Hosting the Geeks Who Drink Quiz

Once you've gotten everything set up, you'll make two announcements in the 30 minutes before quiz start time - one about 15 minutes before starting, and another about 5 minutes before starting. You can also find this in the Host Cheat Sheet. These announcements should be a brief introduction letting people know who you are, what's happening, and how to play. Feel free to make it your own, but here's an example. 

Welcome to VENUE! We are about to begin tonight's Geeks Who Drink Pub Quiz. It's totally free to play, and we have several prizes up for grabs. 

To join the game, all you need is one person with a phone or other internet-connected device. That person will be your team's scribe, and they should go to PLAY-DOT-GEEKS WHO DRINK-DOT-COM. Once there, type in tonight's Quiz Code, ROOMCODE, enter a team name, and click "Join Game."

You can play on your own, or you can play with your friends, but only teams with 6 people or fewer will be eligible for our top prizes tonight. Be sure to order your delicious beverages now, because we'll be starting our quiz in X minutes.

I'm your host, NAME, and if you have any questions I'm here to help!

When it's time to start your quiz, you'll need to go over the format and explain the rules. We've also included this in the Host Cheat Sheet. Remember, points are subject to change at any time, so be sure you tell teams the correct number of 16-point rounds. At this point, you should also move the quiz into "In-Game" mode and uncheck the "Show interstitial" box. Here's an example of what to say:

It's time to start Geeks Who Drink Pub Quiz here at VENUE - but first, the rules!

Quiz is totally free to play, but in order to join you'll need one person on your team to head over to PLAY-DOT-GEEKS WHO DRINK-DOT-COM and type in tonight's Quiz Code, ROOMCODE. Once again, that's ROOMCODE. Once you're in, think of a clever team name, let us know how many people are on your team, and click "Join Game." If other members of your team want to follow along on their own device, they can log in with the same code and click "Just Watch."

We have seven uniquely themed rounds of trivia tonight with eight questions per round. Most of the rounds will be worth 8 points, but three rounds will be worth 16 points. Those will be rounds 2, 6, and 7.

I'm letting you know about these 16-point rounds so you will know when best to use your Joker. The Joker is your chance to double your score on ONE ROUND and ONE ROUND only. To use it, just check the box next to the jester hat at the end of the round before clicking "Submit." Again, it's smarter to use it on a 16-point round because math, but you can use it whenever you like. Once you use your Joker, it's gone - no take-backs or switcharoos allowed.

Here are a few things you should NOT do during the quiz:

1. No shouting out the answers! If you're so smart, join the quiz and win stuff.

2. No looking up the answers! That's called cheating, and Googling for 2 hours in public sounds really boring. If you're caught cheating, I'll zero out your score for the round and I won't tell you I'm doing it.

3. No more than 6 adults at your table if you want to win top prizes. You'll still be eligible for bonus prizes if you have more than 6 adults on your team, but even if you end up in first place, I won't be able to give you a prize. If you want a chance at top prizes, split your team up.

**TABC WARNING FOR TEXAS QMs ONLY**

Geeks Who Drink is intended for a mature audience. Some material may be unsuitable or offensive. It is not recommended for players under the age of 18.

We have prizes tonight for 1st and 2nd place, plus 5 bonus prizes throughout the quiz. The first bonus question is coming up at the end of Round 1, so let's get started!

If you'd like a tutorial video on how to host the audio round, click here. A detailed script for introducing the round can be found in the Host Cheat Sheet. Here's a basic outline of what you'll do:

• Introduce the round by reading the round number, title, points, and instructions. Please read the points and instructions twice.

• Make sure your background music is paused, open up your R2 playlist, and begin! If you've set things up the right way, you can send your media player to the background and advance the questions in DAS every time you hear a counting clip.

• Remind players throughout the round what the theme is, what they're getting points for, etc., and once all 8 songs have played, tell them they have one more chance to listen to the music and name song titles and artists.

• Give players 3 minutes at the end of the round to double-check their answers and click submit, and then lock the round. Proceed with reviewing answers just like you would for written rounds. Be sure to resume background music during this time.

• When it's time to announce the answers, pause your background music again and play a few seconds of each song before announcing the song title and artist

• Score the round

Before you announce the answers for R7 and reveal the final scores, let players know that they can stick around after the final scores are announced for a quick 3-question survey about how much they loved the quiz and how much they loved you.

