How to Host Virtual Team Trivia

photo of laptop with a glass of beer - Virtual Team Trivia Event Instructions

Virtual Team Trivia Event Instructions

Thank you to everyone who joined our Virtual Team Trivia webinar! Didn't attend or want a refresher? Check out the recording below.

Contact us with any questions you have. 
Happy quizzing!

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Trivia doesn’t have to end because your space temporarily closed its doors. We have had success in developing a way for hosts to run a weekly Quizmasters trivia night from the comfort of their own homes. We have tested this process over the last two weeks and it has been super popular with our players!

While people are home, they want to connect with their friends and above all stick to their routines as much as possible. What’s great about our system is it still allows players to privately hang out with their teammates while answering questions but then also join the other teams in the main meeting room to hear answers and chat, just like they would do at the bar! There is a slight learning curve, but we are here to help if you have any questions. Just contact us for support!

NOTE: This format is customizable. You can adjust this guide however you’d like. We’re giving you step-by-step instructions that utilize some of the more powerful features of Zoom, like breakout rooms, but if you would like to make it simpler and host a trivia night with individual players instead of teams, all you need to do is ask the questions and have individuals send you their responses through private chat or email.


Click to save these instructions in PDF format. The PDF file will open in a new window; just save the file. These instructions will also be included in this week's quiz packet. 

What you need:

1. Paid Zoom account ($14 per month) [Note: Only the host needs to pay for the account. Participants will get all features free.]

2. Questions and a scoresheet. (We provide all of this and more each week.) 

3. A device with a microphone and camera. Preferably a Mac, PC or Chromebook.

Steps Before Trivia:

1. Sign up for a paid Zoom account at Zoom.us and log in.

2. Create your first meeting and copy the join url. Click “my account”

  • Click “schedule a meeting”.
  • Name the meeting.
  • Set date and time.
  • Unclick “require meeting password”.
  • Toggle host and participant video: “on”.
  • Toggle audio: “computer audio”.
  • Click “save”.
  • Write an email or Facebook post to all of your players. Make sure the email includes: 
  • A start date and time.
  • The Zoom invite link.

Trivia Steps:

1. Log in to your own meeting and wait for participants.

  • Go to “my meetings” on Zoom.
  • Click “Start This Meeting”

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2. Wait for everyone to join and let everyone know the rules. 

    • If you are using a Quizmasters Trivia Pack, we provide the rules for our game so please be sure to review before starting!
    • Be sure to guilt them into not cheating. Sadly, it’s really easy to cheat and there’s not much of a way around that. Make sure they know what huge spoil-sports they are if they decide to look up answers.

    NOTE: If you would like to adjust this guide for simplicity and let each individual player be their own team, all you need to do is ask the questions directly in the meeting, have players private message or email the answers to you and then grade them. If you choose this format, skip the remaining steps below.  

    3. Tell teams to choose a captain. 

    4. Categorize everyone in their own team “breakout rooms”.

      • Click “breakout rooms”.

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        • Check “manually”.
        • Enter the number of rooms (this should equal the number of teams).
        • Click “create rooms”.

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          • Hover over each room and click “rename”.

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            • Rename rooms with the team names.

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              • Click “assign” for each room. A list of all players will appear. Check each player for each particular team to assign them to that breakout room. 

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              Tip: Ask players to include their team names in their usernames to make it easier to assign players to breakout rooms. For example: “Matt_quizteam1”.

              5. Share the picture round with players. This can be done several ways:
                • Option #1: Create a shareable link of the “virtual picture round” and post it.
                • Option #2: Email the picture round to players during the game or even ahead of time.
                • Option #3: Upload the file in Zoom chat, but please note this is only possible if a user is on the Zoom app for Windows or Mac.

                6. When everyone is categorized into their own breakout rooms, tell your players: “We are ready to begin. I will send you to your breakout rooms and once you’re settled questions will appear on your screen”.

                7. Click “Breakout Rooms” then “Open All Rooms” to send all players into their breakout rooms.    

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                8. Go to your questions and copy the first question.

                9. Click “Breakout Rooms” then “Broadcast message to all”. 

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                10. Paste the first question into the window and click “Broadcast”. It will pop up in each room for about 5-10 seconds. Paste again 30 seconds later. Give it a few seconds and do the same for the second question, and so on. Make sure they know they need to pay attention, just as if they were listening to you reading questions to them.

                11. After the last question is sent, we like to copy and paste all the questions together and send those a few times just in case the teams missed anything.

                12. Tell the team captains to email the answers to the host and include their team name.

                  NOTE: If you are competent with Google Forms, you can set up a form for each round and have teams submit answers that way.

                  13. Open your email and grade each response.

                  14. Copy the scores into the scoresheet.

                  15. Go back to Zoom and send them from the breakout rooms back to the main meeting.

                    • Click “Breakout Rooms”.
                    • Click “Close All Rooms”. 

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                    Players will be sent back to the main room within 60 seconds!

                    16. Read all answers.

                    17. Read scores.

                    18. REPEAT!

                    19. After all rounds are submitted, tabulate scores and figure out the winner.

                    20. Send everyone back (close all rooms) and announce the final answers, scores and winner!

                      Tips: 

                      • There are several ways to collect answers. We suggest having captains of each team email the answers to the host. If you’re familiar with Google Forms, you can also create a shared answer sheet for each round.
                      • If you would like to skip the complicated “Breakout Rooms” and just have an individual player game instead of teams, all you need to do is mute all players, ask questions vocally and have them email you their answers (or fill out a google form) and score. This is a much simpler option, but doesn’t give your teams the opportunity to “hang out” with each other in separate rooms.

                      Again, we know it may seem complicated but we are here to help if you have any questions. Just contact us for support. =)

                      Happy quizzin’!

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