Host FAQ

You run the night. For trivia that means reading the questions, keeping time, collecting and marking answers, announcing scores and keeping the room in a good mood for about two hours. Karaoke is a different job: you run the singer list, cue the songs and keep the gaps between singers short. Some hosts also run bingo, sports pick'em nights or private parties. Most start with one weekly trivia night at a bar, brewery or restaurant and add from there.

No. You need to be comfortable talking into a microphone in front of strangers, and you need to have played a few trivia nights so you know what a good one feels like. Most hosts learn on the job. Go and watch two or three other hosts before your first night, and the Hosting 101 guide covers the rest.

No. Clear, warm and quick matters more than jokes. Hosts who have done this for years say a good host with ordinary questions beats a dull host with great questions, and the good ones are mostly just easy to listen to: they read clearly, keep the pace up and use people's team names. If you are funny, the room will find out.

If the venue has a TV and a sound system, a laptop and your questions are enough. If it does not, add a portable speaker with a microphone (roughly $100 to $250 for something that fills a bar) and, for paper nights, access to a printer for answer sheets. The equipment guide goes from the bare minimum to a full rig, with prices.

Look for bars, breweries and restaurants with a slow weeknight and no trivia yet. Go in on a quiet afternoon, ask for the manager, and have a one-page description of your night and your rate with you. Rather than one free night, many hosts offer a few weeks at a reduced rate with a review date, because a new night takes about six weeks to find its crowd. The finding venues guide walks through the pitch, and the Gig Board lists venues that are looking for a host.

Monday to Thursday. Venues book trivia and bingo to fill the quieter part of the week, so that is where the demand is. Weekends are already busy and usually go to bands, DJs and karaoke. Sunday can work at a sports bar during football season for a pick'em night.

Most run about two hours with 4 to 8 rounds and 40 to 80 questions, at roughly a minute a question including reading time. Add 30 to 45 minutes before the start for setup and 15 minutes after. Karaoke usually runs longer, three to four hours.

Yes, and most hosts do. Nights run in the evening, so they fit around a day job. One or two weekly nights is a common setup for years. A full-time living from weekly nights alone is the exception; hosts who manage it usually add private events or run other hosts. See hosting as a side income.

Only if you want to. The microphone skills overlap, but karaoke is a longer night, it needs a reliable sound system, and the job is mostly keeping the line moving and the singers happy. It fits nights trivia does not, so some hosts do both. The game modes guide has a section on karaoke.

Most hosts report $100 to $200 for a weekly night, plus tips. Hosts working for a trivia company usually get $50 to $75 a show. Established independent hosts in expensive cities report up to $350. Prep matters as much as the rate: depending on how much you write yourself, a $150 night works out somewhere between about $15 and $38 an hour. The pay guide has the full breakdown and sources.

Usually cash or a payment app at the end of the night, sometimes a check every week or two, sometimes a monthly invoice. There is no standard. Agree the amount, the method and when you get paid before the first night, and put it in an email so you both have it in writing.

A company hands you a venue, the questions and often the equipment, and pays you $50 to $75 a show. Going independent pays more per night but you find the venues, write or buy the questions and handle the money yourself. Working for a company for a few months is a decent way to learn. Check any contract for a non-compete before you sign it.

No. Brainflood is software you pay for, not an agency. You find your own venues, set your own rates and keep what you charge. Brainflood does not employ hosts, set rates or take a percentage of your bookings.

Some. Hosts report $10 to $20 on a ten-team night with no tip jar, and $80 to $200 when a regular passes a jar round or a payment QR goes on the screen at the end. Karaoke tends to tip better. In Brainflood you can save your Venmo, Cash App, PayPal or Zelle details once; phones then show a quiet "Tip your host" button at game over and the TV's final screen shows a tip QR. The money goes straight to you, and you can switch the prompts off.

Longer than you would like. Hosts report it takes about six weeks to build three to five regular teams, and some nights never take. Flyers around the bar, the venue posting about it, and a host who turns up every single week make the difference. See filling the room.

After three to six months, with numbers. Keep a weekly count of teams so you can say "we've averaged 14 teams since March" instead of "I think I deserve more". Charge your new rate to new venues first; nobody there is comparing it with what you used to cost.

Be careful. In many US states, an entry fee plus a prize can turn a game into a lottery or illegal gambling, and some states restrict alcohol or bar tabs as prizes. Free-to-play nights with prizes the venue provides avoid most of this. If you want to charge entry for a league or run a fundraiser, check your state's rules first; charities often need a gaming or raffle permit.

A web app for running trivia and other game nights. You build the night on your laptop, put it on the venue's TV, and teams answer on paper, on their phones, or a mix, round by round. It scores answers, keeps the leaderboard, prints answer sheets and handouts, and has a library of 13,000+ questions if you want them. It runs in a browser; there is nothing to install. It is built for human hosts: you run the room.

