The Cut · a Play Along round
Everyone answers. The lowest scores are cut.
The Cut is the whole room in a knockout. Every guest answers the same five questions on their phone, then the field is cut by rank: three hundred becomes two hundred, then a hundred and twenty-five, then fifty, and on down to one. Nobody goes out for a single wrong answer. You go out because the people around you were quicker and sharper, which is exactly what makes it so hard to take. Fast, brutal and brilliant after dinner.
Think The Weakest Link, for three hundred people at once and with no voting off.
How a round plays
How The Cut plays, minute by minute.
The questions come from my thousand-question quiz bank across every category, so it plays as a proper quiz, only the scoring is a knockout.
Five questions, typed
Which river flows through Vienna, Budapest and Belgrade?
Twenty-five seconds. You type it; there are no options to guess from. Speed counts, because ties are split by how quickly you answered.1The reveal
After each question everyone sees the answer and whether they got it. Five of these make a round, and your round score is what keeps you in or puts you out.
2The cut
At the end of the round I rank everyone still in and cut to the next step of the funnel. Three hundred to two hundred. Two hundred to a hundred and twenty-five. The funnel on the big screen shows exactly where the night is.
3
You are through, or you are cut
Your phone tells you straight away. Being cut at fifty is respectable. Being cut at three is a story you will tell for years.
4
Down to one
Ten. Five. Three. One. The last few rounds are played with the whole room watching a handful of phones, and the winner gets confetti on the big screen and a very smug walk back to their table.
5
On the big screen
The real screens, not a mock-up.
The Cut runs on two screens at once: the big screen the whole room watches, and the phone in every guest’s hand. Both are my own software, built for live events and run from one control screen at the front.
Three ways to play
Three ways to play The Cut.
Every game I run can be played three ways, and I pick the way that suits the room, the timings and the layout on the night: as a show at the front, table against table, or with every single guest playing on their own phone. Mix them across an evening and nobody spends the night watching.
As a show
Ten at the front, cut down in the open
Ten guests take the chairs, answer on cards or phones, and after every round the lowest scores are cut in front of the room. No voting and no arguments: the scores decide. The last two go head to head and the room picks a side.
Best for: awards nights and dinners with a stageAt the tables
Table against table, the weakest tables cut
Every table answers together on one phone. At the end of each round the lowest-scoring tables are cut and become the audience for the rest, which they take with remarkably bad grace. The last table standing wins the night.
Best for: conference dinners and away daysOn the app
Three hundred phones, one winner
The native version. Everyone plays individually from the first question, the funnel shrinks on the big screen after every round, and the last few rounds are pure theatre. Tested with three hundred phones answering at once.
Best for: Christmas parties and whole-company nightsBuilt for the room
Same game. Two very different rooms.
I customise every game for the audience in front of me: the questions, the answers, and the way I present them. The same format is a completely different show for a room of graduates in their twenties and a room of chief executives, and it should be. I write for the people who will actually be there, then I speak into the listening on the night: I read what the room is giving back and change gear to match it.
Fast rounds, no mercy
- Questions I would use
- Pop culture, sport, the last five years. Quick to read, quick to type, and the odd one that only the youngest person in the room will get.
- How I host it
- I speed it up as the field shrinks and I make the cuts loud. Names on the screen, groans in the room, straight into the next round.
- What lands
- Being one of the fifty. Then one of the ten. Then getting cut at five and never quite getting over it.
Deeper questions, longer pauses
- Questions I would use
- History, geography, business and the arts. Proper quiz questions with a bit of range, so nobody can complain the cut was unfair.
- How I host it
- I give the last three rounds room. When the field is down to five directors, each reveal gets its own moment and the rivalry writes itself.
- What lands
- The rankings. Senior people care enormously about being fourteenth rather than fifteenth, and they will tell you so.
1Written for your people
Send me the year’s stories, the in-jokes, the departments and the industry. The rounds are built from them, so the answers land in a way no off-the-shelf pack ever can.
2Speaking into the listening
The words on the screen are half of it. How I present them is the rest, and I pitch the pace, the teasing and the tone to the room that has turned up, not the one on the brief.
3If a different crowd turns up
Eight hundred events across festivals, awards, conferences and dinners means I have hosted every kind of room. If the mood is not what anyone expected, I change the style on the spot, and often the questions too.
