’re losing your head, it’s more than likely some of your teammates will be affected by this in a negative way.

And while there’s no magical solution to help you remember the right answers to a trivia question (you either know the answer or not), being in a hectic state of mind will prevent you from recalling information you’re familiar with.

2) Choose your teammates wisely

Picking your teammates strategically is a huge plus. Wanting to be grouped with people you hang out with more (whether that’s close friends, family members, or coworkers from the office) can be tempting and natural, but in such competitions, you need to be wise and think more objectively.

Trivia games aren’t about feeling comfortable and hanging out with the same familiar faces you see every day. It’s about finding the right people from different backgrounds and joining forces together. It’s about being in a team with people with mixed areas of knowledge and using that to your advantage.

With that said, knowing who knows what can be challenging. There’s no guarantee you’ll be able to “ace” the trivia event. But if there’s a chance to form a versatile team, opting for that approach is way better than just being in a small homogeneous group.

Finally, sometimes you may not be able to choose your teammates at all. For instance, if you’re attending a trivia event at work, the event’s organizer or your employer might create teams on your behalf. Or, if you’re doing a trivia game with family members, you might decide to randomly assign members to each team. There really isn’t one way of doing this.

3) Don’t rush things

Yes, trivia games require prompt answers, quick thinking, and fast action, but there’s a thin line between being quick and efficient, and being quick and reckless.

For instance, if some of the trivia game rules state that you’ll lose a point if you give an incorrect answer, rushing to be the first one to give a response when you’re not sure it’s the correct one wouldn’t be so smart.

Likewise, trying to be the first one to answer just because you’re trying to be faster than the other members of your group also isn’t the best option. The whole point of trivia games is to collaborate with others - that’s why you’re grouped in teams and not on your own.

All in all, give yourself the time to think about the trivia question(s) you received and brainstorm the possible answers with your peers. This brings us to our next point.

4) Collaborate closely with your teammates

You can’t win a trivia game if you rely solely on your own knowledge. You need to hear your friends’ suggestions, assess their curiosity, and come up with solutions together.

Therefore, close collaboration with teammates is more than necessary. It’s a must.

Being open to what others have to say encourages everyone to share their views, possible answers, and answering strategies.

Sometimes, it may be tempting to want to do everything on your own and many people are convinced their knowledge is enough to win (or at least give the right answer), but this approach certainly isn’t friendly or collegial. As a team, you have a shared responsibility, and that means openly communicating with the rest of the group before providing an answer.

You’ll be surprised to see how many times the right ideas, suggestions, and answers will come from the person you least expected to.

5) Be flexible and open-minded

Can you link several ideas into a single one? Would you say you think outside the box? Even before the host starts asking questions, are you trying to “predict” what they might ask based on the trivia theme? Do you follow your gut feelings while playing trivia or do you rely on your intellectual capacity?

Being flexible and keeping an open mind is very much needed during trivia events. This is especially true when you and your teammates are torn between two possible answers and the more you discuss things, the less you seem to be arriving at a final answer. Half of the people are convinced the first suggestion is correct, whereas the other half believed the second one to be the correct answer.

In these moments, try to search for some not-so-obvious hints in the trivia question itself - is the question formulated in a tricky way? Is it misleading you? What seems to be the more logical approach here? Which answer seems more credible?

Try to eliminate doubts and unnecessary tension, as that’s when teams end up making mistakes the most.

6) Stay focused

Try to eliminate all possible distractions. If you’re playing a virtual trivia game, are you alone in your room? For instance, if you’re playing with your office friends, are there any family members who might disturb your concentration? Or any children running around the house while you’re trying to focus?

Moreover, is your phone on silent or completely switched off? Chances are the game rules will state you’re not allowed to use it anyway, but if you hear random notifications popping up or some friends trying to call you, you’ll definitely feel distracted at times.

Find a way to stay focused based on what works for you. Having a clear mind will help you keep an eye on the ball.

