Bar Trivia rulebook

Running the night

Four things decide most of a night: who submits for a team, when answers count, what a question is worth, and when you let auto-pilot drive.

One team, one answer

Several phones can belong to a team, but they do not earn separate points. Choose a designated submitter so teammates don’t replace each other’s answer. A new member may need team-creator or host approval — check pending requests before starting.

When answers count

Phones must submit while answering is open. A timed round can lock automatically at zero; with automatic locking off, you close it. In an untimed round, you decide when to lock. With manual clock start, show and read the question before starting the answer window. Never promise more time than the phone shows.

Fastest Finger and Buzzer Race multiple-choice submissions are final. In the other ordinary answer modes, teams can change their answer while the window remains open — typed answers and number guesses included. The latest submission counts, and changing it updates its timing. Some rounds close once every eligible team has answered, so don’t promise a change window after everyone submits.

Points and penalties

The active round sets the question value. A percentage penalty uses that value, rounded to a whole point; a fixed penalty deducts the chosen number. With penalties off, those deductions are zero. Scores can go below zero. Explicit wagers still risk points with penalties off.

Example. 100 points with a 50% penalty means −50 for a penalized answer.

Optional speed bonuses apply to correct multiple-choice answers in Everyone Scores, Fastest Finger and Buzzer Race. Faster answers earn more, up to the configured maximum, falling to zero over the answer-time limit (30 seconds in an untimed round). Reopening does not reset elapsed answering time. Knockout, Majority Rules, wagers, typed answers and number guesses do not earn that bonus.

Auto-pilot and breaks

Auto-pilot advances eligible packs for you, including Music Bingo checks and pattern changes. Packs with typed answers, drawings or audience votes need manual hosting; so do untimed rounds other than Music Bingo. A manual gameplay action pauses auto-pilot — resume it explicitly when you’re ready. Pause for interruptions, and use round breaks for drinks rather than leaving an answer window running.

Round rules

These are the ordinary round rules. The special question rules on the following pages take priority where stated.

Buzzer Race: explain the hand-back rule

Check whether wrong answers reopen the buzzer or reveal the answer. With reopen, a failed team cannot try again on that question, and the next team gets its own answer window. You can also award a spoken answer using the scoring controls — make clear whether teams should speak or submit on their phones.

Music Bingo: verify before paying

Announce the active pattern and its points. A claim pauses play, and only one claim is checked at a time. The claimed pattern must be complete and its songs must already have been called. Reveal the check, award a valid claim or dismiss a false one, then continue. After a pattern is won, switch to another enabled, unwon pattern — changing the pattern does not happen just because another team calls it. End the round with the host control.

Name That Tune, pictures and video

Music, images and video change how a question is presented, not its scoring mode. Announce what teams must identify, test the clip, and follow the round’s points and answer rules. Music Bingo is the separate pattern game described above.

Special questions

Pick all that apply

Select the options, then submit the set. In Everyone Scores and Wager, each wrong pick cancels one right pick. The remaining right picks earn that fraction of the full question points or stake, rounded to a whole point. No positive credit counts as wrong, and follows the round’s penalty or wager-loss rule.

Example. With three correct options, picking two right and one wrong earns one third.

In Fastest Finger, Buzzer Race and Knockout, the complete correct set is required with no wrong picks. A partial set is wrong: it cannot win a race or keep a team in Knockout. Majority Rules is a single vote, not a pick-all question.

Older questions can have several accepted options but still allow just one tap. A correct tap then earns a fraction of the base points or stake — one of two correct options earns half. For predictable scoring, edit these into a clear pick-all question, or give them one correct option before the night.

Typed answers and drawings

The app can mark typed answers against the reference answer and accepted alternatives. Review near misses and spelling fairly; you can override automatic marks. Drawings need your judgment. Check the marking panel before revealing — an unmarked answer does not earn points.

Outside Wager, every answer marked correct earns the full round value; wrong or missing answers score zero. There is no speed bonus, ordinary penalty or knockout elimination from this question. In Wager, marked correct wins the stake and wrong or missing loses it.

