Pub Trivia Cheaters: Suggestions on Catching Them?

[artemicion]

My local bar runs Pub Trivia nights and we suspect that we are having trouble with cheaters. Any suggestions on how to ferret them out?

Format is standard question and answer on a wide range of trivia topics. Cell phone use is banned, but while it's policing cell phone usage is somewhat reliable (we rely on teams monitoring each other), more "creative" cheats are more difficult to detect (like smart watch use, or anything smaller than a cell phone that's harder to detect unless you're sitting at their table).

One suggestion was to plant trap questions (fake questions with fake answers that can only be found on the Internet). Not 100% sure how to implement this. Is there a good way to plant fake info on the internet that could easily be found by a cheater?

 

[poofyhairguy]

Easy.

Ask an obscure question where the only answer is on Wikipedia. Right before the event go and vandalize that wikipedia page with the wrong answer.

 

[z1ggy]

The bar should just implement a Zero Tolerance policy. Any person caught cheating in any form, gets not only themselves banned from that trivia night, but their entire team along with a lifetime ban from the bar.

That would probably stop a lot of people from being tempted. I don't think the players themselves can do a ton if there's no consequences other than being labeled a douche.

 

[Phoenix86]

If they don't know about it.... ask a dihydrogen monoxide question. A casual google search will send them here.

http://www.dhmo.org/facts.html

So maybe ask "what is a danger to dihydrogen monoxide exposure?" or similar.

There's plenty of information out there already, pick something fake and run with it.

 

[OCGuy]

Is this really a problem? I mean, what would you do if you thought you "caught" someone and they just denied it?

The only practical thing I can think of is to randomize who people sit next to, so that they know they are being watched.

 

[Kaido]

Easy.

Ask an obscure question where the only answer is on Wikipedia. Right before the event go and vandalize that wikipedia page with the wrong answer.

http://i.imgur.com/s2zg1qc.jpg

 

[Ns1]

If they don't know about it.... ask a dihydrogen monoxide question. A casual google search will send them here.

http://www.dhmo.org/facts.html

So maybe ask "what is a danger to dihydrogen monoxide exposure?" or similar.

There's plenty of information out there already, pick something fake and run with it.

this actually is pretty brilliant.

 

[DrPizza]

It's very easy to plant information. Realize how rapidly threads here are cached by Google; minutes after I suspect someone is spamming this forum and other forums, a quick search for the key words will result in the thread here being in the top hits.

All you have to do is figure out some sort of trivia that's so trivial it's not posted elsewhere online. THAT'S the hard part - sort of. I tried a variety of searches - number of windows in the Empire State Building. Number of bricks, weight, etc. - everything is posted a thousand times. So, I suppose the easiest method is to completely make something up. "What profession uses a zilchgo?" Get a co-conspirator or two to have a discussion about it. "Anyone know a good source to buy a good quality zilchgo? I'm building a cabinet and need one to help align the holes for shelving."


(wait 5 minutes after this post, and google for zilchgo. There are no hits, only suggestions that it's spelled wrong at the present time.)

 

[M0oG0oGaiPan]

i would say run it as is. if people really care they're going to say something.

if you wanted to plant a question, you could just make a thread on the subject here. this site gets crawled pretty quickly and it'll be at the top of the serps depending on how obscure the topic is or if your thread topic is set up for a long tailed keyword.

slightly off topic but a great party trivia game is wits & wagers.

actually the other way you could enforce it is with a time limit and quicker answers get more points. if you need example questions you could steal them from the android/iphone app quizup.

 

[Newell Steamer]

Easy: release a pack of feral hungry wolves into the bar.

 

[SunnyD]

Step 1: Ask the question: "What is your credit card number?"
Step 2: ...
Step 3: Profit!

 

[DrPizza]

That was fast; this thread is now the first ranked hit for zilchgo

And, I didn't think about it before; you'll want the trivia answer to be in the google summary; so they don't have to click the link.