7) Don’t forget to keep your body energized

Trivia isn’t just about the intellectual focus and staying mentally strong.

You need to remain energized by keeping your body fueled too.

Whether that means having a meal before the event starts, keeping a glass of water nearby during the actual event, or eating a healthy snack - by all means, go for what your body needs at that given moment.

In case you’re attending an in-person trivia event, chances are there will be some snacks, coffee, tea, and water there anyway, but if there’s something you specifically crave or want, feel free to bring it with you.

How do I host a virtual trivia event?

If you’re organizing a trivia event for the first time, or you feel like you’re doing something wrong and you need a detailed step-by-step guide, just follow our trivia guidance, and you’ll have no issues whatsoever hosting your next trivia event.

1) Pick a trivia theme & questions

Every preparation for a trivia event begins with picking a suitable trivia theme followed by choosing trivia questions that reflect that theme.

We already explained what great trivia questions look like, so, whenever you need to jog your memory and recall some of it, feel free to go back to it. If you want to access specific questions in multiple categories, however, check out some of our other articles where we share hundreds of questions (and answers) for specific themes, such as 100+ Trivia Night Questions For Your Trivia Event or the 500+ Trivia Questions for Adults [Tried & Tested].

With that said, when it comes to actually picking one theme, we recommend that you consult your trivia guests. Run a survey in the office if you’re hosting a corporate trivia game, or if you’re organizing a fun trivia night for your friends, ask them in a group message using apps such as Messenger, Viber, WhatsApp, and so on (you may even create a poll and make things easier for everyone). Go with the most popular option.

2) Schedule the trivia event

Picking a date and time is yet another aspect everyone should agree on. Therefore, run another poll in the group with your friends, or send an email to your employees, and schedule the trivia event.

After gathering all the responses and going through them, choose the most popular option. Then, confirm the time and date by inviting everyone officially - again, if you’re doing this with your people in the office, send a few formal emails letting everyone know about the details; if you’re planning a night with friends, continue chatting in the same group message you’ve talked to so far.

Regardless of how you decide to invite your trivia guests, make sure to do it on time.

3) Contemplate the event format & details

If you’re playing a trivia game with your employees, who’ll host the event? Is it someone from your HR team? Perhaps an employee who isn’t that keen to play trivia, but they’d be willing to host the event? Or maybe you’d hire a professional moderator (if the current company budget allows it)?

If you’re playing it with your friends (or family members), who’s the person hosting the event? Do you rotate each time you play such games? Or does one person get randomly assigned each time?

Reflect upon these questions so that you can make the right decisions each time. Of course, if you have any doubts, talk to your trivia players.

4) Create teams

You can form trivia teams during the actual trivia game, or you could do so well before the game to save time. The latter option is preferable as everyone will probably feel much more comfortable joining the virtual event and knowing who they’re grouped with. This is especially true with larger teams (for instance, if you host a trivia game for your employees, you’ll probably have more teams than if you play trivia with family members).

Being aware of the number of teams also helps you plan how many breakout rooms you may need, how many participants will attend, what happens if some team members are late or don’t show up at all, and so on.

Moreover, when it comes to actually forming teams, you need to decide if you’ll do it randomly, you’ll allow people to pick their teammates, or you’ll follow some “logic” (for instance, if you’re hosting a trivia game for your employees, you might decide to form groups with coworkers from different departments rather than allowing employees to play trivia with the people they socialize with every day). This is a great idea if you’re trying to challenge your employees and force them out of their comfort zones.

5) Plan the actual trivia event

Getting ready for the trivia game means doing various things and activities, such as deciding how to display the questions (via a screen sharing option on a platform like Zoom, for example), how to welcome your trivia participants, what to do if someone cheats, how to handle technology-related issues, and others.

Planning the trivia event means planning the game’s rules too. This includes details such as the number of rounds the players should engage in, how many points they’ll be awarded for correct answers, what happens when a team provides wrong answers, and so on.

