Sheffield’s best pub quizzes

Everybody loves a pub quiz. A good one provides both cerebral stimulation and sociable inebriation; an opportunity for cogitating communally and impressing individually. And you can win prizes. Like free drinks. Which are always great.

So you know where to go, The Tab has put together a list of the best pub quizzes in Sheffield, because being an erudite student doesn’t have to stop when lectures end.

1. Quizarama-rama at The Riverside, Mowbray Street – Mondays, 8 p.m.

Difficulty: 3/5
Inventiveness: 5/5
Vibe: Bizarre

The Riverside is a great pub, Quizarama-rama is free to enter and fantastically surreal, and there’s free soup. What more could you want on a Monday evening? A spangled Stan Skinny will quiz you on current affairs, asking you ‘Who’s died this week?’, and he’ll grill you on games, to the theme tune from A Question of Sport.

He’ll even test your knowledge of military commanders in the general knowledge round. There’s a movie quotes round for all you film buffs and a cryptic round for all you cruciverbalists. There’s even a frustratingly good music round and an ingeniously confounding creative round. We had to make a shoe out of tinfoil last week.

There are also plenty of points to be won in bonus rounds which include ‘Lemon Curling’, ‘Human Buckaroo’, and ‘Pin the Penis on the Porn Star’. The winning team gets 8 beverages of their choice and something special from the prize chest, like a creepy porcelain clown or a DVD of 2012’s biggest blockbuster, 2-Headed Shark Attack.

So go and lay down your heavy load, down by the riverside. It’s definitely worth the walk.

2. The Fat Cat, Alma Street – Mondays, 9 p.m.

Difficulty: 4/5
Inventiveness: 2/5
Vibe: Tricky

The Fat Cat is a proper pub with a proper pub quiz. The Monday night contest, which is free to enter, consists of 20 frustratingly straightforward general knowledge questions, with a few topical ones thrown in.

You’ll kick the shit out of yourself when the archetypal landlord nonchalantly reads out what you should’ve said. Yes, you’ll be up against a few matured eggheads, but that doesn’t make it any less fun. And it means that second place will feel like a victory. And you can get a pint of Kelham Best for £1.50.

They also do a fantastic pork pie, which is also £1.50, and a curry/naan/bhaji deal for £3.50. You really can’t go wrong. In the winter there are roaring fires and, all year round, there’s a cat that wanders through the homely rooms like it owns the place.

3. The Hallamshire House, Commonside – Mondays, 9 p.m.

Difficulty: 4/5
Inventiveness: 3/5
Vibe: Frantic

For anyone who’s a fan of real ales, you’ll probably already know that The Hallamshire is your sort of pub. It boasts a huge (if not sporadic) selection of local beers produced at Thornbridge Brewery. Unfortunately, the Monday night quiz isn’t free entry (each team surrendering a minimum of £1), but what’s nice is that all the proceeds go to a charity of the winning teams choice – ethical quizzing.

Unlike other quizzes, The Hallamshire tends to lack certain frills and gimmicks; you will find no free food or quirky team names here. Just answer the questions, claim the free booze, and leave.

The quiz usually only consists of a picture round and a question round (there really are no frills), with the content being of a challenging nature. The picture round can be anything from African flags to spectacularly obscure dingbats; be entertained by the pandemonium ensued when contestants dispute the accuracy of their interpretation of a dingbat in comparison to the ‘correct’ answer.

The questions in the more traditional pub quiz round tend be quite eclectic and there are no obvious themes that recur from week to week. This keeps the competition fresh, and makes it difficult for teams to monopolise the quiz. Having said that, research the music charts and you’re likely to gain a point somewhere.

4. The Edge Bar, Endcliffe Student Village – Sundays, 9 p.m.

Difficulty: 3/5
Inventiveness: 3/5
Vibe: Laid-back

Just what you need after a hard week as a fresher enjoying the many cultural delights of Sheffield: a chilled out quiz to round things off with a few beers and your flatmates (you know, the ones you haven’t talked to since Sarah left that cheese out for 2 months and Joe did a shit in your sink).

The quiz content is the usual fare of a picture round followed by 6 rounds of questions that are nicely placed between challenging and shit you might actually know, as opposed to stuff on 1940s literature and annual weather patterns in Venezuela.

The quiz is free to enter, and the prizes range from bar tabs to a mystery box so good that seasoned campaigners seek out third place on purpose in an attempt to land it. The bar’s usually pretty full by the time the quiz begins, with around 15-20 teams taking part each week, so playoffs for places are often interesting (paper aeroplane flying, snowflake making, nacho eating competitions) and occasionally humiliating (the dreaded dance/sing off).

With bonus points awarded for team names and a bonus funny, ranging from favourite chat up lines to drawings and jokes, your creative side isn’t ignored. So if you fancy some fun, without too much pressure on that Sunday hangover, give this quiz a go. You never know, you might be on the Edge of glory.

5. Pop Quiz at Frog & Parrot, Division Street – Wednesdays, 9 p.m.

Difficulty: 4/5
Inventiveness: 3/5
Vibe: Mellifluous

If you’re into music, this is the quiz for you. It’s free to enter and offers cash prizes. Like money cash. Which is pretty great. But be sure to brush up on your music trivia beforehand; like in which year did Soft Cell’s ‘Tainted Love’ log its 43^rd week in the Top 100 and when did Milli Vanilli’s Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus have their Grammy Award revoked for miming? Yeah, you’ll probably be pulling that face a lot …

So stop by on a Wednesday night for good music, a confounding quiz, and the chance to win real money … before you destroy all of your brain cells at the Corp Skool Disco.