Photo: RNZ / Robert Whitaker
Need something to unify, distract or occupy your loved ones on Christmas Day between food and gift gouging? This quiz format needs zero preparation and is fun for whānau of all ages.
Quiz prep
Download and print enough question and answer sheets for the number of teams you're going to have. If you forget this step - or don't have a printer handy - no problem! Just use pen and paper.
Quizmas question writing sheet (for each team to draft their round's questions).
Quizmas answer sheet (for each team to record their answers. If there are more than six teams, print page 2 as well).
(If you're The Person In Charge of Christmas, delegate this task to someone who needs a job to do.)
A Christmas quiz is the ideal way to distract and entertain the whole family. Photo: Zach Reiner / Unsplash
Instructions
The quiz is run without a quizmaster: everyone is part of a team and you are simply a facilitator to explain the game, keep rough time and get it started.
Divide the family into roughly evenly sized teams (it's a good idea to mix generations and branches of the family).
Give each team a question sheet and 30 minutes (or longer) to write six quiz questions (and their answers).
Important: Questions can be about anything but they must not refer to specific non-famous people (eg friends or family) to avoid questions like: What's Uncle Mike's favourite colour?
Give each team an answer sheet.
Each team then takes turns asking their questions. All the other teams answer them on their answer sheet. The questioning team then reads out the answers and answering teams score themselves.
If a team has managed to write a question that is answered correctly by only one of the answering teams (ie it's a difficult question, but not so difficult that no-one can answer it) they get a bonus point. So six perfect questions in your round would yield six bonus points.
Repeat until all teams have had their turn asking questions, add up the scores and you're done.
The answers sheet assumes up to six teams but there are four more rounds on the second page in case you need them. It can be a good idea to split the rounds up through the day, between courses and other family activities.
If your family struggles with an honour system in a competitive environment, you can choose to appoint a quizmaster who will ready the questions and answers, have final say on any disputes and can award bonus points for best team name, best question and best question theme (if you ask teams to write their questions around a single theme).
Merry Quizmas to all and to all - a Quiz night!