PULTEVENT
Burns Night party games: 7 games that fit around the supper
A rugby club in the Borders, the 25th of January, rain on the windows. The piper has just come in ahead of the haggis on its silver ashet, the chairman is on his feet with a knife ready for the Address, and at table four a visiting Englishman is whispering to his wife that he has no idea what "sonsie" means. By the end of the night he will, because it is question three.
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A Burns supper already has a shape, and a good one: the Selkirk Grace, the haggis piped in and addressed, the meal, the Immortal Memory, the Toast to the Lassies and the reply, then songs, recitations and Auld Lang Syne. Nobody wants a party game shoved in the middle of the Address to a Haggis. But there are gaps. Between the main course and the Immortal Memory, between the speeches and the ceilidh, and in the long stretch when the band is setting up, a room of eighty is waiting for something.
Those gaps are where I put games. They run on PULTEVENT, from a laptop connected to the club's projector or telly; guests hold up their phones to a QR code on the screen and play in the browser, without downloading anything. Phones need internet, which in a stone-built hall in the country is worth testing before the night.
7 Burns Night games, in the gaps of the supper
1 The Burns quiz
Twelve questions on the man and his work: where he was born, which song ends the night, what the mouse was doing in the field. Four options each, answered on phones, tables as teams.
How to run it. Write it yourself in the quiz builder. Keep two or three questions easy enough for guests who only know Auld Lang Syne.
It warms the room up for the Immortal Memory. The speaker will find the audience knows a bit more than usual.
2 Finish the line
The first half of a famous line on the screen, four possible endings on the phones. To a Mouse, A Red, Red Rose, Tam o' Shanter, Address to a Haggis.
How to run it. Quote from a reliable printed edition. Guests who know the poems will notice a wrong word.
Someone always starts reciting the rest of the verse out loud, and the table joins in.
3 What does that word mean
Scots words from the poems and from everyday speech: sonsie, sleekit, dreich, glaikit, bahookie. Pick the meaning from four options.
How to run it. Mix words from the poems with words people still use in the pub. Let a local read each one aloud before the timer starts.
Visitors learn a handful of words to take home, and the locals get to be the experts.
4 Rabbie's life in order
Events from the poet's life on cards: born in Alloway, the Kilmarnock edition, the move to Edinburgh, the farm at Ellisland, his death in Dumfries. Teams put them in order on their phones.
How to run it. Check every date against a good biography before the night. Burns fans are exact.
It works as a short history lesson that nobody minds, right before the Immortal Memory.
5 The whisky raffle
Guests register by scanning the code when they sit down, and the draw spins the names on the screen before the ceilidh. Top prize a bottle of single malt, smaller prizes shortbread and tablet.
How to run it. If you are raising money for the club, check the rules on raffles and alcohol prizes with the committee first.
It pulls everyone back to their tables for one last moment together before the chairs are cleared.
6 Best recitation, voted
After the guest recitations, the room votes from their phones for the best delivery. Bars grow on the screen and the winner gets a dram.
How to run it. Line up your reciters in advance and give each of them a short poem or a verse. Tam o' Shanter in full is for the brave.
It gives the reciters an audience that is really listening.
7 Dance battle before the ceilidh
Two tables, a short reel each, the room votes for the better one. Then the band takes over and everyone is on their feet anyway.
How to run it. Keep it to a minute a side. The real dancing is still to come.
It fills the ten minutes when the tables are being moved, which are otherwise the flattest of the night.
Fits the traditional order
Games go in the gaps, never over the Grace, the Address or the toasts.
Scots and non-Scots together
Word rounds and finish-the-line teach the visitors and flatter the locals.
Tables as teams
Each table plays together, and the scoreboard keeps count through the evening.
Guests answer on phones
No quiz sheets to hand round between the soup and the haggis.
Where the games go in the running order
Welcome and the Selkirk Grace: no screen, just a splash screen with the date and the name of the club. Piping in the haggis and the Address: screen off or on the splash. The meal: nothing, let people eat. After the main course: the Burns quiz and Scots words. Then the Immortal Memory. Before the Toast to the Lassies: finish the line. After the reply and the recitations: the vote. As the band sets up: the dance battle and the raffle. Then the ceilidh, and Auld Lang Syne to finish.
The traditional parts belong to the speakers. The games belong to the gaps between them.
For a smaller supper at home
Eight friends round a dining table and a haggis from the butcher. Here the telly in the corner does the job of the projector. Skip the raffle and the dance battle and run just the quiz and the Scots words between the haggis and the cranachan.
"Is glaikit an insult?"
"Depends who says it."
Scots abroad
Caledonian societies and Scottish clubs from Toronto to Dubai hold Burns suppers every January, often with guests who have never been to Scotland. Each guest's phone shows the game screens in the phone's own language, while the questions you write stay as you wrote them, which helps a mixed room follow along. The host console runs in English.
The hall and the connection
Most club rooms and village halls have a projector, or at least a wall and a socket. Bring an HDMI cable, check the input works, and try the Wi-Fi from the far corner of the room. Old stone walls are hard on signal. Guests can also use mobile data. Without any connection the phone games will not start, but the splash screen and any video you have loaded play from the laptop.
Writing your questions
The built-in quiz decks are mostly in Russian today, so a Burns quiz is one you write yourself. That is no hardship: the best Burns questions are the ones about your own club, your chairman, the year the piper got lost on the way. Put two local questions in among the Burns ones and watch the room.
Giving it a go
You can build and test the whole evening on the free 3-day demo, card not required, a week or two before the 25th. If you want it for next year as well, the licence is bought once and does not renew; the price sits on pultevent.ru/en.
About the author
PULTEVENT was built by Ruslan Barashkin, who has hosted weddings, birthdays and office parties since 2014: over 500 events, best host of Moscow 2024 and of Saint Petersburg 2023 at the TOP 100 Awards. He made it for his own nights first. The rest is at pultevent.ru/en.
How to add games to a Burns supper
- 1
Agree the running order with the chairman and the speakers.
- 2
Write the Burns quiz, finish-the-line and Scots words rounds.
- 3
Line up your reciters and collect raffle prizes.
- 4
On the night, connect the laptop to the screen and test the Wi-Fi from the back.
- 5
Put the QR code up as people find their seats, then leave the screen quiet for the Address.
- 6
Play the rounds in the gaps and finish with the raffle before the ceilidh.
FAQ
Will the games interrupt the traditional parts?
Is there a ready-made Burns quiz?
Can children play?
How long do the games take in total?
Can overseas members join by video?
What does it cost?
See also
Run brighter events — with PULTEVENT
All audience interactions, a second screen and timing in one app. Guests join by QR — internet is needed for you and for them.
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