In the running order
Where The Cut fits in the night.
Where it sits in the night
After dinner, as the big competitive block, or as the closer if you want to end on a single winner and confetti.
How long
Twenty to thirty minutes for the full funnel. I can shorten it by starting the ladder lower for a smaller room.
All fourteen games
Fourteen games. One host. One screen.
Five rounds the whole room plays on their phones, and nine big-screen games with teams at the board. All of it is my own software, run from one screen, so I can switch format the moment the room needs a lift. Tap any game to see exactly how it plays.
Common Ground
Vote with the room, score for matching it
How it plays →On your phone
Who’s Bluffing?
Three stories, one true, the room decides
How it plays →On your phone
The Final Few
A knockout quiz down to the last few standing
How it plays →On your phone
Side Bets
Play money on what happens next on stage
How it plays →On your phoneThis page
The Cut
Everyone answers, the lowest scores are cut
You are hereBig screen
Family Fortunes
Two teams, one survey board, three strikes
How it plays →Big screen
Quiz Show
Categories, buzzers and picture rounds
How it plays →Big screen
Play Your Cards Right
Higher or lower on a row of giant cards
How it plays →Big screen
What the Blank
Fill the gap, match the room’s funniest answers
How it plays →Big screen
Guess the Phrase
A hidden phrase, one letter at a time
How it plays →Big screen
Category Clues
Describe it without saying it, against the clock
How it plays →Big screen
Scavenger Hunt
The whole room up, hunting and mixing
How it plays →Big screen
The Generation Game
The conveyor belt of prizes to remember
How it plays →Big screen
Bongo Bingo
Rave bingo with dance breaks and forfeits
How it plays →Every one of these can be played as a show, at the tables or on the app, and every one is written around your company before the night. Not sure which mix suits your event? Tell me the room and I will suggest a running order.
For the venue and IT
Nothing to install. Nothing to worry about.
- Guests play in their phone’s browser. No app store, no account, no personal data beyond a first name and a table.
- Runs on the venue’s Wi-Fi or on 4G. Tested with three hundred phones answering at once.
- One code for the whole night. Phones follow whichever game is on the big screen.
- The venue provides a screen and a sound system. I bring everything else and run it from the front.
What clients say
Kevin recently hosted a company corporate event and proved to be the consummate professional throughout the evening. He has the unique ability to read a room and keep everyone happy.
Kevin hosted our staff conference event this year which was fantastic. He brought an energy and enthusiasm with him and played a really important part in getting people engaged in the day.
Thank you Kevin for hosting our Christmas party in December 2025. The team had an amazing time. We really liked the intertwining of awards and the game. Everyone had a brilliant time and Kevin was fantastic.
Good to know
The Cut FAQs.
Is The Cut like The Weakest Link?
It has the same shape: a field that shrinks every round until one person is left. The difference is that the whole room plays at once rather than nine contestants, and there is no voting off. The lowest scores are cut, decided by the answers alone, so nobody can be ganged up on.
How is the cut decided?
By your score across the five questions of the round, with the time you took to answer splitting any ties. The funnel goes three hundred, two hundred, a hundred and twenty-five, fifty, twenty-five, ten, five, three, one, and it adapts to however many are actually playing.
Do you type the answers or pick from options?
You type them. That is what makes it a real quiz rather than a guessing game, and it means speed matters. Answers are marked automatically, and I keep an eye on anything close.
Where do the questions come from?
My own bank of about a thousand quiz questions across every category, which is the same bank behind my big-screen Quiz Show. I pick the mix for your room, and I can drop in questions about your company.
What if someone joins late?
The Cut is a knockout, so it starts with everyone who is in the room at the first question. Anyone arriving later watches this one and is straight into the next game.
How many people can play?
It was built for big rooms and tested with three hundred phones answering at once. For a smaller room I start the funnel lower, or run it as a show at the front.
What does it cost?
Fees are quoted individually for the date, the venue and the length of the show. Send the numbers and the running order and I will send a quote.
Enquiries
See who survives The Cut at your event.
Tell me the date, the venue, rough numbers and the kind of crowd. I will confirm availability, suggest where The Cut fits in the night and send a quote.
