How Does It Work

The season runs from the autumn (September or October) until late Spring, usually May.  Matches take place on a Monday evening, starting at 8:30pm, on most weeks, breaking for Christmas and bank holidays.  The quiz takes around 1.5-2 hours to complete and takes place at the pub of the designated home team.

Each team designates their home pub and matches take place at the venue of the home team.  Venues usually have a quieter area that the teams use to quiz in.  The FTQL covers a broad area around the 'Five Towns' of Wakefield although we have teams in Kippax and Ossett also.  Please see the Teams section for more details of which teams we have competing.

Each quiz is a match up between two teams.  All games played on the same evening use the same questions set by an external quiz setter.  The quiz itself is over ten rounds:

• There are six rounds that are team rounds where the captain answers on behalf of the team.  These rounds are on a variation of subjects which change week on week.  The rounds consist of 10 questions, 5 are for team A and 5 are for team B.

• There are two rounds that are individual rounds where only one person can answer.  Each player is designated a position (seat 1-4) and they will get asked the question for that position.

• There are 2 written rounds.  These rounds are team rounds but instead of calling out your answer, the teams write the answers down to be submitted and marked.  The rounds have two formats.  One is a 1-2-3-4 round where Q1 has one answer, Q2 two answers, Q3 three answers and Q4 four answers.  The other round is a link round where there are four questions and the fifth question is what links the answers of the previous 4 questions.

Please see below for a sample quiz.

The quiz uses two points for a correct answer.  If the answer is incorrect, the opposing team will be given the chance to answer for one point.  The scores are added up over the course of the quiz and the winner is announced.

A team is usually made up of around 5-7 squad players that can be selected as and when they are needed throughout the season.  Only four players will be allowed to play each week.  The home team is also responsible for organising a reader for the quiz, hence 5 players is the usual minimum squad size.

With all quizzes, the difficulty is in the eye of the beholder however each quiz is designed to have a mixture of easier and harder questions.  In each team round, the first couple of questions are usually more friendly, the middle two are a little tougher and the final question is hard.  There is a wide range of abilities in the league and we feel it caters for all.

We run a league season as well as cup competitions.

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League: The league format starts with all teams being placed into one league.  Teams get 2 points for winning a match and 1 point for drawing.  Teams play each other once and after this section, the top half form Division One and the bottom half form Division Two.  Each division continues and the winners are announced.

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Knockout Cup: All teams are placed into a knockout competition.  Teams are drawn at random, winner goes through and loser exits until a winner is crowned.

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Knockout Plate: All the first round losers from the Knockout Cup are placed into the Knockout Plate and like the cup, a random draw determines who plays who and the winner progresses.

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Handicap Cup: Each team is assigned a handicap based off their performance in the league which gives them a starting score.  The better a team is, the lower the starting score.  Teams are then drawn at random to face each other and winners progress.  The handicap stays with a team throughout the competition.  This competition is designed to theoretically give every team an equal chance of success.

The cost is worked out at £6 per quiz per team which is payable at the end of each season.  Teams that do well in the cups will therefore end up paying a little more than those who exit early.  For the 2024/25 season, there were 21 league matches plus a maximum of 8 cup matches meaning the total cost per team was between £144 and £174.

We are always on the look out for new teams and players.  If you think you can get a new team together, brilliant.  If you want to play but don't have enough for a new team, great.  Either way, get in touch with us to discuss.  We'd be happy to try and accommodate you and/or your team into the FTQL.