Every kind of game night, in full.
House Rules hosts four kinds of live game night for bars, breweries and taprooms across Minneapolis, Saint Paul and the Twin Cities: pub trivia with original questions written fresh each week, music bingo, classic bingo and lotería, and grown-up spelling bees. Every format comes turnkey: the host, the questions, the sound and the gear are all included, and the run time is built around your room.
Trivia nights
Up to seven rounds of original questions, written fresh every week.
The classic pub quiz, run properly. Teams of four to six play on paper answer sheets, scores go up between rounds so the room can see who is winning, and the questions are written new each week rather than pulled off a pack of cards. Nothing is recycled, so a regular who comes every week never sees the same question twice.
How the night runs
- Teams sign in and pick a name. The names are half the entertainment and they get read out.
- Rounds run about fifteen minutes each, with a break between for scores, drinks and heckling.
- The mix changes weekly: general knowledge, pop culture, an audio round, a picture round, and one wildcard nobody sees coming.
- Answer sheets are swapped between tables and marked as we go, so scores are live rather than a mystery until the end.
- A final wager round lets a table in third place win it, which keeps everybody in until close.
Best for: A weeknight you want to turn into your busiest — trivia builds a crowd of regulars faster than anything else on this page, because people come back to settle a score.
Music bingo
Bingo cards with songs on them instead of numbers.
The easiest night in the building to walk into. Everyone gets a card of song titles, clips play, and you dab what you hear — no knowledge required, no team needed, and you can join halfway through a round without ruining it for anybody. It is loud, it is singalong, and it is the format that works best when the room is more interested in each other than in a quiz.
How the night runs
- Cards go out free, and the playlist for the round gets announced — a decade, a genre, or a theme.
- Clips run twenty or thirty seconds each, long enough to sing along to and long enough to find on the card.
- First to a line takes the small prize; the round plays on to a full card for the big one.
- Several short rounds rather than a few long ones, so there is a winner every fifteen minutes.
- Playlists are built to the room — nineties night, one-hit wonders, country, Motown, whatever your crowd is.
Best for: A room that fills with groups rather than teams, and any night you want people singing rather than concentrating.
Classic bingo and lotería
The people's game, with numbers or with picture cards.
Straight bingo needs nothing from anybody: no knowledge, no team, no explaining. Lotería is its Mexican cousin, played with a deck of illustrated cards and called out in rhyme and riddle rather than numbers, and it turns the same simple game into a performance. Both are the most age-proof nights available — a table of grandparents and a table of twenty-somethings play exactly the same game.
How the night runs
- Cards and daubers are handed out at the door; there is nothing to sign up for.
- Rounds are short and the pattern changes each time — a line, four corners, the outside frame, a full blackout.
- Callouts are the whole job. Numbers get their nicknames, and lotería cards get the traditional riddle before the name.
- A winner every few minutes keeps the energy up and gives you a natural moment to sell another round.
- Easy to run alongside food service, because nobody has to put a fork down to play.
Best for: Early evenings, all-ages rooms, and anywhere you want a game that somebody can join thirty seconds after walking in.
Spelling bees
The third grade classic, now with beer.
A spectacle rather than a participation sport, and that is the point. Contestants come up one at a time, take a word at the mic, and the whole room watches — cheering, groaning, and arguing about whether "bureaucracy" is fair. Everyone not spelling is still completely involved, which is what makes it work in a bar rather than a hall.
How the night runs
- Anybody can enter on the night; there is a sign-up sheet and no shortage of volunteers after the first drink.
- Words start friendly and get worse. Early rounds are winnable by anybody; later rounds are where the room starts gasping.
- Standard bee rules — say it, spell it, say it again — with definitions, origins and a sentence on request.
- One miss and you are out, single elimination, which is what gives the last few rounds their edge.
- Team format is available if you would rather nobody stood up alone: tables confer, one person spells.
Best for: A one-off event, a themed night, or any room that likes a bit of theatre — it draws a crowd of watchers as much as players.
Booking a game night: common questions
Written for the person deciding whether to put one of these on. If your question is not here, ask it in the form below.
How long does a game night run?
Two hours is typical, but the round count flexes. Tell me when your crowd arrives and when you want them gone, and the night is shaped around that.
What do you need from us?
A room, power, and somewhere to stand where people can see me. That is genuinely it. If your space has its own sound system I am happy to plug into it, and if it does not, I bring my own.
Do you bring your own sound and gear?
Yes — speaker, microphone, and everything the format needs, whether that is answer sheets and pens, bingo cards and daubers, or a word list. I arrive early enough to set up before your crowd is in, and I break down without holding up close.
How many people do we need for it to work?
More than you would think, and fewer than you fear. A handful of tables is a real game; a packed room is a better one. The first few weeks of a new night are always the quietest and that is normal.
What does it cost?
It depends on the night, the format and whether it is a weekly slot or a one-off — a recurring night is priced differently from a single event. Send me your venue and what you have in mind and you will get a straight number back.
Do we need to provide prizes?
Not necessarily, but they help. A bar tab, a round for the winning table, a gift card or a bit of merch is usually enough — the prize matters much less than the fact that there is one. Plenty of venues use it as a way to move something slow-selling.
Which night of the week works best?
The quiet one. A game night exists to make a Tuesday behave like a Friday, and putting it on your busiest night just moves people around rather than adding any. Tuesday and Wednesday are the classic slots for a reason.
How often should we run one?
Weekly builds a crowd; monthly builds an event. A weekly trivia night grows a set of regulars who plan their week around it, which is the whole return on it, but it takes a couple of months to get there. A monthly bingo or spelling bee is easier to promote as something special.
Do you help promote it?
Yes. There is a set of graphics and social posts for the night, and I post about it from @houseruleslive. The heavy lifting is still your regulars and your windows — a game night grows by word of mouth more than by advertising — but you are not doing the artwork yourself.
What if it is quiet for the first few weeks?
That is what the first few weeks look like, and it is not a sign it is failing. A new night usually takes six to eight weeks to find its regulars. The ones that work are the ones the venue commits to for a season rather than judging after two Tuesdays.
Can we theme a night?
Yes, and themed nights are the easiest thing you will ever promote. Decades, a single artist or franchise, a holiday, a local rivalry — send the idea and it gets written. Themes work for trivia, music bingo and spelling bees alike.
Do players need to book or sign up in advance?
No. Teams form on the night, cards are handed out at the door, and anybody can walk in and play. If you want to take table reservations because your room fills, that works too — it is your door, not mine.
Can you run a private or corporate version of these?
Yes. The same formats run as company offsites, holiday parties and private bookings, and as fundraisers for schools, clubs and nonprofits. Those have pages of their own because the questions people ask about them are different.
Let's plan your game night
Tell me about your venue, your crowd and which format you like the look of. I'll get back to you within a day or two with ideas and dates.
Or skip the form: hello@playbyhouserules.com @houseruleslive @house.rules.live