Keep the pub quiz, host it in-house

The center of the King Trivia product is a person. Their site describes a Quizmaster who hosts the game and asks the questions while players write answers in King Trivia Quiz Books, gaining points for each one they get right. The rounds include a Picture round, a Guess Who round and general knowledge rounds, and at the end scores are tallied and the winning team is announced. Their rules are simple enough to say out loud: no shouting answers, no outside sources such as phones, and the Quizmaster is always right.

They also publish an In-House Hosted package for venues that would rather use their own people. Their description of it is that the venue uses its already beloved staff in a way that lets them interact with guests in a new, approachable and fun way, that King Trivia will train your host the same way they train their own, and that you get everything a fully hosted event includes except the King Trivia host. They do not publish a venue rate for either package, so ask them for a quote. That is worth knowing before you assume the choice is only between a booked host and doing it alone.

So the real question is not whether in-house hosting works. Both companies agree that it does. The question is what the in-house host is holding. With a paper format they are holding a stack of quiz books and a pen. With Quizado they are holding a console that has already done the marking.

Here is the whole kit list. One device to host from: a Windows, macOS or Linux laptop, an iPad, an Android tablet, or just a browser tab. One screen the room can see, which is usually the TV you already show sport on. A microphone if the room is big. That is it. There is no box to install, no tablets to hand out and nothing shipped to the venue.

The evening runs like this. Your manager opens the game, the display window goes on the TV and shows a join code and QR code. Teams scan it as they sit down and put in a team name. The console shows question one; your manager reads it out and the room answers on their phones. When the timer ends the correct answer appears on the screen and the leaderboard moves. Nobody collects anything and nobody adds anything up.

The skill your manager still needs is the one no software supplies: reading a question clearly, keeping the pace up, and knowing when the room needs a break. Give them the running order the day before so they have read the questions once. Ask them to do a dry run on a quiet shift. After two weeks it is a routine shift task, and the second person you train will learn it in one night.

King Trivia does not publish venue pricing on their site, so check with them for current pricing on both the fully hosted and the In-House Hosted packages. The comparison you can make without numbers is between one invoice and some hours.

Count the hours honestly. Preparing a two-hour night in Quizado is about twenty minutes once you are used to it, most of which is picking packs and reviewing one generated round. Running it costs the two hours it runs, and about ten minutes of setup. Nothing is left over afterwards; the season table updates itself. Three hours a week from someone already scheduled is the true figure, and it drops as your saved question library grows.

What you get back for those hours is ownership. The team names, the season standings and every question you have ever written stay in your account. If your host leaves, the night does not. If you open a second site, the same account runs both, with separate teams and separate tables.

If you work as a Quizmaster, none of this is an argument against your job. The room is loud, the timing is yours, and reading a question so a table of eight actually hears it is a skill that took you months. Software does not do that part and is not trying to.

What Quizado gives you is a way to sell the same evening on your own account. Corporate parties, birthdays, staff away days and the venues no company has a route to are all bookings you can take with a laptop and a phone. Paid plans hold several venues at once, so each regular gig keeps its own team list and its own season table, and from Trivia Pro up the display carries your own logo rather than anybody else's.

Practically, the free plan is enough to run a first paid private party for a small group, and one paid month covers a season of a weekly booking. Plenty of hosts keep their company routes and use Quizado for the work the company does not sell.