Actual sample questions across twelve distinct categories — including Before & After combos, Common Bonds, Speed Maths, Reverse Definitions, and Audio Rounds — so you can build a night from scratch.
2026-03-18 · 12 min read
A pub quiz lives or dies by its categories. If every night feels the same — history, sport, entertainment, geography, done — your regulars will start treating it like background noise. The goal of category design is to ensure that every team has at least one round where they feel like geniuses and at least one where they feel helplessly lost. That range of emotion is what drives the post-quiz conversation and brings people back.
Below are twelve distinct categories with sample questions for each. Use them as starting points and build outward.
| # | Category | What it tests | Prep effort |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Classic General Knowledge | Broad recall, warms the room up | Low |
| 2 | Science & Technology | Factual precision | Low |
| 3 | Pop Culture 2024–2026 | Currency — keep it fresh | Medium |
| 4 | Reverse Definitions | Lateral thinking | High |
| 5 | Visual Puns | Wordplay + the TV view | Medium |
| 6 | Before & After Combos | Wordplay, needs testing | High |
| 7 | Audio Rounds | Recognition, sound kit | Medium |
| 8 | Common Bonds | Pattern-spotting | Medium |
| 9 | Speed Maths | Nerve under a timer | Low |
| 10 | Wager Rounds | Risk appetite | Low |
| 11 | Local & Regional | Connection to your room | High |
| 12 | Lightning Formats | Pace and drama | Low |
Aim to include one low-prep recall round, one wordplay round, and one format twist (wager, sudden death, or local) every night — that spread is what gives each team a round to shine and a round to sweat.
The backbone of any night. Questions here should be accessible but not trivial.
Keep this category genuinely current. Audiences know when hosts are recycling old questions.
Read the definition, but replace every key word with its antonym. Teams must figure out the original word.
This category requires careful construction. Test each question on a friend before using it live.
For a live night, display images on the TV view. Here's how to describe what to show:
Two film/song/book titles share a word in the middle. Teams must identify the shared word.
Tip: Before & After questions require the most careful verification of any category. Build five, test all five, keep three.
Describe the audio clip to play for 5 to 10 seconds. Teams buzz to identify.
What do these things have in common? Give teams sixty seconds to discuss before buzzing.
Display on screen for thirty seconds. First correct buzzer wins. Wrong answers deduct a point.
One high-stakes question per round. Teams wager their points before hearing the question.
Sample wager questions:
The Canberra question is particularly effective because the confident wrong answer (Sydney) creates a room-wide groan that you cannot manufacture with any other format.
This category is the one you write entirely yourself, and it creates the deepest connection with your specific audience.
Approach: research five facts about your venue's neighbourhood, city, or county. Local street names, historical events, famous former residents, unusual records.
Sample construction: "What year was this pub first licensed?" "Which famous musician was born on this street?" "What was this neighbourhood called before 1950?" Sources: local council archives, the venue owner, the local newspaper archive.
Not a category but a delivery mechanic. Use for the final five minutes of any round.
Rapid fire: thirty questions in ninety seconds. No buzzers — teams write answers as fast as possible. Score based on how many they get right, not speed. Good for wrapping up a round when energy is flagging.
Sudden death: two teams, head to head at the front of the room. One question at a time. First to buzz and answer correctly wins. Losers sit down. This format is perfect for a tied final and produces the most dramatic finales of any quiz night structure.
Auction round: the host reads a category, and teams bid accumulated points for the right to answer. Highest bidder gets asked the question. Correct answer wins the bid back plus a bonus. Wrong answer loses the bid. This format rewards risk appetite and produces wildly different strategies from different teams.
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