How to write amazing fandom trivia games (and download a free Unofficial Gilmore Girls-inspired trivia set)
Use these tips to write trivia questions that will stump even the biggest fans of your favorite TV shows and movies.
Trivia is quite possibly the glue holding together our fragile, healing nation.
OK, maybe that’s a bit dramatic. But seriously! How many times have you walked into a bar on any given night and found it packed with tipsy patrons, working feverishly to piece together their collective knowledge of esoteric topics like Victorian fashion and the names of presidential pets—all in pursuit of a Buffalo Wild Wings gift card? 🍗🌋💳
No one shines at Trivia Night quite like a pop culture buff, and there are few things a fan loves more than a trivia contest dedicated to their favorite TV show or movie franchise. While attending these geeky trivia nights is fun, you don’t have to wait for your local watering hole to host a theme night for your favorite franchises. We’ll show you how to make it happen yourself! We’ll even give you some tools to get you started!
So take these tips, get to work, and impress your friends with your trivia hosting prowess. You could break these out at your next party, pitch your favorite bar on hosting a trivia night, or even join our Remarkist community to host virtual trivia nights and award prizes in our fandom app and ecosystem.
Here’s how to get started:
1. Begin with a few easy questions, then make them progressively harder. 🧗♀️
If you’re hosting a trivia night, remember that not everyone who attends will be the super fan you are, and that’s okay. A talented game designer understands that a game should be easy enough for everyone to score some wins but challenging enough that it’s not boring.
To start off, consider what you already know about your favorite shows and movies. The following are examples of good, easy trivia to use:
Famous songs and the episodes (or scenes) they appeared in
Notable quotes and who said them
Actors who appeared in the series based on the characters they portrayed
Special guest cameo appearances
Iconic fashion moments
2. Use transcripts to write your toughest questions. 📒
When I wrote Gilmore Girls trivia for Remarkist’s Super Sensational Summer Spectacular festival, cast members and fans alike were stumped by some of the questions. My big secret? Transcripts!
Because the Internet is magical, transcripts for many popular shows and movies are available for free online. I ran through every season of Gilmore Girls, picking random transcripts that I could scan for information. And while I have seen each episode of the show a conservative estimate of 10,392,084,290,841,948,301 times, it was much easier to write quickly and ensure I was covering all seasons by having the transcripts in front of me.
Viewing the content in writing may also help you find details that even the most avid fan would miss. Those small, tucked-away trivia gems will distinguish the champions from everyone else.
3. Don’t just limit yourself to what’s on screen.
Most super fans of a franchise tend to go beyond what’s shown on screen and delve into production details. They listen to podcasts, watch behind-the-scenes interviews, and go on studio tours to learn as much as they can about their favorite fictional universes. Here are some great examples of challenging trivia that focuses on crew and production:
Notable directors who worked on the show (and episodes they directed)
Other shows and films the creator has worked on or created
Special details about costumes or set design choices
The names of cast members’ stunt doubles or stand-ins
The origins of notable props
You can find behind-the-scenes trivia like this in DVD commentary (time to dust off that collection!) or in interviews with cast and crew. Read about some of our own fireside chats with Gilmore Girls cast and crew like Emily Kuroda and Robert Michael Lee.
4. Explore different formats for presenting your trivia, including making unofficial Trivial Pursuit-style cards.
With a reasonably decent eye for design, anyone can create their own deck of unofficial Trivial Pursuit-style cards featuring their own trivia questions. To keep it simple, hand write the questions on cards with printed-out photos from the show or franchise. For extra creativity, design them online with free apps like Canva or PicsArts, which come with thousands of templates to get you started.
You can always keep your designs phone friendly and ever so portable. If you want to go that extra mile, get them professionally printed onto cards that will make them look oh so very fancy!
A gift for Gilmore Girls fans looking to get started right away
That’s right! Please accept this small gift from us to you. Click here to download a free pack of 20 phone-friendly, Remarkist Unofficial Fandom trivia cards based on the show Gilmore Girls.
🍁 🃏☕️
We even included 5 additional blank cards for you to add your own trivia—simply edit the blank cards like you would any of your photos and use your phone’s drawing and text tools to layer your questions and answers!
Join us at Remarkist for games nights scheduled in our app, or add one yourself! 🎲🗓
Not a Remarkist member yet? Here’s how to get started:
Step 1: Join our beta as an early adopter and grab your unique @membername. Install our app using the instructions here, and be one of the earliest to collect our KRNL token while earning rates are high. KRNLs fuel Remarkist’s fandom economy of events and collectibles.
Step 2: Join our Remarkist Clubhouse Club—Clubhouse is a separate mobile app on iPhone and Android that we use right now to meet and watch content together. You’ll need it to actually join us for our real-time events, and you’ll need to be a member of our club there to see those chat rooms.
Step 3: Join our Discord Server—this is where hundreds of Remarkists are geeking out over the shows we love 24 hours a day, and it’s where you can get the latest developments on the project.
Step 4: Check our website at remarkist.com for a splashy birds-eye view of the biggest stuff happening in our ecosystem.
Step 5: Subscribe to future newsletters so you can stay up to date on all the exciting stuff coming to Remarkist in 2022!