Sriram (left) says quiz nights work best in pubs that serve good food in safe neighbourhoods. — Photos: GRACE CHEN and RAJA FAISAL HISHAN/The Star
Challenge of testing their general knowledge draws patrons to entertainment outlets
It’s happy hours at a gastropub in Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur, and Benjamin Chew together with his friend Dr Luke Sodhy have settled themselves in front of a television screen.
Both had just scanned a QR code from the screen, enabling them to take part in an in-house quiz.
One of the questions was, “Mount Nyangani with a summit peak at 2,592m above sea level is the highest point in which country?”
A choice of several countries such as the United Kingdom, Brunei, Zimbabwe and Yemen were given.
The atmosphere is generally casual during the four-round-quiz with 21 teams competing for the grand prize of RM300 worth of food and drink vouchers.
Participants at the Annual Intersociety Quiz hosted by the St Patrick’s Society of Selangor at a specialty and cocktail bar in Bangsar.
Chew and Sodhy have been taking part in pub quizzes for over a year and their proudest win, so far, was RM200 worth of food vouchers.
“We don’t put pressure on ourselves. We are just doing this for the fun of it. It’s a ‘lifestyle’ thing,” said Chew.
Admitting to being fans of television game shows like Jeopardy, Chew and Sodhy said taking part in pub quizzes was an outlet for them to test as well as improve their general knowledge.
“Since I have a competitive edge and a head full of disparate knowledge, taking part in a pub quiz is a chance to test my mettle,” Chew joked.
The two friends, who call themselves “Team Barbara Streisand” (for the fun of it), did not emerge as champions that night.
Instead, the first prize went to “Mindhunters”, comprising a group of retirees.
Having fun with trivia
Having taken part in pub quizzes since the early 2000s, Susan Philip, an English literature university lecturer, said she enjoyed them because the breadth of knowledge on display among the teams fascinated her.
In each team, every member will have their own strengths. One may be good in geography, another in history and there will be those whose forte lies in music, politics or sports.
“There is generally a lot of camaraderie despite the competition.
“It’s really a gathering of people who are very different but united by the love of learning odd bits of information.
“I have made new friends, rekindled old ones and deepened bonds.
Bolland, who has over 40 years of experience as a quiz host, says one can find inspiration in everyday items when setting questions.
“We talk about all kinds of things because we are friends now, not just people who quiz together,” said Philip.
What gets her going during quiz sessions is the adrenaline and should her team win at the end of the night, bragging rights.
“Because I only go to pubs for quiz sessions, I don’t have pub mates but quiz mates,” she said.
“I love the feeling of knowing weird little facts and learning new things, stuff which makes me think ‘Oh wow, that’s weird... or surprising’.
“We also end up having a good laugh at some of the answers.”
Sivapatham moving among the crowd to ensure fair play.
She said a lot of the stuff in her knowledge bank came from reading books, newspapers and websites.
“But because of the quizzes, I pay greater attention to the news headlines. I have some major blind spots – sports and music.
“I’m not interested in sports. And I cannot remember singers and song titles,” she said.
“But I am not going to sit and memorise things for the quiz!”
Asking right questions
Since quizzes cover so many topics, it was impossible for participants to memorise things, said Ray Bolland, 69, who is president of The Royal Society of St George Kuala Lumpur and Selangor.
The society has been organising monthly quiz nights for its members for over 25 years.
The latest was the Annual Intersociety Quiz hosted by the St Patrick’s Society of Selangor at a specialty and cocktail bar in Bangsar.
At the event featuring 18 teams, Bolland and his friends who called themselves “Dizland” emerged as champs to win the grand prize of four bottles of wine.
The retired British native, who used to work in the IT industry, has been living here for 14 years under the Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) programme.
In addition to being a regular quiz participant, Bolland has 40 years of experience as a quiz host.
Royal Society of St George members participating in a quiz with Louise King (right) asking questions that she had set for the night.
He has set and asked questions at quiz sessions in Azerbaijan, the United Arab Emirates and United Kingdom.
“Being a quiz host is about finding that sweet spot, not too hard, not too easy.
