Entertaining a crowd with a fun game of trivia is hard. Sure, you’re an amusing personality on stage, reading out questions and announcing the scores. What they don’t see is the hours you, as the host or organizer, had to put in to get to this point. They don’t see how much time you spent writing out the questions they take seconds to answer and booking the venue they’re currently enjoying.
The truth is, planning a trivia night doesn’t have to be that hard. You can use free online trivia night software to help you breeze through the game with minimal effort. Seems too good to be true, right?
Each software is unique and offers different capabilities. Some will help you with running the event and timing the rounds, while others will focus more on the questions and categories. Using software is a nice alternative to purchasing only question/event packs for running a trivia event.
We’ve created a comprehensive list of the best free and paid trivia night software on the market. If this sparked your interest, then keep reading to find out more!
Trivia Night Software and Mobile Apps
In this age of technology, your phone can do anything besides walk your dog and cook you dinner! Many people work on their phones, write essays for school, transfer money, and watch movies. It should come as no surprise that your smartphone can be a useful tool for trivia night too. If you want to make the best of your device, let it help you connect with friends and play a game or two of trivia! Here are some phone apps you can download and use for game night:
Kahoot!
Most people are familiar with Kahoot! from school and work. If you know how it works, then you’ll agree that it’s an excellent tool for trivia night. It’s quite simple: you can create your own quizzes, including multiple choice and true or false questions. Once you’ve set up the game, you can share the code with your friends and start playing! You can access Kahoot! via a phone app as well as a your internet browser. Pull it up on the big screen if you’re playing in a pub. Kahoot! will help you take your trivia game to the next level. There is a free version that allows for up to 10 players at a time. If you want the chance to play with more people, get the paid membership for $9.99 a month.
Houseparty
If you weren’t familiar with Houseparty before, you’ll sure know it now! The app recently gained popularity because of the quarantine caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Many friend groups decided they were tired of missing out on fun nights together and got online! Though the app is not aimed at trivia hosts and goers specifically, you can use it too. It is very useful if you want to play a game of virtual trivia with your friends. The benefit of Houseparty is that it uses your camera, so you will be able to see your friends while playing. It’s almost as if you’re having an actual house party! The app comes with some free games, as well as paid extensions. Check out the app’s free games and splurge on the paid ones if you feel like it!
Jeopardy! World Tour
Everybody knows Jeopardy! Many of us have wonderful memories of gathering around the TV and watching it with our families. The game is an institution, but it somehow it still continues to endure and run strong.
This Jeopardy app will transform you into a player, with all the answers at the tips of your fingers. Now, the app is not actually very useful when it comes to hosting a live trivia night, but it allows you to play against your friends and random people. The game is Jeopardy, of course. There are multiple categories and difficulty levels you can conquer. The app is free, but you can use paid power ups to win.
Trivia Maker
Though marketed towards schools and school teachers, Trivia Maker can be used by trivia night hosts as well. What it does is it helps you create a quiz and put it into a fun and entertaining format. Overall, there are 4 different game styles, one of which is trivia. Naturally, that’s the one we’ll be focusing on! But don’t completely neglect the remaining 3. Perhaps they could be useful to you in one way or another.
Trivia Maker can be used to host a virtual trivia night, as well as a normal pub quiz. In the case of virtual trivia, you will need to get on a video call with your players and share your screen. This feature is especially useful right now, during the Covid-19 pandemic.
If you’re planning on hosting a real-life event, you can create a game using the software and display it with a projector or on a big screen. Use your phone, tablet, or computer to create and operate the quiz.
Beginners should not worry, as they can contact Trivia Makers for some help with creating their first virtual trivia game. You can also personalize your trivia game by adding your logo, uploading background music, choosing appropriate colors, and so on. Customize the game to your liking!
In order to use this software, you need to pay for a membership. The lowest price at the moment is $6.99 per month. Get a better deal by buying a membership for a year, or splurge on a lifetime membership if you’re planning on using this software for years to come. There is also a basic account option, which is free of charge. Unfortunately, it offers very limited capabilities. Only 2 teams can play at the same time and there can be a maximum of 4 categories in one game.
TriviaHub Live
TriviaHub Live is an amazing tool for hosting virtual trivia events. It is an excellent solution for families and friends that are struggling to see each other during the pandemic. It’s just as useful for friends who live far away from each other and can’t afford to travel for a game of trivia.
