PULTEVENT
Melbourne Cup party games: 7 ideas for the office and the long lunch
An office on the twelfth floor in Brisbane, first Tuesday in November, twenty to two. The race goes at three o'clock Melbourne time, which up here is two, because Queensland doesn't bother with daylight saving. Someone has taped the sweep sheet to the kitchen fridge, half the names are in biro and half in highlighter, and the receptionist is still chasing two people from accounts who swear they paid. A fascinator is sitting on the photocopier.
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The race itself lasts about three and a half minutes. The party around it lasts two or three hours, and that part is up to you. Most workplaces and lunch crowds do the same few things every year: the sweep, a hat competition, some trivia nobody quite finishes, then everyone crowds round the telly for the running. Put those on a big screen with the guests playing from their phones and the afternoon gets a shape.
With PULTEVENT the organiser runs everything from a laptop browser, the office TV or a projector shows it, and people join by scanning a QR code. No app, no login, but their phones do need internet. What PULTEVENT doesn't do is show the race broadcast; you'll still want the telecast on a TV or switch the input across when the horses load.
7 things to run on Cup day
1 The sweep draw
Everyone who's in scans the QR code to enter. Once the field is final, the draw runs on the big screen and each name is paired with a horse, one at a time, with the whole office watching.
How to run it. Do the draw after the final field is confirmed, and screenshot the results for the fridge. Whether money changes hands is between you and your workplace rules; the platform doesn't touch it.
A public draw ends the annual grumbling about who pulled the favourite and how.
2 Countdown to the jump
A break screen with a clock counting down to race time, adjusted to your own time zone. It sits on the screen between games so people drift back in time.
How to run it. Set it to your local time, not Melbourne's. Perth and Brisbane offices get this wrong every year.
Nobody asks "what time's the race" for the fortieth time.
3 The Cup quiz
Ten questions on the race: first run in 1861, the distance of 3200 metres, the course at Flemington, Phar Lap's win in 1930, the mare who won it three years running. Answers from phones, fastest correct first.
How to run it. Write it in the quiz builder and add two questions about this year's field once it's announced.
It gives the people who know racing a chance to show off, and teaches everyone else enough to follow the call.
4 Fashions on the Field
Five or six entrants line up by the windows: the handmade fascinator, the three-piece suit, the bloke from IT in a borrowed hat. Everyone votes on their phone and the bars climb on the screen.
How to run it. Take a photo of each entrant for the screen so the vote isn't just a list of names.
People put effort into Cup day outfits. The vote makes it part of the show.
5 The office race
While the horses parade at Flemington, run your own. Each person rides a horse on the big screen from their phone, empty lanes filled by bots, three-second countdown and away.
How to run it. Run a couple of heats and a final. It takes a few minutes and burns off the nerves before the real one.
For a few minutes everybody has a horse in the race, not just the people who drew the favourite.
6 Pick the placings
Before the jump, the room votes on first, second and third from the final field. Nobody has to know anything, and afterwards you can see who called it.
How to run it. Close the vote when the horses reach the barriers so nobody changes their mind after the start.
It keeps the ones without a horse in the sweep invested in the result.
7 The podium
If teams or departments have been scoring through the quiz and the office race, the scoreboard ends with a proper ceremony: special awards, then third, second and first, with fanfare on the screen.
How to run it. Hold it just after the race, while the room is still loud.
A clean end to the afternoon, before people start disappearing for the train.
The sweep, drawn in public
No more folded paper in a hat. Names come up on the screen, one horse each, and everybody sees it happen.
Your own race before the real one
Guests ride horses from their phones in an on-screen race while the field parades.
Fashions on the Field, office edition
The best hat and outfit voted from phones, results live on the screen.
A countdown to the jump
A timer on the screen so nobody misses three o'clock in Melbourne.
Running order for an office afternoon
In Melbourne itself it's a public holiday for most of the metro area, so the parties happen at home, at the track or in a pub. Everywhere else, Cup day is a working day with a long lunch in the middle, which is where these games live.
Here's the order I'd use for a two-hour window: sweep draw at the start of lunch, the Cup quiz while people eat, the fashions vote, the office race, then pick-the-placings with the countdown on the screen. Switch to the broadcast ten minutes before the jump for the parade and the call. Podium after.
Two screens, or one and a switch
The easiest setup has two: a TV with the race coverage on, and a projector or second TV for the games. If you only have one, keep the games on it until about ten minutes before the jump, then switch the input to the telecast. The laptop keeps running in the background, so the podium is one click away afterwards.
"Can we get the race on the projector?"
"We can get the race on the projector. We can't get the projector to pick the winner."
A lunch at a venue or a pub
Plenty of firms book a function room for Cup day. Ring the venue ahead and ask what's on the walls: most have TVs for the racing and some have a screen and projector you can plug into. Ask about the Wi-Fi as well, because a room full of phones answering a quiz at once needs a decent connection. If signal is poor, the sweep draw, the countdown and the fashions photos still work from the laptop, and you take the vote by applause.
Bring your own HDMI cable, and an adapter if your laptop needs one. Venue cables have a habit of going missing on the busiest day of the spring racing season.
Keeping it inclusive
Not everyone at work is into racing, and some people would rather not bet at all. The on-screen race, the quiz and the fashions vote don't need money or a horse, so there's something for them too. Keep the sweep optional and low-key, and make sure the prizes for the games aren't tied to it.
Trying it first
The free 3-day demo needs no card. Set it up the week before, build your quiz and do a test draw with a couple of colleagues. The full version is a one-time licence, no subscription; the price is on pultevent.ru/en. Cup day comes round every year, and so does the Christmas party a few weeks later, so the same setup does both.
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 run a Melbourne Cup sweep and games on screen
- 1
The week before, write the Cup quiz and set up a demo account to test it.
- 2
Once the final field is announced, add the horses to your sweep list and two quiz questions about them.
- 3
On the day, connect the laptop to the projector or spare TV and set the countdown to your local race time.
- 4
Put the QR code up, let people enter the sweep, and run the draw on screen.
- 5
Play the quiz, the fashions vote and the office race over lunch, then open pick-the-placings.
- 6
Switch to the broadcast for the running, and finish with the podium.
FAQ
Does it show the actual race?
Does the platform handle sweep money?
Do people need an app?
How does the on-screen horse race work?
Can a remote team join in?
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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