Whether you’re practicing social distancing or looking to reconnect with friends who live in a different city, you may want to opt for an online trivia night to bring you and those you love a healthy dose of fun. You might be a manager wanting to boost morale after recently moving your company entirely online or a young person who wants to reconnect with their faraway family two years into the pandemic. No matter your situation, an online trivia night is an excellent way to bring up people’s spirits and connect with others, all from the comfort of your own home.
Though online trivia nights are becoming increasingly popular, there still isn’t a ton of information about them readily available, and even after doing a little research you may be left with some lingering questions. What programs can you use to host a successful online trivia event? Are there any good free online trivia platforms out there? What about online trivia platforms for Zoom?
We’ve compiled a list of ten of our favorite virtual trivia options and we’re excited to share them with you. Many of the online trivia platforms we’ve featured are designed for teambuilding with coworkers, but they can just as easily be used with friends or family at home. Read on to find out about the ten best online trivia platforms that you can use to host your own event.
Is There a Way to Buzz in on Zoom?
If you’re playing a trivia game on Zoom, can players buzz in? And if so, how can they do so successfully? Zoom video and sound can easily become asynchronous with network errors, preventing any at-home physical buzzers from being successful. In other words, you’ve got to come up with a nontraditional buzzer system to avoid stalling gameplay.
One method for buzzing in on Zoom is by having players type in the chat. For example, contestants could type and send “ready,” “my turn,” or a single letter to indicate that they’re ready to answer. This way, everybody, including the host, can see clearly who asked to answer the question first. There won’t be any disputes as to whose turn it is and the game can continue to run smoothly.
An alternative to buzzing in on the Zoom app itself is to use a buzzer via a website on your browser. One such website is BuzzIn.live, which allows a host to create a game and invite participants. Participants will use the game’s uniquely generated code to enter. From there, these players can buzz in from one browser window as they have Zoom open in another. There are a handful of decent buzzer programs available online, but BuzzIn.live is the most reliable one we’ve found. For more websites that offer online buzzers, check out our list of 9 alternatives right here.
Trivia Hub
First up on our list of virtual trivia platform recommendations we’ve got Trivia Hub. Trivia Hub prides itself on making trivia geared towards team-building. Their virtual trivia games have been used by the likes of Facebook, Amazon, Target, and over 9000 other corporate bigwigs. They have a boatload of themed trivia games, including classic team trivia, music trivia, fandom-oriented trivia, and even trivia based on trending memes. They’ve also got holiday-themed trivia, diversity and inclusivity-related trivia, and even a trivia fundraiser you can hold for your business or cause. No matter the interests of you or your group, Trivia Hub surely has a game that will suit everyone involved.
Trivia Hub gives you the option of either an hour-long or 90-minute-long game, depending on your group’s schedule constraints. All of their games take place on Zoom via a link they provide.
Before gameplay, Trivia Hub splits all participants into teams at random, and each team designates a team leader to moderate discussion. These discussions occur in breakout rooms, where all players talk about the questions amongst themselves and write their answers on a shared sheet. Once their time is up, they’ll go back to the main Zoom meeting. Then, all the answers will be revealed, and each team’s score will be tallied. Pretty simple, huh?
Trivia Hub’s simple game design is the secret to the platform’s success. You can try it for yourself during your company’s next team-building event.
Outback Team Building and Training
Outback Team Building is an online group trivia platform designed for people who work remotely and perhaps have never even met their coworkers in person. It’s both a great ice breaker to help get to know those folks better and a way to improve how you work with one another.
Outback Team Building’s virtual trivia options are unique and fun. Try your hand at Virtual Trivia Championship, a pretty standard team trivia game, Jeoparty, a Jeopardy!-style team game, or even Virtual Happy Hour Trivia, which transports you to a virtual pub setting. They’ve also got plenty of seasonal trivia for your next holiday office party. Plus, they offer quite a few non-trivia virtual game options too, if, for some odd reason, your group is averse to trivia. All of these games can be played with as few as four or as many as 100 people, and some of them can even accommodate up to 1000 players. Knowing this, it’s easy to understand why Outback is a corporate favorite.
