A popular form of quiz whereby participants form teams, and collaborate to answer the questions. Generally this is done by huddling around a table, hence the name. The questions are read out loud by the quizmaster, and each team has to write their answers down, and hand up their answer paper at the end of each round. The questions are normally general knowledge, but quizzes may be themed, or there may be a number of specialist rounds.
A typical table quiz will involve teams of four, with between 50 and 100 questions, divided into five to ten rounds. Each team will pay an entry fee, and there will be prizes for the top three scoring teams. Sometimes it's a winner takes all situation, but more usually the money collected from entry fees is by way of fundraising for some worthy cause, and the winners receive prizes which have been donated.
A great number of table quizzes take place in pubs, in which case they may be known as pub quizzes. A pub quiz is often a looser arrangement, with no strict limit of the number of participants per team, the entry fees going directly into the pocket of the landlord, and the prizes taking the form of joints of meat.
No matter how efficiently a table quiz is run, participants should carefully scrutinise the scoring process, as mistakes are almost certain to occur, whether in marking the answers, or adding up the totals. Veteran quiz participants are careful to ask for clarification of ambiguous questions,
"How many number one hits did The Beatles have?"
to write down all possible answers,
Q: "In the Star Wars movies, who played Luke Skywalker's father?"
A: "David Prowse, James Earl Jones and Sebastian Shaw"
and to allow for possible
ignorance on the part of the markers.
Q: "What do the initials DVD stand for?"
A: "Digital Versatile Disk, (although some take it to mean Digital Video Disk").