“Once you’ve been doing that for a while, you’ll gain awareness and become sensitive to topics and current affairs that have become popular,” said Bolland.
One way to gauge if the questions have been well set for the participants to have an enjoyable time, is by looking at the scores.
“For example, if the winning team can get eight out of 10 questions right and the losing team five, that will make everyone feel that they had a fair go.
“If it’s a coup for the winning team, then the host will really have to think about the questions,” said Bolland.
Chew (left) and friend Sodhy have been taking part in pub quizzes for a year. Chew showing the tab where quiz contestants can key in their answers.
Creativity is key. Other than geography, history and trivia, one can also find inspiration in everyday items, he said.
“Case in point was when the society held a quiz event at a restaurant in Sentul (Kuala Lumpur). The first round of questions were about kitchen implements, some common, some obscure,” said Bolland.
Having a natural knack for entertaining a crowd and finding ways to present questions using audio and visual aids are ways to keep participants coming back for more, said quiz host Sivashankar Krishnapillai, popularly known as “Shiv”.
“You can make a joke out of questions like “Who was born first?” where there is a multiple choice of answers like Justin Bieber, Gandhi and Benjamin Franklin.
“My favourite line for this is, if anyone answers Bieber, he gets two pints of water!”
Having hosted his first quiz night at a pub and restaurant 30 years ago, Sivashankar, who codes as a hobby, has come up with an interactive format where participants are able to tap the answers on their smartphone screens.
These responses are recorded live on the pub’s television screens and a poll lets participants see what the majority is rooting for.
Sivashankar hard at work keeping the crowd entertained during a quiz.
To prevent cheating, Sivashankar has a partner in Sivapatham Gurupatham, who is better known as “Atomic Rooster”.
He will move among the crowd to ensure no one switches tabs in mid-game to search online for answers.
“In the dark, this is easy to spot,” said Sivapatham.
On the same night that Team Barbara Streisand lost out to Mindhunter, he found two suspects.
On investigation, one turned out to be doing online shopping during the quiz.
He was not able to find solid proof to nail the other suspect.
“Unless the cheater is scoring way ahead of the others, we let it go,” he said.
Pulling in the crowd
Quiz sessions are a good way to pull in the crowd, especially on quiet nights, said Bala Lawrence who owns a pub in SS4, Petaling Jaya.
In addition to live bands, Bala has been holding quiz nights at his pub on Thursday nights for the past 13 years.
“My daughter told me of Sriram Subramaniam, who calls himself a quiz master,” he said.
“So, I called him to ask if he could try it out with us.”
In addition to seeing a 20% improvement in sales of food and beverages, Bala said the quality of conversation had improved.
“Some of my customers have gotten hooked on the quiz sessions. They come back every week,” he noted.
On whether he has thought of taking over Sriram’s role himself to save on payment, Bala replied in the negative.
“In 13 years, I have only heard Sriram repeat a question maybe 20 times.
Quizzes are a good way to pull the crowd in, especially on quiet nights, says Bala (holding microphone).
“Considering that there are 52 weeks in a year and there are 50 questions a week, that comes up to 33,800 questions in total.
“People think it’s easy but there is a lot of research involved. So, you need a dedicated person for this,” he pointed out.
Sriram, who has been in the pub quiz circuit for 14 years, said he currently conducted four sessions a week at pubs in Bangsar, Petaling Jaya and Sri Hartamas.
Some participants have been coming to his quiz sessions for more than eight years.
Preferring the traditional paper-and-pencil method, Sriram forbids the use of cellphones at his sessions.
If there are any WhatsApp messages or calls to be answered, the participant will have to step outside.
“Quiz nights work best in pubs that serve good food in safe neighbourhoods.
“For large clubs, crowd control can be difficult as people may shout out answers and you cannot see what they are up to (as in cheating),” said Sriram.
The biggest challenge for any quiz host, as Sriram will agree, is the ability to defend one’s answers.
“That is why I have purposely kept my beard white.
“Few people would choose to argue with someone who looks older,” Sriram said in jest.
