Adapting to the nationwide lockdown, the smartphone pub quiz company, KwizzBit, is facilitating virtual quizzes for pubs to stay in contact with their customers, remote working businesses and families at home.
KwizzBit is a cloud-based service which means quizzes can be hosted and played online from the comfort of their own homes, with one student pub in Manchester recently playing with a former international exchange student in Cuba.
Hosts can run a virtual pub quiz by logging into their account and streaming a feed to players using any video-communication application like Zoom, YouTube Live & Twitch.
Players join quizzes by using 2 devices. The first device (e.g. laptop, tablet) is used to view the host’s stream. The second (e.g. a smartphone) is used to answer the questions.
Scores are calculated automatically with faster answers worth more points and entered into leaderboards to identify the winner.
Pubs, which are often at the centre of local communities, are utilising the software to communicate with their regular customers.
Depending on the pub’s social media following this has ranged from a dozen players playing an intimate quiz on Zoom to games hosted on YouTube Live with up to 375 people.
KwizzBit’s CEO & Founder Mark Walsh said: “There’s a genuine sense of coming togetherness across social media amongst pubs hosting virtual quiz nights and their local communities despite physical social distancing measures. It’s keeping people sane!”
The virtual shift has also prompted KwizzBit to create subscription packages for remote working businesses who regularly meet using video conferencing tools like Zoom & Microsoft Teams.
Business subscriptions offer bespoke quiz writing for employee training, as well as full access to KwizzBit’s library of 3500+ quizzes for team building. Other features include custom branding and the ability to connect 20-350+ players at any one time.
Commenting on the shift into a new market, Mark said: “It’s not just pubs who want to stay connected, it’s businesses too. Working from home can present its own unique challenges like lower productivity, morale and loneliness.
“Using KwizzBit allows companies to actively engage with their employees in a fun, interactive way that can help boost their spirits”.
New customer, Stacey Adams, who works for Rider Levett Bucknall, a property management firm in Leeds, said: “The quiz went down a storm in our virtual pub lunch. It’s so important to stay connected and have fun whilst we are all working from home”.
Since quarantine began, KwizzBit has also experienced a huge spike in sign-ups from families looking to entertain themselves.
In response, an affordable family-orientated subscription has been introduced, which allows up to 5 people to play together.
Birmingham-based Jo Gaddy, who plays with her family at home, says: “It’s great. We play against our 3 grown-up children who we can’t see at the moment because of the lockdown”.
Commenting on the shift towards new markets, Joel Slinn, marketing manager said: “In crazy times like this it’s important for small businesses to adapt quickly. We’ve not had to develop a new product overnight, we’ve simply shifted our business models to suit the situation at hand”.
KwizzBit is on course to launch new developments to the system this Spring which will enhance the gameplay experience for both hosts and players.
