If you are planning on hosting a virtual game night, there are a number of options you can use for your gathering. It is important that you have a hosting app that can accommodate the number of players you are inviting, has easy access, provides the options you need for the type of evening you want, and ideally, is free or has free to use features.
Contents
10 of the Best Free Trivia Hosting Apps 1. Houseparty 2. Bunch Group Video Chat & Games 3. WAVE 4. The Jackbox Party Pack 5. Sporcle Party 6. TriviaMaker 7. Trivnow 8. Kahoot! 9. PSYCH! 10. Quizizz |
I’ve compiled here a list of the 10 best free virtual hosting apps for your trivia night.
1. Houseparty
- Available FREE in the App Store for IOS and Google Play for Android
- Download IOS App | Download Android App
- Play on your computer or phone
- Virtual hosting
- Video chat
Houseparty is a free video chatting app and it is very simple to access and register. What is nice about this option is, it gives you trivia games ready to go. All you have to do is select the game icon in the app and then choose your trivia game. There are quite a few trivia games to choose from within a variety of topics.
Once you’ve chosen your game, then you can invite your friends from directly within the app. Getting started is very easy, and the native video calling makes human interaction straightforward. The app does however limit you to only really customizing elements of their pre-built games, so you can customize the look and feel of the game, and even the background of your video call, but not much about the content of the games.
This is a great option if you are having an informal gathering and want to play trivia very quickly and easily. All your guests need is a smartphone connected to the internet, the app with an account, and you can invite them to the game and start playing. This is definitely one of the more social trivia hosting environments and for impromptu games, it is the best.
2. Bunch Group Video Chat & Games
- Available FREE in the Appstore for IOS and Google Play for Android
- Download IOS App | Download Android App
- Play on your phone
- Virtual hosting
Bunch is a group video chat app where you can play games with your friends and family. The multiplayer gaming combined with the video chat feature makes this a perfect virtual game night hosting app for you and your friend.
The app comes with several multiplayer games already pre-bundled and you can also play many of your favorite multiplayer games while video chatting. The pre-built-in games include Draw Party, Mars Dash, Fappy Lives, Bunch Pool, Trivia, and more. You will have fun playing these familiar games with your friends.
This is a great app to host a virtual trivia night because it is very easy to get to play the game with your friends once you get the app. It works well and it is a lot of fun.
3. WAVE
- Available FREE in the Appstore for IOS and Google Play for Android
- Download IOS App | Download Android App
- Play on your phone
- Virtual hosting
WAVE is a video chat combined with a gaming app for you and your friends to play games together on your phones. There is a nice library of multiplayer games which includes memory game, 4 in a Row, Never Have I Ever, Whac-A-Mole, Drawing Quiz, and more.
You can also group chat with your friends, watch videos together, share doodles, or use it to hang out. WAVE is a great way to play trivia games online with your friends.
4. The Jackbox Party Pack
- Available in the Appstore for IOS and Google Play for Android
- Download IOS App | Download Android App
- Play on your computer or phone
- In-home hosting
The Jackbox Party Pack comes with 5 games from the creators of the “YOU DON’T KNOW JACK” game for you to play in the same room with friends and family. The game pack includes YOU DON’T KNOW JACK, Fibbage XL, Drawful, Word Spur, and Lie Swatter.
In “YOU DON’T KNOW JACK”, your phone becomes the controller. You use your phone as the buzzer. It makes the game a lot more exciting and interactive. This is a fun trivia game to play with your friends at home. If want to change it up from trivia, you can play one of the other 4 games for even more fun.
5. Sporcle Party
- Available FREE in the App Store for IOS and Google Play for Android
- Download IOS App | Download Android App
- Play on your computer or phone
- Virtual hosting
Sporcle Party is a trivia game you can play with your friends virtually. One person in your group will choose to be the host. The host creates the game and gives a code to the other players to join their game.
When you create the game, you can select from free packs or choose to pay for topics that are available to buy. This is nice because if eventually, you run out interesting quiz packs, you can get more directly from the app for a cost.
Once you select your quiz pack and register for an account, you can invite your friends to play from within the app if they are already a member, otherwise, you can share from message or email. As your friends access the app from their accounts, they can access your trivia party using the share code that the host will provide.
This is an excellent app for a virtual trivia night although it lacks native video chat. It is made specifically for this and all the functionality and features serve it’s purpose well. The packs make for quick trivia game builds, but they are not customizable and you’d have to pay to get more once you run out of questions. Otherwise, this is a good, simple to use virtual trivia night app.
6. TriviaMaker
- Available FREE in the App Store for IOS and Google Play for Android
- Download IOS App | Download Android App
- Play on your computer or phone
- In-home hosting
- Virtual hosting
TriviaMaker is an app that uses a standard registration process to save your created trivia games. There is a free version. In the free version, you can play sample games and you can create a game by selecting one of 3 game styles: Grid style, List style, or Trivia style. You choose a standard look or a theme for your game layout, which is a nice feature to add some seasonal or holiday elements to your games.
If you choose to pay for the pro feature, you can customize most of the elements in your game like the number of questions per category, the number of rounds, and add images to questions to make them stand out more. There are more features to customize in the settings.
When you’ve set up your trivia game, the game allows you to present by casting your screen, configuring to a computer projector, wired or basic, which is just using your own device. When playing the game, as the host, you have fun options to use during gameplay including sound effects and music. You also control the flow of questions and awarding points.
