How to host a pub quiz night

Everything starts in the editor. Go to qwizrush.com and sign in with Google — that one step gives you a host account where every question set you build is saved automatically. Hosting is free and there is nothing to install, so you can set up on the same laptop you will run the night on, or earlier in the week on any browser. Once you are in, create a new question set; this is the container for your whole night.

Organize it into rounds

A pub night flows better in rounds, so split your set into themed blocks and name each one — a music round, a general-knowledge round, a sport round, whatever fits your crowd. You can reorder rounds and questions at any time, so the structure is never locked in. A handful of short rounds works better than one long list, because the leaderboard between rounds is where the drama lives.

With your rounds in place, fill them with questions. Qwiz Rush has three core question types plus a song wrapper, and mixing them keeps a night lively: multiple choice for the classics, first-letter questions where players pick the opening letter of the answer, number questions for dates and quantities, and song questions answered as any of those three. You do not have to write every question by hand — there are two ways in.

Two ways to add questions

• Write them yourself — pick a type (multiple-choice, first-letter, number, or song) and type the question and answer.
• Generate a batch — type a round title and let the AI helper draft a set of questions for that theme.

Whatever the AI helper produces, you can edit everything freely — reword a prompt, fix an answer, change the type. While you are here, tune the scoring: set the points awarded per question type, and faster correct answers always earn a timing bonus on top.

A pub quiz needs a shared screen everyone can see. The big-screen view shows the active question, any mini-game overlays, and the live scores — and never your host controls. That separation is deliberate: the room watches the question and the leaderboard on the TV, you drive the game privately from your own device, and players answer on their phones. Pick whichever way to go big-screen suits the venue.

Three ways to go big-screen

• Open the projector URL for your game on a laptop or media stick that is plugged into the venue TV or projector.
• Cast the game to a Chromecast-enabled TV directly from your host device.
• Pair a smart TV by opening qwizrush.com/tv in the TV’s own browser and entering the 6-digit code shown on your host screen.

All three give the same read-only display, so use the one that matches the hardware in front of you. If casting is flaky on the venue Wi-Fi, the laptop-plus-projector-URL route is the most reliable fallback.

Getting players in is the easiest part, and it is the moment to set the tone. There is no app to download, and no account is required by default. Every game has a 6-digit code; players either scan the code on the big screen or type it at qwizrush.com. From there they pick a team name and a victory song — its cover art becomes their team avatar — and they are in within seconds, fast enough that you can do it while people are still settling at their tables.

What players need to know

• They can play anonymously, or sign in with Google if they want a profile that carries across games.
• Any modern phone, tablet, or laptop browser works — they answer on their own device.
• Tell them to keep the tab open all night.

Now you run the loop. Send a question, and every player gets the same synchronized 10-second countdown — the clock is locked to the same instant on every device, so no phone is ahead or behind, even on different networks. Song questions get 30 seconds, and a per-question time limit can override the default where you need it. The pressure is the point: faster correct answers score more, with a base for being right plus a timing bonus that rewards the quickest, while wrong answers score 0.

The rhythm of each question

1. Send the question and let the countdown build tension as the room answers.
2. When the clock hits zero, input stops and the answer is revealed.
3. Scores update live, then the per-question leaderboard, then the overall standings between rounds.

You stay in control throughout — skip a question that is not landing, or jump back if you need to. Grading and the authoritative scores are computed on the server, so the leaderboard stays fair and consistent; on-screen feedback is instant but the server has the final say. For variety, drop in a mini-game — Hot Potato, Tug of War, Quick Draw, Reaction Challenge, Duel Matchup, or Click Competition — all feeding the same leaderboard, and set a per-team victory song to crown the winners at the end.