If you’re unsure which of Outback Team Building’s many virtual programs is right for you and your group, their experts can help you choose one. You can fill out a help form and speak to one of their team members for advice to ensure that you pick an activity that all of your players will love. Their experts can also give you a quote for your online trivia event if you want to get a sense of which activity best fits your budget.
Brightful
If you’re looking for a streamlined online trivia platform for Zoom, Brightful may be the one for you. Though they boast an enormous content library, they only have a single trivia game, so you don’t have to sort through a myriad of variations on the same game to find the one for you.
Brightful doesn’t include a video calling platform, so you and your fellow players will have to coordinate a separate call, ideally over Zoom, to successfully complete the game. With the video call running, participants will open up the Brightful link on their browser of choice and select the answers to each trivia question from there. They don’t have to create an account, which helps to keep gameplay simple and efficient.
During Brightful gameplay, participants can send emoji reactions to the group after answering each question. You’ll be able to get a sense of how your fellow players are faring depending on whether they send a sunglasses emoji or a frowny face. Brightful keeps track of all players’ points and designates the winner at the end of your game.
Brightful comes with a two-week free trial period for which you don’t have to pay—nice! If you’re only looking to host a onetime trivia event, then this service will be totally free to you, as long as you remember to cancel your subscription. If you love Brightful so much you decide to keep using it for future events, its cost may add up, but knowing how much content they provide will make it a worthwhile investment.
JackBox Games
Over the past few years, JackBox Games has made itself a trusted name in online gaming. JackBox’s most popular trivia game is Trivia Murder Party, which keeps players interested with its goofily macabre plot and aesthetic. In Trivia Murder Party, tricky trivia questions alternate with fun mini-games until all but one player has been eliminated.
To play remotely, participants can join via your personalized jackbox.tv link on their own computer or mobile device. After that, one can create a video chat meeting on Zoom or another favorite app to further connect the players. The host will need to purchase the game ($24.99 for unlimited play) via their computer’s app store or another gaming platform, like a PC or Xbox. The game hosts itself, so room for human error during gameplay is minimal.
Up to eight people can play Trivia Murder Party at one time, so this is ideal for a smaller group. However, up to ten thousand people can join as spectators in the game’s virtual audience. JackBox’s wry humor and tough quiz questions are sure to make it a crowd favorite during your next online trivia night.
Trivvy
Trivvy is another excellent platform you can use to host an online trivia event. They bring the host (fun) and the questions (from many a variable category) so you don’t have to worry about bringing your own pizzazz to the event—Trivvy will spice it up for you. You can choose between individual or team gameplay depending on the needs of your group.
When using Trivvy, there’s no need to have multiple windows open. Instead, the video chat and question and answer options will be available in one single window. You can select your answer from this window, too, so there’s no need for an additional buzzer. In doing this, Trivvy streamlines the often tricky and cumbersome virtual trivia process, so you and your team can pack as many questions in as possible.
Trivvy isn’t the cheapest option for an online trivia event—their games start at $299 and go up depending on how many participants will be present—so only consider their services if you’re working with an ample budget.
Water Cooler Trivia
With Water Cooler Trivia, you’ll receive a weekly online team trivia game that you can customize depending on the needs of your group. You can choose the question difficulty, categories you’d like to play, and the length of your quiz. Then, the quiz will be emailed to all members of your group.
Each group member will fill out their trivia quiz separately, no Zooming required. Once all quizzes have been submitted, the experts at Water Cooler Trivia will manually grade the quizzes for you, keeping track of all points as well as awarding superlatives for the funniest answers. By eliminating the need for a human host and video calling during gameplay, Water Cooler makes playing a fun game at work (or at home!) as quick and convenient to complete as possible.
Water Cooler Trivia gives new customers a four-week free trial to try out their services. After that, they’ll charge you approximately a dollar per game player, so your bill is going to look very different depending on the size of your group. Plan accordingly as you anticipate your upcoming trivia fun, and consider paying annually for a 25% off discount.
