Give one round to the book or character you are studying, such as the life of David or the parables.
Guide for groups
How to host a Bible trivia night for your family or group
Bible trivia works at a family game night, a small group, a class, a retreat or a youth night. This guide works with pen and paper or with Elpia Seven's Bible Challenge, which puts the questions, the timer and the scoreboard on the big screen.
What you need
- Someone to host and read the questions.
- Questions with their answer and reference, to settle doubts on the spot.
- A screen, a TV or a projector (optional).
- One phone per person or per team, if you play with the Bible Challenge.
Step by step
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Decide on the group and the length
For a family or a group of teens and adults, 45 to 60 minutes is enough for three rounds and a short talk at the end. Decide whether people play on their own or in teams of 3 to 5: in a team nobody is put on the spot for not knowing an answer.
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Choose how points are scored
With speed scoring, whoever answers right and fast wins; with accuracy scoring, only correct answers count. With a new group, accuracy takes the pressure off. In the Bible Challenge you pick one of the two when you create the room.
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Prepare the questions
10 to 30 questions per game is plenty, mixing easy and hard ones, each with its reference. Use the app's bank, write your own about what the group has been studying, or mix both. To get started, here are 55 easy and hard Bible trivia questions with answers and references.
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Create the room and share the code
The host creates the challenge in the app: how many questions (10 to 50), the time to answer (5, 10 or 20 seconds) and whether to play in teams (2 to 4). The app gives a room code; everyone else joins from their phone with that code, a nickname and a character.
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Put the questions and the scoreboard on screen
On the computer connected to the projector or TV, open the Elpia Seven projector (projector.elpia.app) with the room code. The big screen shows the code and a QR code to join, each question and the scoreboard, while everyone answers on their phone.
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Close with what you learned
At the end, go over two or three questions people found hard and read the passage together. That way the trivia ends with an open Bible, not just a winner.
Ideas that make it work
A team that is unsure can ask for the reference and look it up in their Bible before answering.
The winning team picks the topic of the next meeting or the verse of the week.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need an app to host Bible trivia?
No. A list of questions, someone to host and paper to keep score are enough. Elpia Seven's Bible Challenge adds a timer per question, automatic scoring and the big screen. The app is not available to download yet: leave your email and we will tell you when it launches on Android.
How long does a Bible trivia game take?
A round of 10 questions with 10 seconds to answer takes about 5 minutes, including reading and the scoreboard. Three rounds like that and a short talk fill a 45 to 60 minute meeting.
Which questions work for families, teens and adults?
Mix well-known questions, such as which giant David defeated, with detail questions, such as how many stones he picked from the stream. That way newcomers and people who know the Bible well both take part. Here are 55 easy and hard examples with answers and references.
Play questions like these in Elpia Seven
Elpia Seven is a free Bible trivia app for Android by Keylasoft: a daily quiz, study by topic, 1v1 duels and live challenges for groups, in English, Spanish and Portuguese. It is not available to download yet: leave your email and we will tell you on launch day.