Announce the answers for R7, the final Bonus Question Winner, and then click Next to score the round and reveal answers. At this point, click over to "Scores & Standings" and read the final standings, last place to first place. While you announce the standings, click "Download Scores."

Pass out prizes to the 1st and 2nd place teams, then put your quiz in "Post-Quiz" mode.

Do not skip this step! After you announce final standings and download your scores, move your game into Post-Quiz mode. This will put the 3-question survey up on the players' screens, and then you can pack up and go home.

• If you can't pick a winner from the first question (e.g. they guessed the same number, split the difference, etc), reveal the second tiebreaker question and repeat the process. If you can't pick a winner from the second question, you can flip a coin, play rock, paper, scissors, or have the teams duke it out in the parking lot to declare a winner*

*don't do this last one

Bonus questions are only worth prizes. Please do not adjust/add points for correct answers to bonus questions. If your venue isn't providing prizes for bonuses, please let your manager know at qmsupport@geekswhodrink.com. 

When writing and editing a round, Editorial does their level best to anticipate potential alternate answers. Those will be coded into DAS to be automatically accepted as correct and indicated on your script like so:

Rich Uncle Pennybags | Uncle Pennybags | Pennybags

During your pre-quiz read of the material (which you’re definitely going to do, right?), if you come across a question that has an alternate answer that’s not on the script, please reach out to editorial@geekswhodrink.com to let them know.

Hell, no. If spelling is phonetically workable and/or clearly reps their knowledge of the answer, give ‘em the point. This includes anagrams.

Please don’t be a rogue and require correct spelling for everything. It’s fun for exactly no one.

In most cases, a surname alone is fine, as it is in Jeopardy. For example, “Fitzgerald” is fine for the author of The Great Gatsby, or “Sotomayor” for that one Nuyorican Supreme Court justice. If they do include a first name, and that first name is wrong, then their answer is wrong. Her name isn’t Julia Sotomayor.

If we specify “Need first and last” or “Need both names,” then, yes, first and last name are required. Most of the time, when Editorial puts in this specification, it’s in anticipation of a surname not suitably answering the question, e.g. the Curies, the Bushes, the Roosevelts, the Kennedys, and those Adams presidents. More modern example: the Kelces.

Similarly, if a person is mononymous and the context is clear, we can accept a first name only. For example, if we played "thank u, next" in R2 and someone lists the artist as "Ariana" then that's acceptable. Feel free to use your best judgment here. 

In general, we try to anticipate these. For someone like The Weeknd or Notorious B.I.G., we’ll usually include a list of other acceptable answers. But sometimes we miss ‘em or can’t cover ‘em all in the script. If your quizzer is gutsy enough to try “Kung Fu Kenny” for “Kendrick Lamar,” and you doesn’t realize that’s one of his nicknames, then we’ll handle it if they write in to Fail Mail.

That leads to mononyms. Madonna and Cher are mononymous people who use that as their stage name. Some people who’ve become mononymous popularly include Oprah (Winfrey), Malala (Yousafzai), and Ellen (DeGeneres). Even Ariana (Grande). If it’s obvious that they’ve answered the question correctly/know the answer, but in this shorthand, give ‘em the point. 

Finally, deadnaming. We don't do it. Elliott Page is Elliott Page. Caitlyn Jenner is Caitlyn Jenner. The reason you don't see a FKA name on the script is because they no longer answer to that name and we respect that. Similarly, we don't accept Malcolm X's or Muhammad Ali's birth names.  Editorial does try to craft questions in such a way as to help steer quizzers to the correct answer through the creation of context that eliminates sticky situations that could create an awkward dispute with a quizzer. In general, stick to accepting what's on the script in these situations and send disputes to Fail Mail at geekswhodrink.com. 

Unless otherwise stated, a sports team name is acceptable with just the team name. (e.g. Cubs for Chicago Cubs, Nets for Brooklyn Nets, etc.) Location only is also usually acceptable (e.g. Utah for Utah Jazz in an NBA question) unless the location has more than one team in the league (e.g. Chicago for an MLB question).

When we need both location and team name, we state it in the quiz. QMs are not allowed to override what we have deemed acceptable in the script. If the script says “Yankees” alone is acceptable, don’t require teams to write more than that. 

