You don't need any prior pub-quiz experience to host one with Quizlix. The product is built so a first-timer can run a real Tuesday-night event in under 15 minutes from sign-up. Here's the path, broken into six steps.
Sign up and start your trial
Go to quizlix.io and click Start Free Trial. Enter your email, choose a password, done. The 14-day Host trial starts immediately — no credit card needed. You're logged in and pushed straight into the Creator.
Build your quiz
In the Creator, click + New quiz. You have two options:
- Pick a theme pack — 1,000+ ready-made questions across 90s, sports, movies, music, general knowledge, and more. Fastest path: 30 seconds to a complete quiz.
- Add your own questions — type them in directly, or import from a CSV / Excel file. See the CSV import guide.
The format that works best for a 1-hour pub quiz: 30 questions in 6 rounds of 5. Mix one round of pictures, one music round, four general rounds. Aim for one easy, one hard, three medium per round.
Create the live event
In the menu, go to Pub Quiz → Create event. Pick the quiz you just built, set the start time, choose team mode if you want teams (recommended for pub nights), and set how many players or teams can join.
Quizlix gives you a 6-letter join code and a QR code. Print the QR code and stick it on every table — it's the easiest way for guests to join.
Show the join code on your big screen
On the night, plug a laptop into your bar TV or projector. Open the event page in your browser, click Host view, then press F11 for full-screen. The host view shows the join code, current question, scoreboard, and timer — optimized for a 50-inch TV across the room.
Players join from any phone — they scan the QR or type the 6-letter code. No app, no signup, no friction.
Run the quiz
You stay in control of the pace. Each question:
- Click Show question — players see it on their phone, full text on big screen
- Set the timer (default 30 sec, change per question)
- Click Lock answers when ready, or wait for the timer
- Click Reveal to show the right answer + scoreboard update
Between rounds: pause for a drink, announce the round winner, build anticipation. Pub quiz is theatre as much as trivia.
Close the night and announce winners
After the last question, click End event. The final scoreboard fills the screen — top three teams highlighted. Announce them, hand out the prizes, take the photo for your social media.
Back in your Creator dashboard, the event is saved with full stats: who played, scores per round, time per question. Useful for next week's "leaderboard of the month".
Pro tips from working hosts
- Print posters a week in advance — pub quiz lives on anticipation. Walk-in attendance is half what pre-announced attendance is.
- Pick a theme guests love — 90s music + 90s movies pulls a different crowd than general knowledge. Mix it up week to week.
- Keep rounds tight — five questions per round, ten minutes max. Long rounds kill the pace.
- Have a small prize ready — even a £10 bar voucher is enough. The prize matters less than the announcement.
- Test-host once before your real night — open the join code on your own phone, run through three questions. You'll catch any setup quirks in 5 minutes.
Common first-night problems (and fixes)
- "My TV is showing the wrong screen" — most browsers default to the laptop screen on full-screen. Drag the browser window onto the TV display first, then press F11.
- "Players can't scan the QR code" — most modern phones scan QR codes from the camera app directly. Older phones need a QR-scanner app — typing the 6-letter code is faster anyway.
- "I clicked Reveal too early" — no problem, you can re-lock answers and continue. Players just see the answer for a few extra seconds.