We Just Launched Music Trivia, and Your Spotify Playlists Just Became Game Night

There are two kinds of people at a party.

People who hear the first few seconds of a song and immediately know the title, artist, album, year, and probably what they were doing the first time they heard it.

And everyone else.

It's time to find out who's who.

Today we're introducing Music Trivia, the newest game on GIG GAME — a live, phone-based music competition powered by the Spotify playlists you choose.

Instead of giving hosts a fixed catalog of music questions, we built Music Trivia around a much simpler idea:

What if the playlist was the trivia deck?

Choose the music you want your crowd to hear, and GIG GAME turns it into the competition.

A Different Kind of Music Trivia

Most music trivia comes with somebody else's definition of music knowledge.

Here are the songs.

Here are the categories.

Here are the questions.

Hope your audience likes them.

Music Trivia flips that around.

The host starts with a public Spotify playlist. It could be a playlist found through Spotify or one you've already created for your events.

From there, GIG GAME uses the music in that playlist to build the game.

That makes the possibilities a little ridiculous.

Run an entire night around 80s hits.

Build a battle between pop-punk fans.

Test which table actually knows classic rock.

Go deep into disco, country, alternative, hip-hop, movie soundtracks, holiday music, guilty pleasures, or whatever musical rabbit hole suits the room.

Next week, change the playlist and do something completely different.

The game adapts to the music instead of forcing the music to adapt to the game.

Hear It. Know It. Prove It.

Once the game starts, the room hears the actual track.

Players then have to identify what they're listening to.

Depending on how the host sets up the game, they might be asked for the song title, artist, album, or a mixture of all three.

And this is where years of casually listening to music suddenly come back to haunt you.

You know this song.

You have absolutely heard this song.

You've probably sung this song in your car.

But what is it called?

The answer is somewhere in your brain.

Unfortunately, the clock is running.

We Made the Wrong Answers Meaner

A music question isn't particularly difficult when three of the four choices make absolutely no sense.

So Music Trivia can build its incorrect choices from the same playlist being used for the game.

That means the alternatives actually fit the music being played.

The result is exactly the kind of doubt we were hoping for.

You were positive you knew the artist five seconds ago.

Now there are four extremely believable options on your phone.

Good luck.

Or Forget Multiple Choice Entirely

Hosts who want to make things tougher can have players type their answers instead.

No choices.

No hints.

Just the song and whatever musical knowledge you brought with you.

Hosts can review those answers and decide what counts, which is useful when somebody clearly knew the answer but apparently attempted to spell it while being attacked by bees.

Of Course We Added Bluffing

Music knowledge is useful.

The ability to convincingly make things up is also useful.

At least in Bluff Mode.

Players can invent fake answers that get mixed into the question. If another player falls for your bluff, you can earn extra points.

So even when you don't know the answer, you aren't necessarily out of the question.

Sometimes ignorance just requires better marketing.

The Screen Is Part of the Game

Music Trivia was designed for a room playing together, not a collection of people staring silently at their phones.

The host can put the game on a TV or projector while players answer from their own devices.

The shared display handles the spectacle: questions, artwork, reveals, scores, leaderboards, and the inevitable evidence that the person who has been bragging about their music knowledge all evening is currently in seventh place.

Album artwork gets involved too, appearing obscured while the question is active before being revealed with the answer.

Sometimes it helps.

Sometimes it makes you even more confused.

Both outcomes are acceptable.

Built for an Actual Live Host

We've never believed that adding automation should mean removing the person running the event.

Music Trivia takes care of the machinery behind the game while leaving the host in charge of the show.

You decide when things move forward.

You can control playback, adjust scoring, judge written answers, move between questions and standings, communicate with players, and steer the game based on what's happening in the room.

Want a fast, competitive round? Make quick answers worth more.

Want teams? Turn them on.

Want a more relaxed game? Adjust the scoring.

Need to stop between rounds for an announcement, promotion, video, or break? Do it.

The technology should give a good host more tools, not compete with them for the microphone.

No New App for Players

We also kept one of our favorite GIG GAME rules:

Players shouldn't need to install anything.

Put the join screen up, let people scan the QR code, and their phone becomes their controller.

That's especially important in bars, venues, corporate events, private parties, and other environments where nobody wants the first ten minutes of an event to become technical support.

Scan.

Join.

Play.

Much better.

One Game, A Nearly Endless Supply of Themes

The part we're most excited about isn't any individual feature.

It's what happens when the host controls the source material.

A single game can become dozens of different events.

A venue could run a broad music trivia night one week and a tightly themed competition the next.

A DJ could build rounds around different decades.

An event company could create a soundtrack specifically for a client's audience.

A host could even invite regular players to suggest playlists or themes for future nights.

The playlist isn't just background music anymore.

It's the content.

And because changing the playlist changes the game, Music Trivia gives hosts a way to keep the format familiar while continually changing what players have to know.

Music Trivia Is Available Now

Music Trivia has officially joined the GIG GAME library.

It's the latest addition to a growing collection of interactive games designed for hosts, venues, entertainers, attractions, and event professionals who want audiences participating instead of just watching.

As with our other titles, players use the phones already in their pockets, while hosts run the experience and the main display turns it into something the whole room can follow.

And Music Trivia starts with something most hosts already have:

A playlist.

So open Spotify.

Find the perfect soundtrack.

Gather a few people who claim to know every song ever recorded.

Then put that claim on the scoreboard.

Music Trivia is live now on GIG GAME.

Your playlist was already good.

Now let's see who actually knows what's on it.