Company Party Quiz: an Inclusive Team Quiz Guide

A quiz at a company party can be the moment people still talk about on Monday, or the moment the sales team wins again while everyone else checks their phone. The difference is in the preparation: questions that everyone can answer, teams that mix people who rarely meet, and a clear time slot. This guide shows how to do it.

Start with the purpose

Why are you organising a quiz? At a staff party, the goal is usually connection: people from different departments getting to know each other. At a kick-off, you might want to celebrate the year. At an anniversary or farewell, the focus is on one person or team. The purpose shapes the questions. For connection, avoid questions that only insiders can answer.

Write inclusive questions

Read every question with a new colleague in mind, someone from another department, or someone who works part-time. Can they answer it, or at least make a good guess? Some formats that work for everyone:

• •Estimate questions: “How many cups of coffee does the machine on the second floor make in a week?” Nobody knows exactly, so everybody has a chance. The closest team wins.
• •Photo questions: baby photos of the management team, “Whose desk is this?”, or a photo reveal of the office twenty years ago.
• •Guess the director's answer: the director answers live on stage, the teams predict what they will say.
• •General rounds: music, the city your office is in, the year the company was founded.
• •Multiple choice instead of open questions for company facts, so that guessing is possible.

Leave out anything about salaries, performance, politics, religion, health or appearance. Tease habits (“Who always takes the last biscuit?”) only if the person has agreed beforehand. When a question could embarrass someone, skip it.

💡 Let each department write one round and add the organisers as co-hosts. Everyone can add questions and photos, and the final quiz has something for every team.

Mix departments into teams

Do not let people form teams by department or by table. Make teams of three to six people and mix them on purpose: someone from finance, someone from the warehouse, someone from IT and someone who joined last month. Hand out team cards at the entrance, or put a mix of colleagues at each table. Teams choose a name and join by scanning the QR code on the big screen with one phone. Nobody needs to install an app or create an account.

An unlocked event has room for up to 30 teams. For a larger group, use more people per team rather than more teams: the standings stay readable.

Timing at a staff party

Plan the quiz for the moment when people are present and attentive: after dinner, or an hour into the drinks, before the music gets loud. Fifteen to twenty-five questions take about 45 to 60 minutes. At a reception or a drinks evening, ten questions in half an hour is plenty. Show the standings after each round and keep the reveals short.

• •Start the lobby early, with background music and the QR code on screen.
• •Read every question aloud; not everyone can read the screen from the back of the room.
• •Close with a photo reveal and the winner fanfare, and hand the prize over straight away.

Colleagues who are not in the room

Hybrid teams and colleagues at other locations can join too. They open the join link on their phone and play as a team. They also need to see the big screen: share it in a video call, or put a second screen in the other office. Expect a small delay in the video stream and leave a few extra seconds before closing the answers. Test this setup beforehand with practice mode, which plays with three automatic practice teams.

Practicalities at the office or venue

• •A laptop connected to the projector or large screen, with sound through the room system or a speaker.
• •Check whether the company network or guest wifi allows the laptop online. A phone hotspot is a good backup.
• •Put the laptop on power and switch off notifications and screen savers.
• •A presenter with a microphone and a co-host who checks open answers.
• •Multilingual team? The screen language is chosen per event (English, Dutch, French or German), and you can write each question in two languages.

What it costs

Building and testing is free with up to 3 teams. One event costs a one-off €59, with 90 days of access and up to 30 teams. Your next event within a year costs €39. There is no subscription, and you pay with iDEAL, Bancontact or card. See pricing.

Read more on the company quiz page or in our guide to hosting a party quiz.