Number questions

Teams submit a number. Announce the scoring rule shown for that question:

Closest

Only the nearest guess earns full points. Equally close guesses are decided by the earliest final submission.

Exact

Every exact guess earns full points; others earn zero.

Scaled

Closer guesses earn more. Points = question value × (1 − distance from the answer ÷ the full allowed range), rounded, with a minimum of zero. On a 0–100 range, 20 away earns 80%.

Outside Wager, missing guesses earn zero, with no ordinary penalties, speed bonus or knockout elimination. Inside Wager, use the number-wager rules below.

Majority questions versus audience votes

A Majority question uses the teams’ submitted choices as the vote, even inside another round type. All most-picked options win full question points; minority or missing votes incur the configured penalty. It does not take a wager or eliminate teams. If no team votes, everyone faces that penalty.

An audience-vote question first asks the audience to decide the answer. Close and apply that poll before teams answer; their answers then follow the round’s scoring. All tied most-popular audience options are accepted; if several are correct, the multiple-answer credit rule still applies. If the audience casts no votes, nobody scores, loses points or is eliminated — this differs from a Majority question with no team votes.

Wagers explained

What can a team bet?

Teams confirm their stake before the question is shown. The maximum is either the question value or the team’s total score, depending on the round setting. For total-score wagers, the maximum is never lower than the question value: a team on 40 or −40 can still bet up to 100 on a 100-point question. Use the amounts shown on the phone.

Win or lose the stake, once

A 60-point bet wins +60 for a fully correct answer, or loses −60 for a wrong or missing answer. It does not also earn the question value or pay the ordinary wrong-answer penalty. Explicit bets still lose with penalties off. Pick-all partial credit can win part of the stake, as explained above.

Missed the betting window?

An automatic stake of 10% of the team’s maximum, rounded to a whole point, keeps the team in play. With a 100-point maximum that is 10: correct wins +10; wrong or missing loses −10. With penalties off, the automatic stake can win points but cannot lose them. This protection applies only to automatic stakes, never a confirmed bet.

A team disconnected throughout the question and still disconnected at scoring is exempt from an automatic stake. A team connected at any point during the question, or reconnected by scoring, is included. A confirmed wager remains at risk through a disconnect. Older resumed games without a connection record may apply the automatic stake to every team.

Number guesses in a Wager round

Closest

The nearest team wins its own stake; every other betting team loses theirs. Equal distance uses the earliest final submission.

Exact

Exact guesses win; others lose. A missing guess loses the stake.

Scaled

The bet can partly win or partly lose. Exact wins the full stake; half the allowed range away breaks even; a full range away loses the full stake. Between those points the result changes evenly.

Example. On a 0–100 range with a 100-point bet: 20 away wins +60, 50 away scores 0, and 80 away loses −60. Results round to whole points. The automatic-stake protections above still apply.

Ties, reconnects & corrections

A tie is a tie

Highest total score wins. Equal scores share a rank and can share the win. Answer time can order tied rows in the Everyone modes, but does not make one team the winner. If you want one winner, announce sudden death: only the tied teams answer an unused question. You need an unused question available — if there is none, accept the tie or use a house tiebreak agreed beforehand.

A phone disconnects or a team joins late

Reconnect and rejoin the existing team rather than creating a replacement. A team’s score survives its last member leaving during a running game. A new device may need approval. Don’t promise a free pass: ordinary Everyone Scores and Majority penalties still apply to unanswered questions during a disconnect, while Fastest Finger and Wager use their specific exceptions above. Pause if you need to investigate.

The host refreshes or changes devices

A host reload can resume the running game. Keep one active host in control — taking over in a second tab can displace the first. Check the current question, timer and scores before continuing.

A disputed answer or a mistaken score

Check what the host actually received. Review typed answers before revealing. If a correction is needed, use the score adjustment controls and explain the amount to the room; negative totals are allowed. Apply the same judgment to every team. Reopening answering is not a fresh question, and does not reset speed timing.

Ending early

Finish the current question before ending if it should count. End Game takes everyone to the results; unused questions do not automatically award points. Review the standings and any adjustments before announcing prizes.