A short quiz to break the ice
Rheinhessen Night was a wine evening at my place in April 2026. About twelve guests came, and many of them had never met. A 20-minute quiz in the middle of the evening put them in teams of three, mixed so that every team had people who didn't know each other yet.
Before the party
I messaged each guest with the date, a promise of wine spritzers and snacks, and a request to reply if they could come. The flyer added the start time and the address.
Invites
- Send a message with the date and ask guests to reply
- Send a flyer with the date, start time and address
FlyerRheinhessen Night flyer
Glasses & music
With this many guests, glasses get mixed up quickly. 3D-printed name tags on every glass fixed that and helped people learn each other's names.
Glasses & music
- 3D-printed glass name tags Model
- A Chillout Mix playlist
Food & drinks
I kept it regional: white and rosé wine spritzers, grape juice for anyone not drinking, and plenty of pretzels with Spundekäs, the Rheinhessen cream cheese dip.
Food & drinks
- White wine spritzer
- Rosé wine spritzer
- Grape juice
- Pretzels
- Spundekäs
Tech setup
The TV shows the questions, every team's answers and the Quizmaster's comments. Each team answers on one phone.
Tech setup
- Connect a laptop to the TV and open the presenter view
- One phone per team
- Share the Wi-Fi password so every team can join
The quiz
Three short rounds. First, three estimates where the closest team scores. Then every team argues the same dilemma as a different character, which exquizme deals to each team's phone. The last round asks for a wine product pitched to the wrong audience. The Quizmaster ranks the open answers, and the top three score.
1Best Guess
Closest guess
Three estimates. The closest team scores.
- How many litres of wine does the average German over 16 drink in a year?
21.5 Closest guess wins
- How many films had their cinema premiere in Germany in 2025?
705 Closest guess wins
- About how many years ago did people first make wine?
8000 Closest guess wins
2In Character
Creative
Same dilemma, different characters. Each team answers as the character on its phone.
- Which is worse: a warm wine spritzer or stale wine? Answer in one or two sentences.
Answer as · one card dealt to each team
- Sommelier
- Doctor
- Grandma
- Primary school teacher
- Village police officer
3Wine Pitch
Creative
One last idea. The most absurd pitch that still makes sense wins.
- Invent a wine product for a completely wrong target group. Give it a name, a slogan and a one-sentence description.
Open answer, judged by the AI moderator
SourcesWhere the answers come from
- Wine consumption: the Deutsches Weininstitut figure for August 2024 to July 2025, people over 16
- Cinema premieres: the FFA's "Das Kinojahr 2025 kompakt"
- First wine: residue in pottery from Georgia, dated to about 6000 BC (PNAS, 2017)
Question ideasMore wine night questions
- How many people live in Mainz?
- How tall is the Eiffel Tower in metres?
- How many islands does Greece have?
- How many minutes does "Titanic" run?
- Which is worse: losing your glass at a wine festival or losing your phone?
- Which is worse: a wine tasting with your parents or a city break with your ex?
- Which is worse: not telling a €50 wine from a €5 one, or pretending you can?
- Invent the most pointless premium wine product in the world.
- Invent the most absurd rule for a wine tasting.
- Invent the most ridiculous wine subscription.
Make it your own
- Use your region Swap the wine for your region's drink and the snacks for local ones.
- More teams Add a startup founder or an influencer as extra characters.
- Play longer Add a round from our quiz round ideas after the estimates.
Ready to host?
Add “Rheinhessen Night” to your Quiz Studio, change what you like and start the quiz on your TV.
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