Trivia Is A Competition, Competitions Need Scoreboards

Have you ever been to a trivia night? Maybe you frequent one weekly. Here’s why you should pester your host into putting a scoreboard up on the screens during the game.

A scoreboard is more than a grid with numbers and information on it. It’s transparency. Like a glass house it lets everyone see the inner workings.

The crowd becomes a hive of quality control checkers. They vet the process and the outcome to make sure no mistakes were made. The crowd becomes your ally.

When a mistake is made it can be quickly righted for all to see. Quickly righting a wrong increases credibility. The crowd loves credibility. This is why they’re so passionate. They want to spend energy competing. They want to win. But because they know they can’t win every time, the score is second in importance to the overall integrity of the game.

Imagine it’s the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl and there were no scoreboard. It’s just the referee on the field. You have to take his word for it.

Imagine it’s the final half of the Champions League final. The clock is ticking down. But the only clock is the one on the wrist of the referee. You have to take his word for it.

9th inning world series. Were there two strikes or one?

Daytona 500. Was that the 489th lap or the 498th lap?

Your trivia night. Were we ahead of second place by 10 points or 20 points?

What to expect if you start putting a scoreboard on the TV’s at your venue:

• “You have our score 10 points lower than we were expecting.” Scores will always be right.
• Cheering. A lot of it. There’s nothing like seeing your name at the top of a scoreboard. Very few people get to experience that at any point in their lifetime. Especially in public.
• People love a playful brag. Teams will undoubtedly take pictures of, and with, the scoreboard. Those pictures are going straight to Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter. Hello, free awesome marketing.
• Like a blinking construction sign, everyone in the building will know exactly whats going on during the nights when you’re there. Teams that otherwise wouldn’t play will want to see their name on the board.