PULTEVENT
St Patrick's Day party games: 6 rounds for the pub, club or office
The clubhouse bar after the town parade. Kids with painted shamrocks on their cheeks are fighting over the last packet of crisps, the tea urn is on its third refill, somebody's grandad is explaining the rules of hurling to a Spanish exchange student, and the committee has promised a quiz at five. The committee has not written a quiz.
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Paddy's Day is one of the few dates when a pub, a sports club, an Irish society in London and an office in Boston all want the same thing on the same afternoon: something to do together that isn't just another round. A short run of games on the telly or a projector does that job, as long as the questions are right and the whole thing is over before people want to get back to the music.
This is how I'd put one together with PULTEVENT. The console runs in a laptop browser, the big screen shows the rounds, and the crowd plays on their own phones by scanning a QR code, no app and no sign-up. Those phones need internet, pub Wi-Fi or mobile data, so check the signal in the back room before you print the posters.
6 rounds for 17 March
1 The Patrick quiz
Ten questions on the man and the day. Where was he born (Roman Britain, not Ireland), how old was he when he was taken to Ireland as a slave, which colour was linked to him before green took over, what year the day became a public holiday in Ireland.
How to run it. Check every answer against a decent source and keep the dates you're not sure of out of it. There's always one table with a retired teacher.
It starts the session on something with a bit of weight, and most people are surprised by at least three answers.
2 Myth or fact
Short statements, the room votes true or false from their phones. Patrick drove the snakes out of Ireland. Chicago dyes its river green every year. The first parade in New York was held before American independence. The answers go up one at a time.
How to run it. Mix the famous legends with the surprising true ones, and explain each answer in a sentence. That's where the laughs are.
Anyone can have a go without knowing any history, including the kids and the exchange student.
3 Name the county
Photos of landmarks, towns, a harbour, a stretch of coast. Each table guesses the county from four options. For an Irish crowd, make them hard. For a mixed room, include a couple of easy ones.
How to run it. Use your own photos or ones you have permission to use, and include at least one county nobody from the room is from.
It sets off the county rivalry that every Irish gathering has anyway, but in a way that ends with a score rather than a sulk.
4 The big race
Paddy's Day often lands in Cheltenham week, so the racing is on everyone's mind. Put the horse race up on the screen and let each table race a horse from a phone. It is loud, short and nobody needs to know anything.
How to run it. Run it between the quiz rounds, when the room needs to stretch. Let the kids take the phones.
The energy lift you need halfway through, and the only round where the grandad and the eight-year-old are on even terms.
5 Best dressed in green
Five volunteers stand at the front in whatever green they managed to find: the rugby jersey, the inflatable hat, the tie from a 1990s wedding. The room votes from their phones and the bars grow on the screen.
How to run it. Take the contestants' names at the door so you're not begging for volunteers on the mic.
Everyone has made an effort with an outfit on the day. This gives the effort an audience.
6 The podium
The team scoreboard adds up the quiz, myth-or-fact and county rounds, then runs an awards ceremony with special awards first and the winners last, confetti on the screen.
How to run it. Keep a couple of joke awards for the table that tried hardest or sang loudest.
It ends the games cleanly, so the band or the session musicians can take over.
A quiz that gets it right
Questions built from the real history, not the leprechaun version. Myth-or-fact rounds for the rest.
Tables play as teams
Each table scans the code, picks a name, and the scoreboard keeps count across every round.
Something for the kids
A horse race on the screen they can steer from a parent's phone, between the grown-up rounds.
Ready before the parade ends
Build it the week before, plug in the laptop, and start when the room fills.
Getting the history right
A lot of Paddy's Day quizzes online are copied from each other and some of the answers are shaky. Before the day, go through your questions with a proper source open. The safe, well-known facts give you more than enough: Patrick was born in Roman Britain, was brought to Ireland as a captive in his teens, later came back as a missionary, and is said to be buried at Downpatrick. The snakes story is legend; Ireland had no snakes to begin with.
Where a date is disputed, leave it out or ask the question the other way round. You're running a party, not a thesis defence.
Pub, club or office
In a pub the tables are already teams, and one phone per table is enough. Put the QR code on the screen, give them two minutes to pick a name, and start the first round. Keep the whole thing under forty-five minutes.
In a GAA club or a rugby club, lean into the local: county questions, club history, a photo of the under-12s from twenty years ago. At an office party in London, Boston or Sydney, where half the room has no Irish connection at all, make it lighter: more myth-or-fact, fewer place names, and a horse race for the ones who just want to shout at a screen.
"Is there a round on the rules of hurling?"
"Only if you want the grandad to take over the microphone."
Timing on the day
Parades run late, and the crowd comes in waves. I use the event timing section to put up a break screen with a countdown ("Quiz starts in 15 minutes") while people get their drinks and find a table. It saves you announcing the same thing four times.
The best slot is an hour after the parade has finished, before the evening music starts. Kids are still around, the adults are relaxed, and nobody has gone home yet.
Irish societies and clubs abroad
In cities with a big Irish community, the Irish centre or society often runs the day, and the room is a mix of people born in Ireland, second and third generation, and friends who came for the craic. Guest screens follow the language set on each phone, which helps when there are visitors from abroad in the room, though the questions themselves are the ones you write.
If members can't travel in, the host can share the stage window in a video call. Remote members see the screen and answer from their phones through the same code.
What it costs and how to test it
Use the free 3-day demo, no card needed, to build the quiz and run it once on your own telly with a couple of friends. If it suits, the full version is a one-time licence, not a subscription, and the price is shown on pultevent.ru/en. The ready-made quiz decks are mostly Russian at the moment, so for a Paddy's Day quiz you'll be writing your own. You would anyway.
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 St Patrick's Day quiz on the big screen
- 1
A week before, write the Patrick quiz and the myth-or-fact statements, checking every answer.
- 2
Gather eight landmark photos for the county round and load them into the photo section.
- 3
Check the venue's screen, HDMI cable and Wi-Fi, and try the QR code from a phone in the room.
- 4
On the day, put up a countdown screen as people come in from the parade.
- 5
Let each table scan the code and pick a team name, then run the rounds with the horse race in the middle.
- 6
Finish with the best-dressed vote and the podium, then hand the room to the music.
FAQ
Is there a ready-made St Patrick's Day quiz?
How many phones do we need?
Does it work in a pub with poor signal?
Can kids play?
Can I run it for an office that's half remote?
How long does it take to set up on the day?
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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