Table quiz round ideas that get every table competing

In short

• The best table quiz round ideas give the whole table a job: something to look at, something to argue over and one answer to agree on.
• A table quiz works because the team is already sitting together. Build the rounds around that, and score by table.
• For a charity night, add paid extras between rounds (a joker, a raffle, heads or tails) so the quiz raises money beyond the ticket price.
• Raffles at an event do not need a Gambling Commission licence, but tickets can only be sold at the event itself.
• Six rounds, a clear leaderboard and a finale with big points will keep every table in the game.

A table quiz is the format most fundraisers and company dinners end up with, because the room is already laid out for it. Ten tables of eight is ten teams, with no need to move anybody. The table quiz round ideas that work best are the ones that use that layout, so the rivalry is between people who can see each other across the room.

I host quizzes for charities and companies as a quiz master, and table against table is one of the three ways I run every game. Here is what to put in the rounds.

What is a table quiz?

A table quiz is a quiz where each table in the room plays as one team, usually at a seated event such as a fundraising dinner or a company party. It is the same idea as a pub quiz, with the teams decided by the seating plan.

That one difference changes how you plan it. The teams are bigger, often mixed in age and background, and many of the players came for the dinner or the cause more than the quiz. Rounds need to be broad enough that everyone at the table can contribute, and the scoring needs to be visible so tables know who they are chasing.

Table quiz round ideas that get every table competing

These table quiz round ideas are chosen for one thing: they need more than one brain. Each gives a table a reason to lean in together.

• Picture sheet. A page of faces, logos or landmarks left on the table for the whole evening. It fills the gaps between courses and gives the quieter players something to do.
• General knowledge with a spread. One question each on sport, history, music, food, science and television, so every seat has a turn at being the expert.
• Connections. Nine questions and a tenth asking what links the answers. Tables that missed a few can work backwards.
• Closest wins. A number question (a distance, a year, a price) where the nearest table scores. No table is ever out of a guessing round.
• Put them in order. Five items to rank by age, size or price. Partial marks keep it friendly.
• Local round. Questions about the town, the venue, the charity or the company. Nobody can look them up.
• Table challenge. A task instead of a question: the tallest tower from the table’s napkins, the best team photo, the longest word from a set of letters.

Mix written rounds with one round that gets people looking up at a screen or moving about. A whole night of heads down over an answer sheet is hard work.

What is the best table quiz format?

The best table quiz format is six rounds of six to eight questions, scored by table, with the leaderboard shown after every round. Guidance for fundraising quiz nights puts the ceiling at around six to eight rounds of ten in two hours, and a dinner leaves you less time than that.

A format that works at a seated event:

• Two rounds before the starter, while people are fresh.
• A picture sheet through the main course, collected with the plates.
• Two rounds after the main course.
• A fundraising break, then a finale worth extra points.

Marking is the part that slows a table quiz down. The pub convention is for teams to swap papers and mark each other’s, which works well when tables are close together. Give each table a runner and it becomes part of the fun.

Which charity table quiz round ideas raise more money?

Charity table quiz round ideas raise more money when the giving is built into the game, so nobody feels the fundraising has interrupted the fun. The ticket price is only the start.

Fundraising table quiz ideas that fit between rounds:

• Paid joker. Each table can buy a joker and play it on one round to double their points. Tables that fancy their chances will pay for it.
• Buy a clue. One question per round has a hint available for a donation. Competitive tables cannot resist.
• Heads or tails. Everyone who pays to enter stands up, picks heads or tails with their hands, and sits down when the coin goes against them. One winner, one prize, three minutes. It is a game I run on its own as heads or tails.
• Sponsor a round. A local business pays to have a round named after it, with one question about them.
• Raffle. Sold table to table during the meal and drawn before the final scores.
• Mulligan sheet. A table can pay to have one wrong answer in a round marked right. Sell them in advance and cap them at one per round.

Put the paid extras in the middle of the night, not at the end. People give most freely when they are enjoying themselves and before they start thinking about the journey home.

How do raffles fit the rules?

A raffle at a quiz night counts as an incidental lottery, and it does not need a licence from the Gambling Commission. The regulator’s guidance says lotteries at events must raise money for charity, not private gain, and cannot be the main reason for the event.

The rule that catches people out is about where you sell. Tickets can be sold only at the event while it is taking place, which rules out selling online or in advance. No more than £100 of the proceeds can go on expenses and no more than £500 on prizes, although donated prizes have no limit.

If you want to sell tickets before the night, that is a different kind of lottery with its own registration, so check the guidance before you print anything.

Corporate table quiz ideas

At a company dinner the table quiz has a different job. It is there to mix people and give the room something to do together, and there is no fundraising to build in.

Corporate table quiz ideas that suit a work audience:

• Mix the tables. If the seating plan puts departments together, add a round where tables swap one player.
• The year in review. Questions drawn from the company’s own year: the launches, the numbers, the office move, the running jokes.
• Guess the colleague. Baby photos, first jobs or unusual facts, all volunteered in advance.
• The leadership round. Senior leaders each submit one true statement and one false one about themselves.
• Client-safe humour. If clients are in the room, keep the in-jokes to ones they can share.

There is more on pitching a quiz to a work audience in my guide to a corporate quiz night, and more formats in my wider list of quiz round ideas.

How do you run quiz rounds by table on a big screen?

You run quiz rounds by table on a big screen by letting each table choose the question and every table answer it. That keeps the whole room involved, where a show format would have three teams at the front and everyone else watching.

This is how I run my Quiz Show game at seated events. The board shows five categories with values from easy to hard. Each table takes a turn to pick a category and a value, and every table answers on paper or a phone before the reveal. The table that picked it scores double, everyone else scores single, and the leaderboard updates live. Picture questions put a flag, a landmark or a painting on the screen for the whole room.

The effect is that a table has two things to think about: the answer, and how much risk to take when their turn comes. A full board takes twenty-five to thirty-five minutes, and half a board fits between courses.

How many people should sit at each table?

Six to ten people per table is the usual range for a table quiz, and eight is a comfortable middle. Below six, a table can run short of knowledge. Above ten, the people at the far ends stop being able to hear the discussion and drop out.

If your tables are uneven, do not adjust the scores. Mixed strengths even out over six rounds, and a handicap system causes more arguments than it solves. If one table is clearly stacked with quizzers, the room will enjoy trying to beat them.

A sample table quiz running order

For a fundraising dinner with a two-hour window for the quiz:

1. Welcome and rules (three minutes), with team names read out.
2. Round one: general knowledge. Picture sheets go out at the same time.
3. Round two: local or company round.
4. Main course. Picture sheets collected, raffle tickets sold.
5. Round three: closest wins and put them in order.
6. Round four: the big-screen category board, played by table.
7. Heads or tails, then the raffle draw.
8. Round five: connections, with jokers in play.
9. Final round worth double, scores, prizes and thanks.

The questions are half of it. The other half is keeping the scores visible and the gaps short, and that is the reason I built my own quiz software to run it all from one screen.

More quiz guides

• Funny team names for an office or charity quiz.
• Pub quiz questions: 100 general knowledge questions with answers.

If you are planning a charity or company quiz and want every table playing from the first question, tell me about the room and I will suggest a format as your quiz host.