Though vaccines are here and we may be headed “back to normal” quite soon, I am in no rush to fill up my social calendar. It’s been fun at times to connect with friends and not have to leave your house or put on real pants. Virtual trivia night is one thing I’ll definitely be keeping from the pandemic…among other things. (Especially to connect with friends and family out of town.)
When we took our trivia nights to Zoom and it was fun coming up with questions to test friends on their pop culture knowledge. Sound fun, but not sure where to start? We have a 6-round game for you to download RIGHT HERE! You can download the PDF below or you can write your own using the helpful tips below.
Being a trivia host is a lot of work, but the payoff is worth it. Plus, you know your friends best so you can write categories that fit their interests. First things first, pick how many rounds you are going to write. Rounds can take up to 10 minutes so plan accordingly. Next, pick some categories and try to change up the style. Here are the four most popular:
Pick A Celebrity: Base one of your rounds on an actor or singer that you and your friends love. Remember your questions don’t need to be about that person, just themed in that direction. For example, if your theme is Meryl Streep, one of your questions could be: Meryl learned violin for her role in Music of the Heart in 1999. How many strings does a violin have? Scouring the celebrity’s IMDb and Wikipedia page is a great way to find a jackpot of information.
Picture Perfect: Who doesn’t love a photo round? One of my favorites is editing two celebrities’ faces together where you have to guess both names. Another option is to use a series of emojis to convey the plot of a popular movie for participants to guess.
Order in the Court: Another popular way to spice up your trivia is ask participants to put things in the right order or try to guess everything on a list. Here’s an example: Put the following four Bruce Willis movies in order of theatrical release, from earliest to latest. Armageddon, Die Hard, Hart’s War, The Sixth Sense.
Play That Funky Music: My personal favorite category is the music round. I’ve always believed I would kill as a contestant on Name That Tune but my trivia history begs to differ. There are so many ways to come up with a theme for music, for example songs by bands that start with “the” or songs with a certain word in the title. You could even do TV show theme songs or popular jingles where your friends guess the brand name.
The easiest way to host trivia virtually is to create a powerpoint of all your questions and “share your screen” on Zoom. Set a time limit for each round and have your friends message you their answers. Have you played virtual trivia with your friends? Tell us your tips!
