Halloween Quiz: Halloween Pub Quiz Ideas

A Halloween quiz is very popular at this time of year, and many pubs and clubs are seeking Halloween pub quiz ideas to make their Halloween night party something special and interesting. In fact, many places are making the quiz the whole purpose of their evening, which need not be on Halloween night itself but on a suitable day before or after.

The pub quiz is largely a British institution, although it is becoming more popular in the USA. Many bars now have electronic quiz machines, and online quiz tournaments in which any of the bar visitors can participate. When I was last in Chicago I visited a TGI Friday that had a machine and we had a great time with it.

There is no reason why American bars or clubs cannot run a Halloween trivia quiz: they bring in a lot of customers just for the quiz, and the usual arrangement is to charge for entry and offer prizes to the winners - sometimes also to the runner up, but I also like to offer a 'booby' prize to the team that comes last. That way, every team has an interest, even the poorest.

For a Halloween quiz, teams can either be of unlimited size or limited to 4-6 per team. Sometimes if you have just a few teams, you can split them into pairs: 2 people in each team. Whatever way you organize it, a Halloween pub quiz is generally a massive hit with those competing.

Halloween is on Sunday this year, and you could hold your quiz on the Saturday evening, the Monday or even on the Sunday afternoon. Many don't like the idea of a regular Halloween pub party on a Sunday night, and a quiz would enable them to enjoy the night without seeming too sacrilegious.

Here are some ideas on how to run a Halloween trivia quiz, either in your home as fun, or as a Halloween pub quiz in a bar, club or hotel:

1. Advertise.
Your adverts should be as early as possible, but even at this late stage in the day you could let people know with some posters in your premises and signs outside. Also ask your regular customers to pass the word around.

2. Get ready
All you then need is some Halloween trivia questions, answer papers and prizes. Offer perhaps a free drink to each of the winners, a bottle of spirits or something similar. The runners up could have a free drink (with two to each of the winning team) and the booby prize for coming last could be a box of donuts in the USA or chocolates in the U.K.

3. Question Master
You need somebody to ask the questions, and he or she should state some rules before commencing: a) The question masters word is final and his or her answer is correct - so no arguments, b) 5 marks deducted for cheating - copying or using a mobile phone, c) Any verbal abuse of the question master and the team is disqualified.

4. Halloween Trivia Questions
These are very important and you can either compile the questions yourself or buy them online. The latter is easiest and more accurate, and you can take the cost from the entry fees.

5. Marking
The easiest way to mark is for each team to pass their paper to the next team clockwise in the room. They are then marking another team's paper. It saves you having to do it yourself, and nobody is going to mark a wrong answer correct that way! You simply ask for the papers to be returned to the correct teams and ask each for their scores.

You can then add up each round as they go. You should inform the room of the score for each team after each round and also their cumulative score, so each knows where they stand as the Halloween pub quiz proceeds.

That is how to run a Halloween quiz, whether at home, at in a club or on a pub. You can get the Halloween quiz questions online or you will also find many websites offering Halloween quiz questions for a small price - never pay more than equivalent to $10, because there is generally no need. That way you can keep your costs down with some great inexpensive Halloween trivia questions and run a Halloween pub quiz at minimum possible cost to your participants.


More information on pub quizzes and a great Halloween Pub Quiz can be found on Pete's website Quiz Guy where you will find details on quizzes for other events such as Christmas and St. Valentine's Day.