First, franchises. If we’ve included a list of titles from a franchise in your list of alternate acceptable answers, please accept any that are given, even if you feel it’s too easy. Generally, this is seen in the visual round. We’ve decided that the clue doesn’t peg it to the specific movie enough to require it, and didn’t replace the clue for a good reason. 

Generally, we require the specific movie, and most visual rounds will include a date of release to peg the clue to a specific film: “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” “Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope.” We provide acceptable additional answers, like just “Star Wars” for “Star Wars: Episode IV-A New Hope.” Why? Because it was released as, and known by, that shorter name for years. But what if they put the wrong episode number when writing out that full title? It’s wrong.

Shorthand is a little tougher and more individual. “Avengers: Endgame” and “Avengers: Infinity War” might yield shorthand answers of “Endgame” or “Infinity War.” Those are acceptable. “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” might get “Sorcerer’s Stone” or “H.P./Sorcerer’s Stone.” They’re displaying all the knowledge they need, so give ‘em the point.

For TV shows, you’ll get a lot of shorthand: “It’s Always Sunny,” “Buffy,” “GoT,” etc. Editorial always tries to anticipate the acronyms and acrostics and various shorthands for beloved shows. If they miss one, what’s acceptable? It’s kind of up to you; if you think they’re displaying the required knowledge, give ‘em the point. Just be aware that shorthand is common unless quizzers are cautioned otherwise. Remember, it’s about knowledge, it’s not a writing contest.

Our audio Round Two tends to attract the most debate. Let’s start with the basics.

It’s almost always 16 points, with two separate answers worth one point each.

(OK, sometimes a theme quiz will have an eight-point R2, but almost never a daily quiz.) The majority of the time, there’s a theme (e.g. Songs that make us think of trees eating people) and quizzers are identifying song and artist (or original artist in cover/remix rounds) for a point each. The song is worth one point. The artist is worth one point. For example:

Angel, Sarah MacLachlan

The song, “Angel,” is worth one point, and the artist, “Sarah MacLachlan,” is worth one point. They can miss “Angel” and get credit for “Sarah MacLachlan,” or vice versa. This is the basic gist. Let’s jump into bumpier waters!

Parentheticals in song titles

(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay

In songs with parentheticals in the title, the part of the song is usually required for the point is the part not in parentheses. In this case, “The Dock of the Bay” or "Dock of the Bay" stands alone as a correct answer. The first correct answer coded into DAS will include the parenthetical portion of the title. Why? Because it’s the full title of the song. Alternate answers will always include the title without the parenthetical.

That usually is a bit sticky. What's going on there? Take this:

Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)

In the case of this Green Day song, you're very likely to get a 50/50 split of quizzers writing "Good Riddance" and "Time of Your Life." Why? People kind of know the song by both titles. A Bar Song (Tipsy) is in a similar boat. These are few and far between. Editorial will code the acceptable answers as the full title and the non-parenthetical portion. QMs can use their judgment on whether or not they want to accept the parenthetical part alone as an acceptable answer.

Featured Artists (AKA The Ronson-Mars Rule)

If a song has a featured artist, the main credited artist is the artist or artists listed before “ft.”

The credited artist is needed for the point. Again, DAS coding only requires the credited artist, but the first answer will always include the featured artist because it’s the full credited cast of artists for the song. Here’s a few examples:

Uptown Funk  Mark Ronson ft. Bruno Mars

Get Lucky  Daft Punk ft. Pharrell Williams

Umbrella  Rihanna ft. Jay-Z

Empire State of Mind  Jay-Z ft. Alicia Keys

The correct answers are Mark Ronson, Daft Punk, Rihanna, and Jay-Z. 

What if they also include the featured artist? If they get it right, give them credit. If they get it wrong, don’t. That’s what happens when you show off and don’t stick the landing. Again, if one team is super-impressive and puts “Mark Ronson (ft. Bruno Mars),” and other teams just put “Mark Ronson,” those are both worth the point.

If they just say “Bruno Mars,” they’re incorrect. But if they say, for example, “Bruno Mars and Mark Ronson,” they are correct because equal credit is shared and they nailed the main credited artist.

