the multimedia quiz
All our quizzes are in the same format:
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Each round is devoted to one topic, and there are usually 8-10 rounds in the quiz. This provides plenty of variety - something for everyone
- and it means that players who know very little about a particular topic don't have long to wait till an alternative one comes round. Topics range from Art to Zoos: there is an infinite number of possible themes, and these are just a very small selection:
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A Q&A quiz is the same as any other.......and also very different. Take a few moments to play the video and see how The Quiz has been brought into the 21st century:
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rounds & topics
questions
In every round there are five questions: not too many to exhaust anyone's interest. The questions are graded in difficulty.
The first question in every round is always very easy: this allows individuals to start scoring straight away and not have to feel self-conscious about sitting there, unable to get going.
The next three questions are of moderate difficulty. Of course, 'easy' and 'difficult' are very subjective: easy ones are those you know the answer to, difficult ones are those you don't! Most people will get many of these right.
The last question in each round is quite hard. These questions will satisfy the 'quiz experts', and challenge everyone else. Most people will not get all of them, but the quizzes cater for all sorts, and the hard questions give people something to chew on and discuss. They also help to spread out the scores, so that there are clear winners.
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Q&A quiz questions are designed by experts to test memory and knowledge,
provoke thought and discussion, and above all, to entertain. A single sample
round cannot display the diversity of topics, questions and media used, but
for illustration, one is displayed here. Full quizzes can be viewed by clicking on
The Knowledge, The Football Quiz and the Senior Quiz on the top menu.
sample round
questions
In this sample round, question #5 illustrates how quizzes cannot cater to everyone with every question. For anyone of 65+, the answer is very easy: Faye Dunaway in Bonnie & Clyde, a hugely popular, landmark film in the 1960s. But for under-18s it is near impossible: very few would know that it was once a very popular movie, now sunk without trace. Likewise, the average 65 year old has a limited knowledge of rappers, so the quiz will always try to contain a balance of questions suitable for different age and interest-groups.*
There are two scoring breaks and a half-time interval, giving time for refreshments, 'comfort breaks' and an update on scores when teams can see the state of the competition.
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A tie-break round is provided to settle any tied scores overall.
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A yellow and red card system can be used to deter covert usage of smartphones or other cheating, with penalties at the discretion of the organisers: typically for a first offence, a yellow card means that the team scores zero on that question; for a second offence, a red card indicates that the team will receive a score of zero on that round .
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*Q&A also produces The Senior Quiz for older people in care homes, day-centres and social clubs. The content is similar to The Knowledge but angled more towards an older population; it also employs different kinds of question, entailing recognition rather than recall, MCQs rather than producing answers without the help of cues; and items for stimulation of cognitive and affective processes through nostalgia and group recollection.​