If you’ve just about run out of things to do in lockdown, having a trivia night is a fun and even socially distanced way to spend an evening. You might like it so much that it becomes a regular part of 2021 life.
Trivia games don’t have to be done in person. There are lots of options for doing it over video with friends and family, for a virtual trivia event. Or, if you’d like, you can keep it smaller and do it in-person with just the members of your household (or quarantine bubble). Either way, a trivia night is always good fun and a nice way to connect with loved ones—and maybe get a little competitive.
If you’d like to host a virtual trivia game, read on for some ideas and suggestions for game night.
JackBox Games
If you haven’t heard of JackBox Games yet, it’s about time you did. It’s pretty much the perfect thing for all this stuck-at-home time we have these days. They’ve basically taken some of the classic, most beloved games, given them a twist, and made them virtual. For example, Drawful is a stranger, more challenging version of Pictionary. There’s also Fibbage, where you try to fool your friends/family. And then, for the purposes of trivia night, there’s got Trivia Murder Party. This virtual trivia game is a little bit scary, definitely challenging, and lots of fun. Progress through a variety of trivia questions while competing with your fellow players. Along the way, there’s gore, zombies, knives, and all sorts of other horror-themed additions.
Whether in-person or virtually distanced, all players can use their phones as their remotes for the whole game. You don’t even need to download an app—it’s that easy.
Random Trivia Generator
Random Trivia Generator (aka RTG) is awesome for many reasons—one of which being that it’s entirely free. Pick categories and (as the name suggests) it’ll randomly generate trivia questions from that category. If you’re video chatting and you’re the trivia host, just open up RTG on your computer, share your screen with participants, and begin!
Some questions will likely be doable, but there’s plenty of tough questions to choose from. And the variety of genres to choose from allows you to flip between different categories or stick with one. This online trivia option is worth trying at least once.
TriviaHub
If you’d like to get a little bit fancier and a little more involved, TriviaHub is worth checking out. Its online events are hosted by professional trivia hosts so that you can get as close to pub trivia as possible in our current situation. If you’d rather not hire a host, they have a do-it-yourself option so that you can play host instead.
Their “Pub-Style Trivia” is carefully designed and fully interactive. It’s a great team-building activity for coworkers, an alternative happy hour experience, or just a good way to get people together for a little friendly competition. If you’re in need of a workplace or friend get-together—but have run out of fun virtual ideas—try TriviaHub. It’s engaging, memorable, and a whole lotta fun.
(They’ve also got “Name That Tune” and “Virtual Bingo,” if you end up loving their trivia events and want to try out something else.)
Sporcle
Sporcle is one of the oldest (and best!) online trivia options around. The “World’s Largest Trivia Quiz Website” has offered individual quizzes for so long, I can remember playing them in middle school.
But now, Sporcle also offers a Virtual Live Trivia option. It’s a cheap, pay-per-game service available on their website.
Get your friends or family together, hop on Zoom, and tune in for a one or two-hour game. As the site explains, “Games are hosted on Zoom by a charming, funny, and/or good-looking trivia host who will proverbially quiz your socks off.”
Much like with TriviaHub, Sporcle’s Virtual Live Trivia provides a nice, live pub-like feel, where you can really interact and get into the competition. If that wasn’t enough, there’s also a chance to win prizes, like a $100 Visa gift card. Not bad at all!
If you’re looking for an accessible and bonding experience that still offers some challenging trivia, give Sporcle Virtual Live Trivia a try.
DIY Trivia Game
If you’re really looking for a way to fill the time—or are just up for a challenge—you can always create your own trivia game. For the most challenging experience, start from scratch and create your own themes, questions, and rules. This can be especially fun or useful if you’re hoping to do trivia of a very specific category. It’s equally great if you’re a trivia nerd but get tired of the questions you run into over and over on trivia night.
Aside from doing it totally from scratch, there are websites that can help you along. TriviaMaker is one option. It’s actually frequently used by teachers as a teaching tool, but it can work just well for trivia night with friends. There are different game styles, like “Wheel,” “List,” and “Grid” (which is formatted just like Jeopardy). TriviaMaker streamlines the trivia game-making process, while still giving the option of specialization and personalization.
Typeform is another option for DIY trivia. It offers a Trivia Quiz Template that you can play around with and make into your very own trivia game. It’s interactive, and you can share it anywhere so that you can include friends, coworkers, or family, no matter where they are.
Make the Best of Virtual Trivia
Whichever virtual trivia game you choose, virtual trivia night is a great way to spend these long pandemic-times winter months. Include as many or as few people as you’d like. Add it to happy hour, team bonding, virtual parties, or holidays. Use ready-made online trivia or make your own.
For trivia-lovers, the joys of the game don’t have to disappear. They’re just a little different—and a little more creative—this year.