"But the vocals are all the featured artist, blah blah blah, unfair." That beef is with the music industry, not us. Also, keep in mind that while someone might try to make a case for “Uptown Funk” being more of a Bruno Mars song, we’d never consider crediting “Umbrella” to Jay-Z.

Mocha Chocolotta Ya-Ya: The Duets and More Rule

For duets and collaborations where equal credit is shared, the editorial stance is to accept any of the credited artists.

Don’t Go Breaking My Heart Elton John and Kiki Dee

Lady Marmalade Lil Kim, Christina Aguilera, Mya, and Pink

Despacito Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee ft. Justin Bieber

For the first two songs, we’ll take any one or more of the credited artists (e.g. Either Elton or Kiki are acceptable for "Don't Go Breaking My Heart"). For “Despacito,” they need to have either Luis or Daddy for the point but Bieber alone wouldn't count (see above “Ronson-Mars Rule”).

What if they write more on the song or artist?

This is where we keep the area as gray as it’s always been: it’s up to you.

This happens more often with the song title. Take our first example in this section, “Angel,” by Sarah Maclachlan. We use this song a bit and you’ll get these answers: “Arms of an Angel” or “In the Arms of an Angel.” Neither of them are precisely correct but it’s bar trivia for a small gift card. Use your best judgment and grade consistently.

All that said, if it’s just a short extra article, be nice. DAS doesn’t care about articles, and neither should you. The world ain’t gonna end if you give people credit for “Reflex” instead of “The Reflex,” or “The Batdance” instead of “Batdance.”

If you're reading the quiz script prior to go-time and have specific questions about grading or acceptable answers, please email qmsupport@geekswhodrink.com or editorial@geekswhodrink.com.

If it’s past 5pm ET on the day of the quiz, you can still try, but you’re probably gonna have to just make the judgment call.

Godspeed, and remember to refer disputes to Fail Mail.

Each round should take about 10-15 minutes. A quiz starting at 7:00 might look like this:

7:00-7:15 Introducing the quiz; Reading, Reviewing, and Scoring R1
7:15-7:30 Playing, Reviewing, and Scoring R2
7:30-7:40 Reading and Locking R3
7:40-7:50 Break
7:50-7:55 Reading answers to R3, reviewing current standings
7:55-8:10 Reading, Reviewing, and Scoring R4
8:10-8:25 10 minutes for R5, then 5 minutes to review and score
8:25-8:40 Reading, Reviewing, and Scoring R6,  reviewing current standings
8:40-8:55 Reading, Reviewing, and Scoring the Final Round, final standings
8:55-9:00 Passing out prizes (tiebreaker if necessary) and breaking down AV equipment before leaving

The short answer? No.

The long answer? No. The run of show in this manual is the way GWD Headquarters wants the quiz to run. We train new hires on this method, and if they show up to train with you and you tell them something completely different, that's bad. If you used the ABQ Method or the Colorado Sprints Method before, we get it. Some of those methods are great, but they were all designed to make scorekeeping efficient while keeping the quiz run time to 2 hours. Risio/DAS removes the need for that. Please use this run of show. It's good. We promise.

We also know that some people are very, very used to the R1, R2, R3, Answers/Scores for R1-3, etc. run of show. Let it go. Your players will adapt, you will adapt, everything will be peachy keen, the new QMs we send your way to train or sub won't be thrown for a loop, and more importantly neither will your players. The goal is consistency - anyone should be able to drop into your venue and host quiz the same way you do with minimal preparation. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE use this run of show.

Announce that you'll be taking a 10 minute break, check the box next to "Show interstitial", make sure your music is playing, and then take a break! 

 You'll do a standings update 3 times during the quiz:

• After the break, before beginning Round 4

• After Round 6, before beginning Round 7

• At the end of the quiz

Every time you override an answer in DAS, you'll need to score the round to lock it in. If you've paid close attention and caught any mistakes on your initial pass, then everything will be scored the way you want once you hit Score Round and Reveal Answers.

If you've already scored a round and a team comes up to let you know they feel like they deserve a point for something they didn't get credit for, it's an easy fix:

1. In the Review Answers section, use the <| key to navigate back to the appropriate answer

2. Use the "Override" column to mark the answer as "Correct" 

3. Click the Rescore button in the top right-hand corner of that section.

After you click Rescore, the team's points will automatically be adjusted.