The software offers expert-written trivia quizzes that are just as challenging as they are entertaining. With this service, you won’t need to worry about coming up with categories and questions, as the software provides it all. You can find instruction guides, hosting tips, trivia rules, and video tutorials that will help you prepare for your trivia night.
There is a guided online scoring system that will keep track of the score automatically. All you need is a tool for video calls to connect with the players. Other features of this software include the ability to schedule future trivia nights, as well as an automatically generated leaderboard that will encourage players to keep coming back.
TriviaHub offers a 30-day free trial, followed by the price of $99 per month to use all the features of the software to their full potential. The benefit of TriviaHub Live is that the software takes care of all the game prep. All you need to do is set up a meeting and host! Actually, the software can provide a host for you as well, so that’s one less hoop you have to jump through.
VenueTrivia – Software Plus Hardware
The Software
VenueTrivia is a web-based software that doesn’t require any downloads. All you need is internet connection and a computer. You can use your own videos, audio recordings, and images for extra interactive rounds. You can input your own questions too, of course.
Use the quiz builder to enter the questions and answers you’ve prepared. Make the process even easier by using a pre-setup quiz offered by the platform. Enter the details of your event, like when and where it will be held, and wait for your guests to show up!
If you want to enhance the gaming experience even further and host a professional trivia night, you can purchase VenueTrivia’s buzzers. Those come at an additional cost and require you to install a desktop app, so more on that in the next section.
To start playing, you need to register all the teams. Make use of custom logos, custom round timing, and custom break timing. Download the answer sheets and print them for your guests to record their answers.
Since there is no software you need to download, you have to make an account and log in. Registration is free, so you can play around with the software before you settle on buying a quiz. Every purchase is separate. You’re only paying for what you’re buying. Unlike other platforms, VenueTrivia doesn’t offer subscriptions. It costs $50 to run a quiz with your own questions using VenueTrivia.
There is an option to buy a quiz from the platform for those who don’t feel like crafting their own questions. Contact the company to demo their software and get to hosting your trivia night!
The Hardware – VenueTrivia Buzzers
If you want to take your trivia night to the next level, order Game Show Dome Wireless Buzzers! Keep in mind that this device won’t be suitable for all types of trivia games. It will work great for those that require teams to compete in answering questions quickly.
The buzzers work in a very simple way. They are connected to the VenueTrivia software. Each team gets a buzzer than they can use once the game has started. When you ask the teams a question, they will proceed to buzz when they’re ready to answer. First in buzz will be the winner, but only if they can provide the correct answer, of course!
It’s important to note that these buzzers only work in a tandem with VenueTrivia software. You cannot use them as standalone buzzers. Since each game costs a fee, you will have to pay each time you want to use the buzzers.
The buzzers are rather on the expensive side, starting at $550 for two. In order to use them, you need to download a desktop app on your computer.
Spice Up Your Trivia Game With Technology!
Now that you have a comprehensive list of some of the most popular trivia night software platforms out there, you can make an educated choice. Several factors come into play that you should consider. For instance, will you have access to the internet? Do you want to play a virtual game of trivia, or do you merely want some digital help with your pub quiz? Can you afford to pay a subscription fee? Would you prefer to pay per month or per trivia night?
Your answers to these questions should tell you which software would work best for you. For example, if you want to host a virtual trivia night, you should take a closer look at TriviaHub Live, as it offers amazing capabilities and features. If you need some help creating your trivia game using software, you can contact Trivia Maker! The company offers consultations to those who are lost and confused.
There are options for avid smartphones users too! Check out Kahoot! if you want to have the questions for your live trivia night at your fingertips. Houseparty, on the other hand, will put you face to face with your opponents while maintaining physical distancing.
Of course, if you would rather have a company or host handle all the production from end-to-end, you should check out our list of trivia companies and their offerings. Or our list of online trivia competition organizers. If you’re feeling especially bold, you can even host an HQ Trivia night, with the help of an emulator that will allow you to play it on a computer instead of your phone.
If you’ve got the software settled, next it’s time to go through our overall trivia night checklist in order to make sure you didn’t miss anything crucial!
Have you tried any of these apps and websites before? If so, don’t hesitate to tell us about your experience in the comments! Point out which ones you liked best and give recommendations to your peers.
Jen says
You left off Last Call Trivia!
http://www.lastcalltrivia.com
Friedrich says
You left out Buzztime Trivia – They invented software for Bar Trivia
https://buzztime.com/business