No. Players scan the QR code on the TV or table tent (or go to joinplay.net and type the 5-character game code), type a name and pick or make a team. On a paper night they do not need a phone at all.

Yes. Answer mode is set per round: paper, phones or hybrid. The print pack (free on every plan) gives you answer sheets for each round, picture handouts, bingo cards, a check-in poster, a scorer worksheet and a host answer key. You mark sheets in a "By question" grid with the keyboard, which also shows what percentage of teams got each question. Teams can check in at the door by QR without an account. More on the paper night page.

A game is a set of rounds, and each round has its own type, so one night can mix standard trivia, picture, music (Name That Tune: artist and title score separately), Lightning (phones only, everyone answers at once and faster right answers score more), wagering, polls, Brainpardy (a Jeopardy-style board), Bluff (teams write fake answers to fool each other) and Bingo (75-ball, your own list, or Trivia Bingo). Karaoke and Sports Pick'em are separate night types. Tournaments and leagues are on Pro and up; everything else is on every plan, including Free.

From you, from the library, or both. The library has 13,000+ fact-checked, curated questions in 14 categories, plus 117 packs on 13 shelves in The Cellar, including seasonal packs that surface around holidays. Many hosts write all their own and use the library only to fill a gap. Starter and up can also generate questions with AI; you review every one and keep only what you tick, and plenty of hosts never use it.

Yes. Paste rows straight from Google Sheets, Excel or a Doc, or upload an .xlsx or CSV file, and you see a preview before anything is saved. Each question can carry private notes, a source link, an evergreen flag and an author. The Free plan holds 50 of your own questions, Starter 500, and Pro and up are unlimited.

It warns you. Your library remembers when and at which venue you last asked each question and flags repeats inside eight weeks, and auto-fill prefers questions you have not asked lately. Once you have played a question, its card shows "Your teams: N% got it", so you can see which ones were too hard.

Yes, any game. That is useful if a venue's setup only takes a slideshow, or if you want a copy of the night outside Brainflood.

No. Brainflood is built for human hosts. What it has is Auto Assist, three helpers on every plan: grading suggestions for typed answers (exact and close matches are free; unclear ones use Brain Credits, and if you have none they simply wait for you), read-aloud of the question, choices, answer and scores on the TV or your laptop, and a one-line pacing hint such as "everyone answered" or "answers to check". You can flip any grade, and team points wait until you confirm scores.

Yes. The No AI switch in Settings, under Gameplay, hides every AI feature and Brain Credits, and Brainflood stops running AI work for your account. Free grading of exact and close matches still works, and so do your questions, the library, paper scoring, the print pack and the TV.

On any TV with a web browser (a smart TV, a streaming stick, or a laptop plugged into the TV), go to app.brainflood.com/tv and type the 5-character game code. No login and no cable from your laptop. That TV then follows your whole night. For a TV with no browser, use an HDMI cable from a laptop. The event night walkthrough covers setups.

Yes. Open app.brainflood.com/tv on each TV and type the same code; any number of TVs can show the game. You only need an HDMI splitter for TVs that have no browser.

Yes. Anyone with the game code can join from anywhere at joinplay.net, so a Zoom or hybrid office event can have remote teams on the same scoreboard as the people in the room. Share the screen for the questions and post the code in the chat.

Any phone, tablet or laptop with a modern web browser. Nothing to install. On paper rounds, a pen.

There are five plans (full details on the pricing page):

• Free: $0. 3 games a month, 1 venue, up to 30 players or 8 teams a game, 50 of your own questions, Brainflood watermark on the TV.
• Starter: $19 a month or $189 a year. 12 games a month, up to 75 players or 20 teams, 500 of your own questions, Host Books, smaller watermark.
• Pro: $39 a month or $389 a year. Unlimited games, 5 venues, up to 200 players or 50 teams, tournaments and leagues (2 a month each), your logo on the TV and prints, no watermark.
• Business: $99 a month or $989 a year. 10 venues, unlimited players, unlimited tournaments and leagues, full white-label.
• Enterprise: $199 a month or $1,990 a year. Unlimited venues, Sub-Host Management included.

Every plan, including Free, gets the whole question library, the print pack, Auto Assist and the TV.

Yes. The Free plan needs no card and covers three games a month with the full library, paper or phone scoring, the print pack and the TV. Pro, Business and Enterprise also have a 14-day free trial, which asks for a card and is for first-time subscribers.

Your account drops to the Free plan at the end of the billing period. Starter and up can export games, teams, questions, venues, contacts, income and expenses (CSV, JSON or XML; Pro adds Excel, OpenDocument and PDF), so export before you cancel. On any plan you can export your questions and any game to PowerPoint.

Email support@brainflood.com, or use the "Report a problem" button on every page of the app. The host handbook and the game rules answer most how-to questions.

Whatever suits the room. Many regulars prefer paper, and some players dislike phone games, so paper is a safe default at a bar. Phones make scoring instant and suit Lightning, wagering and poll rounds, which are phone-only. Because answer mode is set per round, a common mix is paper for most of the night and one phone round for a change of pace.