Simple! As long as you haven't already scored the round, you can click Prev to unlock the round, and tell the team to click "Submit." Once you see their name disappear from the Who's missing dropdown under Submitted answers, just click Next to lock the round again, and proceed as normal.

This is probably happening because you clicked "Next R" instead of "Next". By clicking "Next R", you advance to the next round, but it will not actually score the previous round. Click "Prev R" and then "Next" to make sure that you have scored the round.

If a team is confirmed as having cheated, meaning you saw it or the bar staff saw it (not another team), simply negate their score for the round in the Scores & Standings tab using the "Adjust Player" feature after the round is scored. DO NOT call them out publicly on the microphone. DO NOT confront them about it because they'll never admit to it. We recommend letting people know that this is how cheating is handled while you read your introduction - "If you're caught cheating, I'll zero your points for the round and I won't tell you I'm doing it."

If you suspect a team of cheating but it isn't confirmed, keep an eye on the team. Wander around a bit. Ask helpful waitstaff to keep an eye out for you. Don't let it overwhelm your quiz. It's ok for folks to have their phones out, and 99% of the time they're not cheating.

There is not a way to prevent this from happening, but something is in the works.  Hey, I guess they really like the quiz!  There are some tips if you notice that this has happened:  First, don’t mention it on the microphone as we do not want venue staff to get upset. Next, you can audit their team score to have a mass of negative points, dropping them to the bottom of the standings. You can also modify their team name to add (DQ) to the end as a sign of disqualification.  To adjust their score and name, follow the same steps from above, under "A team got kicked out or their phone died."

Nope! You can refresh as many times as you need, and any weird loading errors should be fixed. The only thing refreshing will reset is your "Review Answers" section. It will bump you back to R0Q0 every time you refresh, so just make sure to navigate to the correct point of quiz next time you end a round.

Yes, but carefully.  A player may need to refresh their browser if something gets stuck or if they are not seeing the answer blanks.  This should not happen, but hey, it's the Internet and a lot of weird stuff happens!  If a player refreshes, they should be fine.  They will not even lose any answers!  The only caveat is they need to reconnect to the quiz using the same phone and the same browser.  They also need to not be in incognito mode.  If all those things are adhered to, they should be fine.

If you're a new QM being trained, then you're responsible for your tab on in-venue training nights. If you're a host (including substitute hosts) and the venue seemed to be confused or didn't realize they needed to cover you, keep your receipt and fill out the reimbursement form. 

Gently let the venue know they're supposed to hand out five bonus prizes, but do not argue with them about it. If they don't want to provide the standard prizes (1st and 2nd place, plus 5 bonus prizes), work with whatever you have for that night and immediately let your manager know by emailing qmsupport@geekswhodrink.com. Frequently, not providing the correct prizes is just a misunderstanding of the venue's contract and usually by someone who hasn't had a chance to read the contract.

So, it looks like you can't connect to DAS... There are myriad mysterious reasons why this might happen. Sometimes the host can’t reach host.geekswhodrink.com, but the players can. Other websites work, but for some reason you can't get to the DAS hosting page. This is not *definitely* the fault of ghosts and spirits who cannot move on, so before we jump to that conclusion, let’s try some troubleshooting:

• Turn off your VPN and/or anti-virus  software. If you’re on a machine that belongs to a school or employer, you might be connecting through a VPN. Turn that off! It should be somewhere in your Network settings.

• Try a different network. Some venues have multiple networks, so start there. If not, is there a public hotspot or AT&T/Xfinity hot spot you can connect to? Try that too!

• Ask your venue to reboot their modem/router. It’s a classic for a reason.

• Hotspot your phone. Most modern mobile plans let you tether your laptop, so it can use your cellular data on the go - look for it near your phone’s wifi settings. Do beware though: DAS itself doesn’t use much data at all, but other programs will also use up that allowance if you let ‘em (think Spotify). Keep some MP3s on your hard drive just in case!

If none of this works, the last option is to host FROM your phone. Try to connect on your phone using the venue wifi; failing that, your data plan. The DAS interface is a bit clunky when viewed from the phone, but it’ll work in a pinch!

And if your problems don’t resolve over time, feel free email pio@geekswhodrink.com. Pio can help you run a network trace, and dang, only the coolest kids are doing that these days.