Game Apart
Game Apart is an excellent online trivia platform for Zoom that offers a handful of fun games intended for two to 100 players. To begin, all players must first congregate on a video call. Then, a host will begin a game on their browser. Everyone can join the game by scanning its QR code or entering a password on their Game Apart app.
Game Apart’s virtual trivia is intended for those who work from home to get close to their coworkers; however, they also offer a virtual game night option that can be used with friends and family. All of these games can be accessed from the Game Apart website, and you can try them free for thirty days. After that month is up, you can choose one of three plans with different features customized to your desired level of engagement.
Sporcle Trivia
You may know Sporcle as one of the internet’s largest quiz creation websites, but do you know they now offer virtual pub quiz events? That’s right—they coordinate all the moving parts, so all you’ve got to do is show up virtually, ready to answer some tough trivia questions.
Sporcle provides a host, so you don’t have to worry about brushing up your own emceeing chops. In fact, you get to take your pick of host from Sporcle’s pool of trivia experts. These experts host online from their hometowns, and teams congregate online from all corners of the country, too.
You can have up to 10 players on your team, and you pay $5 per device that you play on. So, if you’ve got five players each playing on their own smartphones, that’ll set you back $25. If you’d prefer to attend a trivia event that’s solely for your coworkers or loved ones; you can book a private event for an additional fee.
Sporcle sets up the Zoom call and writes all of their own questions, making their trivia games no sweat for every player involved. You can sign up for an online team trivia game any day on their website.
TriviaMaker
If you want to have a heavy hand in planning and creating your online trivia quiz, give TriviaMaker a try. You can customize the questions and change the game’s format to match the needs of your specific group, whether it be for friends, family, coworkers, or students.
TriviaMaker gives you five different options for your trivia formatting. Some are akin to reminiscent of different beloved game shows, like Jeopardy and Family Feud, while others appear more like a traditional, multiple-choice quiz.
You can try TriviaMaker for free, but its basic plan won’t get you many features—you can only have two teams and you’ll miss out on two of their trivia games. If you want to expand your gameplay, you can pay a monthly or yearly fee to access their Premium or Enterprise packages. These give you more in-quiz customizations and allow you to add more teams and players per game.
Kahoot!
Another free online trivia platform option is Kahoot. A favorite of educators, it’s often used to create interactive study guides, but can just as easily be used to make a unique trivia quiz.
Via Kahoot, you compose your own quiz questions, multiple choice style, so you have total control over your own trivia game. Kahoot allows players to participate in the game via their smartphones, where they’ll select their answers. To join the game, one must have the unique code generated by the host. And if you’re hosting, you’ll simply have to begin a video call, perhaps on Zoom, if you’d like to be connected virtually to the players.
Via Kahoot, you compose your own quiz questions, multiple choice style, so you have total control over your own trivia game. Players love Kahoot’s peppy background music and fun sound effects, too. Kahoot will be sure to keep the mood light and fun during your next trivia event.
When In Doubt, Use PowerPoint
If you aren’t sure about using an online trivia platform and you want to assure that you can control your own trivia game free of charge, why not make a PowerPoint slideshow presentation of your questions? You can share your screen during a Zoom meeting to show the group your PowerPoint, and then participants can message their answers to you via the private Zoom chat, where you can keep a tally of their scores. If you want to get fancy with it, you can even get a Jeopardy!-style template to create shortcuts to all of your questions. (And if you’re looking for free, pre-written trivia questions, Trivia Bliss’s own trivia database is the perfect place to start!)
Final Words
Thanks so much for reading through our guide to the best online trivia platforms. We hope these served as handy suggestions for the next time you’d like to host a trivia event virtually, via Zoom or otherwise. If you’re looking for more ideas for online trivia, check out this list of Zoom trivia backgrounds.
Have you ever hosted an online trivia party event? If so, what platform did you use? Do you have any tips for making an online trivia event go smoothly? Drop all this and more in the comments below, and happy quizzing!
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