Say the rule once at the start, with a smile, and enforce it quietly. Many hosts make a caught team ineligible for prizes rather than docking points, which avoids an argument in front of the room. In Brainflood you can untick "Playing for prizes" for a team (they still play) or add a quiet "+N to every other team" penalty; neither shows on the TV or phones. More in scoring, prizes and fair play.

The usual answer is a closest-number question: how tall, how many, what year. Every answer sheet in the print pack has a tie-breaker line, and the live console has a closest-number panel (with an optional "without going over" rule) that can put the result on the TV. Keep two or three tiebreakers ready every night.

Decide your rule before it happens and say it the same way every time: you will listen, and the host's call is final. Keep a source link next to each question so you can check quickly. If a team has a fair point, give them the point; regulars respect a host who admits a bad question. In Brainflood you can flip any grade before you confirm scores.

About 10 to 15 minutes. Do not try to get rid of it: it is when people order food and drinks, go outside and talk to the next table, and it is when the venue makes money from your night. Play music and keep it from dragging past 15.

Standings, yes; raw scores, optional. Showing ranks rather than exact points avoids arguments about one point. The TV can hide points and show ranks only, and at the end it can reveal the final standings last to first, which is a good way to end the night.

Yes. A common pattern is trivia first, then karaoke into the late evening. Karaoke in Brainflood has an optional "Trivia between sets": three multiple-choice music questions that singers in the line answer on their phones, and the winner gets a Priority Pass that moves them up the line. You can also launch a quick trivia game over a set, which opens in a new tab.

Most are regulars who have had a few drinks and want attention. A light reply and moving on usually works. If it keeps going, have a quiet word at their table during the break. If it gets worse, it is the venue staff's call, not yours. Never argue with anyone over the microphone.

It depends on your city and state. Many hosts start as sole proprietors with nothing extra; some places require a general business license. Call your city or county clerk. It is usually a short form and a small annual fee. See business basics.

You do not need one to start. An LLC can separate business debts and claims from your personal assets, which matters more once you have several venues, equipment or other hosts. Filing fees vary a lot by state. Talk to an accountant before you decide; for one or two weekly nights, a sole proprietorship and a separate bank account is the common choice.

Often not for a weekly bar night, though some venues ask for it and corporate clients and event spaces often require a certificate of insurance before they book you. General liability for a small entertainment business is roughly $25 to $50 a month from a local agent or an online small-business insurer. See insurance in business basics.

In the US you are usually self-employed. All of your hosting income is reportable, including cash and tips. You report it on Schedule C, and self-employment tax (15.3%) applies once your net self-employment earnings reach $400 a year. Set aside 25 to 30% and make quarterly estimated payments once the amounts add up. A venue that pays you over the IRS reporting threshold may send a 1099-NEC; check irs.gov for the current threshold. An accountant is worth it for the first year.

Business costs you can document: equipment, software subscriptions, printing, prizes you pay for, insurance, and the business share of your phone. Driving to venues is usually deductible at the IRS standard mileage rate (70 cents a mile for 2025; check irs.gov for the current year), so keep a mileage log from the first night. Ask an accountant what applies to you.

Music played in a venue is covered by the venue's ASCAP, BMI or SESAC licenses only if the venue actually holds them, so ask. Pictures are the bigger risk: hosts report settlement demands of $2,000 to $5,000 for using copyrighted photos in picture rounds. Use your own photos, public domain images, or images whose license allows it. For karaoke in Brainflood, the KJ picks a YouTube karaoke video for each singer and the TV plays it; ask the venue about its licenses for that too.

It happens to everyone in the first few weeks. Run the night properly for whoever is there; two teams who had a good time bring friends. Ask the venue to post about it and put flyers on the tables and the bar, not just the bathroom door. Give a new night about six weeks before you and the venue decide it is not working.

If it drops briefly, phones reconnect on their own. Keep a phone hotspot ready for longer outages. On paper rounds the night carries on regardless, which is a good reason to bring printed answer sheets from the print pack every week, even for a phone night.

First, that the TV's browser is on app.brainflood.com/tv with the right game code. If the TV has no browser, run an HDMI cable from a laptop and open the TV page there. If the venue's TV is showing a game that night, ask early; a second screen or printed handouts may be the answer. A tech sheet for each venue (inputs, wifi, who has the remote) saves this conversation every week.

Browsers block sound until someone interacts with the page, so the TV may need one tap or click before it can play. Until then, read-aloud plays on your laptop.

It happens, often for reasons that have nothing to do with you: new owners, a new manager, a tighter budget. Be gracious, ask if they would give you a reference, and leave the door open. Having more than one venue is the only real protection.

Use the Report button on the question. Library questions are fact-checked, but mistakes get through. If it happens during a game, flip the grade before you confirm scores.