 

[OCGuy]

It's very easy to plant information. Realize how rapidly threads here are cached by Google; minutes after I suspect someone is spamming this forum and other forums, a quick search for the key words will result in the thread here being in the top hits.

Along that line of thinking, the idea would be to completely fabricate multiple biographical Wikipedia pages, instead of editing legitimate ones.

Throw a couple Q's in spread throughout the night about what year English nobleman John Doe III died, etc, and the only two outcomes are people who just think it is an obscure fact, and people who copied the info.

 

[mrjminer]

There was an undercover restaurant show where one of the employees was giving people the questions/answers in advance, then splitting the profits with them. Perhaps where you guys usually put your Q/A, put a fake one there before the game and then use a different one for the game and see what happens.

I would rule this out, too, unless its already 100% known to be inaccessible.

 

[preslove]

How long does each question last? Using a smart watch would take forever...

 

[Squeetard]

Here is the best way. KNOW THE ANSWERS. Anyone who knows the answer will beat a cheater hands down. Points are scored on how fast you answer right? If you know the answer you will kick their ass. Should be easy to find the cheaters too as they will get a right answer, a long way into the timer. What person who knows the answer would take so long to answer?

 

[HN]

definitely first world problem

 

[OCGuy]

Think about it, if you did happen to catch someone red-handed, you could someday be a trivia answer in a future mediocre chain Bar & Grill:

"What do experts consider the lamest 'scandal' from the US Suburbia period?"

A. A bar trivia player was caught looking up answers....

B.....

 

[vi edit]

Here is the best way. KNOW THE ANSWERS. Anyone who knows the answer will beat a cheater hands down. Points are scored on how fast you answer right? If you know the answer you will kick their ass. Should be easy to find the cheaters too as they will get a right answer, a long way into the timer. What person who knows the answer would take so long to answer?

Depends on the bar trivia. The one I go to it's not based on speed. The questions are broke into rounds and they ask 4 questions per round that you write down on an answer sheet and turn in to be scored.

Some of the nights I could have been accused of "cheating", but it was more like cramming in homework. Our trivia night typically had themes and things related to the closest holiday or event going on. We won the week closest to thanksgiving because I went and looked up and memorized a bunch of thanksgiving trivia...how many turkeys sold, how many pounds of turkey is ate on thanksgiving day, average weight of a turkey sold, ect.

There are some questions you just have to wing...like what is the cubic volume of a typical Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade baloon?

 

[artemicion]

Thanks for the suggestion guys. I think we'll try some variations on them.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

I've hosted online trivia games off and on going back to 1995 or so and if you think what happens in a bar is bad try curtailing cheaters when everyone had Encarta and then moved to Google and Wikipedia. I used to spend a lot of time writing "gotcha" questions that I knew the typical search phrase would lead to a wrong answer and it worked, it shamed some people into stopping. But it was WAYYYYYY too much effort and as Wiki keeps updating bad information it's a major bitch to stay on top of things. A search phrase that would be a "gotcha" today might lead to the right answer tomorrow. So I gave up and just started running the games a little faster to give people less time to look shit up. I'd suggest that, work on speed trivia. Have people watch the room and force all answers to be written in xx seconds. It's hard to type in a search phrase on a watch and get the answer written down in 20 seconds with people watching the room.

 

[SearchMaster]

Some of the nights I could have been accused of "cheating", but it was more like cramming in homework.

If you knew the answer before the question was revealed and the questions were not unethically provided to you ahead of time, only the biggest anal retentive asshole could accuse you of cheating.

 

[Train]

cell phone jammers?

wifi jammer as well if there are nearby businesses with open wifi.

 

[blackdogdeek]

1. Plant a fake cheater into a fake team
2. Fake catch them and then ban them for life from the bar

Hopefully, this will curb any future attempts to cheat by others. If you suspect cheating is recurring, repeat with a new fake team.

 

[Midwayman]

The cheaters made me not want to go back to our local bar trivia. When you're halfway through the game and some teams haven't missed any questions at all it kinda makes it not fun.