6) Do a test run

We know that doing test runs and double-checking things may be annoying, especially if you have tons of other responsibilities to handle in your everyday life.

And while you may be right to think you have everything figured out, it wouldn’t hurt to see if there’s something wrong with the audio system on the device you’re planning on using during the event. Or if the screen sharing option and breakout room feature on Zoom are working fine (if you’re using Zoom, if not, feel free to interpret this in a way that corresponds to your chosen platform).

We’re so serious about this idea of doing a test run and double-checking things that we go so far as to suggest simulating a trivia game to ensure everything’s working perfectly. Just send the link to someone and ask them to join the meeting and play along while you check things and see if you notice some issues.

With that said, if you’re doing a trivia event with your friends or family, you’ll probably find it ok to be more spontaneous compared to running a trivia game with our employees. Therefore, you may not be overly obsessed with checking everything a few times if you’re just enjoying an informal online gathering with a few close friends.

That doesn’t mean you should leave things to chance, however. In other words, regardless of who you’re playing with, being professional and devoted to organizing the trivia event is highly recommended.

7) Find a way to stand out

Of course, you don’t have to complicate things or cudgel your brains - you can go with something as simple as giving prizes to the winning team(s). This is a great way to not only conclude the event, but also motivate the players to attend it in the first place (and stay motivated!).

When it comes to the actual prizes, it all depends on who you’re organizing the event for. For instance, if you’re playing with friends, you can probably buy something you know they like.

If you’re playing with your employees, on the other hand, you can go with something like an Amazon voucher, a gift card, a free meals day off, and so on.

8) Enjoy the moment

Part of hosting an awesome virtual trivia night is knowing how to enjoy it. It’s not just about the actual preparations - it’s about having fun and connecting with your trivia guests too.

With that said, many trivia organizers often get so overwhelmed by the sheer amount of tasks and responsibilities that pop up while planning the trivia game, that once the event starts, they still can’t seem to let go of the need to check things or make sure they’ve managed to do everything properly. This is especially true if you’re running a virtual trivia game for your employees, where you feel like there’s a bigger need to make sure everything goes smoothly.

Also, if you’ve hosted a trivia game the past year and something unexpected or bad happened, chances are you’ll have these worrying thoughts while organizing and playing the next game too.

That’s why we can’t stress enough the importance of enjoying the present moment. The whole point of hosting a trivia game is to have everyone engaged and happy - and that includes you too! Whatever needs to be done, should be done and can be done before the actual event. Once the event starts, you should be prepared for anything, but not at the cost of ruining this experience for yourself.

9) Reflect upon the event once it’s over

Once you run the trivia game and wrap things up, you should have some time for reflection. Answer the following questions to ensure an even better trivia event next time:

  • Was I happy with the way the event unfolded?
  • What was I the happiest with?
  • What was I the most dissatisfied with?
  • Is there anything I would change?
  • Were my trivia expectations met?
  • Did I forget to do/mention anything? If yes, what was it and how did me not doing/mentioning it affect the overall event?
  • Did everyone show up that I expected to? If not, who didn’t, and how did this influence the game?
  • Is there something that didn’t quite resonate with the trivia guests? How can I tell?
  • What can I learn from this trivia game that will help me make things even better the next time I do something similar?
  • On a scale of 1-10 (1 being the lowest and 10 the highest), how would I assess the overall trivia game experience?
  • Were any of the game rules problematic? If yes, which ones and in what way?

Final Words

All in all, random fun facts and stats about trivia aren’t just entertaining, but they help people understand trivia as a concept a bit more.

This isn’t an exhaustive list, however. There’s always more to be added, discussed, and shared.

However, we hope that by creating this article, we prompted you not only to consider including trivia games as part of your corporate practice, gathering with friends, or family reunions, but to explore trivia as a notion way deeper than you have done so far.