TriviaMaker is a cool app that lets you make trivia games from your phone, but the sharing element is more focused on in-person scenarios. If you are looking to host a game night in-home, this would work great. If you wanted to host using TriviaMaker virtually, you would have to incorporate it using a video communication platform. This would be a great tool for teachers or business-related exercises.
7. Trivnow
- Available FREE in the App Store for IOS and Google Play for Android
- Download IOS App | Download Android App
- Play on your computer or phone
- Virtual hosting
Trivnow is a free trivia creator app that allows you to create trivia night games very easily. You can register for an account or play as a guest. Once you are in, you can find a host and play their trivia game or create your own game to invite your friend.
Creating a game is very straightforward. Each setup lets you select 3 packs of questions to use in your game. Once you select your packs by topic, then you can configure your question type, the option timer, and point values. Then you create your game. From there you invite your friends to the game via text. Once everyone joins the game, you can start the event.
What I like about this is it the app is very intuitive and quick. You will have access and create a quiz quickly. I wish you could customize a little more, but for that, I would recommend something with more options. This is a great tool for a quick informal trivia night with friends and family.
8. Kahoot!
- Available FREE in the App Store for IOS and Google Play for Android
- Download IOS App | Download Android App
- Play on your computer or phone
- Virtual hosting
Kahoot! is a quiz maker that allows you to create your trivia games from your phone. When you startup, you are asked what type of user you will be: a teacher, a student, for work, or socially. Then you are asked who you will play the game the most with: friends and family, colleagues or clients, students, or others.
Once you’re in, you can create your quiz and choose options, where you can customize the game image and details. Then you add your questions, where you are given options on the type of question. Free users have access to the quiz and true-or-false questions. You can type your own questions, edit the timer count, and add and crop images for each question.
Premium users have the option to add up to 200 players per game, advanced question types, premium images and image effects, and premium templates.
Once your trivia quiz is saved, you have to login or sign up to play. Once you do so, you can take your “Kahoot” quiz. There are two modes. In the study mode, you can create flashcards, practice, test yourself, and challenge your friends. In the play mode, you can go live and share your screen or create a challenge for self-paced play.
This app is mostly focused on being for educational purposes, but all the features make it a great trivia quiz app. Once you create your trivia quiz, then you can invite your friends using a code for them to join. If you are looking for some human interaction, play it in person or add a video communication platform into the game.
9. PSYCH!
- Available in the App Store for IOS and Google Play for Android
- Download IOS App | Download Android App
- Play on your computer or phone
- Virtual hosting
PSYCH! is a great app to host trivia night when you pair it with a video chatting service like Zoom or Houseparty. It does not natively support chatting or hosting, but the game works so well, it just requires some face time to play. The game was created by the same people who created “Heads Up!” “PSYCH!” adds a fun twist to the game too. Every player not only scores points by answering questions correctly, but each player also gets to create fake answers to real questions; the more these fake answers are selected, the more points you score.
I really recommend “PSYCH” because it so simple, and with some video chatting, it works great. There is a lot of variety you can have in the game play with the different categories. In some topics, you will even make questions about one another, which end up being hilarious. “PSYCH” adds some nice variety to your virtual trivia night with your friends.
So if you are planning on hosting a virtual trivia night and want to shake it up a little bit, check out “PSYCH” it is fun, easy to use, offers a ton of variety, and will have you and your friends cracking up in laughter for hours.
10. Quizizz
- Available FREE in the App Store for IOS and Google Play for Android
- Download IOS App | Download Android App
- Play on your computer or phone
- Virtual hosting
Quizizz is an app that promotes itself as a study app and a tool for teachers through its quiz making feature. This works perfectly for making trivia games and can be used for a trivia night. After you download the app, you select how you are going to use Quizizz either for school, work or for neither. Go into activity to register your account, and once you do, you can create a quiz with custom options including selecting your number of questions, the type of question, creating your question, adding media, and changing the timer. Once you’ve created the quiz, you can give it a picture, name it and save it.
Once your quiz is saved you can challenge your friends to join your game where you will compete in trivia. You can share the app link from the join game screen and give your friends the code to join the game.
While this app was not specifically designed for a trivia night, it works well for it. The number of features included makes it very customizable. It is easy to share with your friends and have them join the game. There is no in-app chat, but you can set up a few quizzes beforehand and use a video communication platform for face-to-face time.
Video Chat
Once you have decided on the trivia night hosting app you will be using, since most do not have the video feature, if you want that social interaction, grab a laptop or tablet and use one of the following video chat tools. The following are free to use:
Houseparty
I recommend Houseparty first even if you don’t want to use the native trivia feature, it is very easy to access, use, and have people join. It is also free to use and can host up to 8 people.
Google Hangouts
Google Hangouts is another free video chatting service that works well and can host up to 10 people. While this may make it sound more appealing, I recommend it second because it isn’t quite as simple as Houseparty, but if your friends and family prefer it, it is a good option since it has screen sharing which would make playing your pre-built trivia questions more fun for the participants.
Zoom
Zoom is another good video chatting tool with a free option. This tool can hold up 100 people and screen share, but you are limited to 40 minutes and then the call will drop. However, with 2 people, the call will go on longer and not be limited. This is another good option, but the call time limiting will be a little bit of a nuisance if you want to go longer.
FaceTime
This is another option that could work if every person in your group has apple devices, then it is as simple as calling everyone on their second screens and playing your trivia game. Sometimes this best option is right in front of you, and outside of paying your bill, this feature is free.
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