Pub quiz timer: round countdowns on every screen

Every quizmaster has said "two more minutes" at least five times per round. The tables mid-argument about the 1987 Eurovision winner aren't listening, the tables that finished three minutes ago are getting restless, and the night quietly slides twenty minutes past schedule.

The fix is the same one referees and teachers figured out long ago: put the clock where everyone can see it, and let the clock be the villain.

"Round 3 — 02:00" on the bar TV. Nobody argues with a television.

One countdown, every screen in the pub

Leaderboarded's quiz timer is a free online countdown with the one feature a pub actually needs: a single shared link that stays in sync on every screen that opens it, to the second. Cast it to the TV above the bar, and the quizmaster starts, pauses, and resets it from their phone behind the mic.

Big room, bad sightlines, a snug around the corner? Drop the same link into the WhatsApp group teams used to register, and any table that can't see the TV opens the countdown on their own phone. Same timer, same second, every table — that's the part a PowerPoint countdown or a YouTube timer video can't do.

The end of a round takes care of itself: buzzer, plus a custom end message — "PENS DOWN. Swap your sheets with the next table." The buzzer plays from whichever screens have sound on, so if the TV is muted behind the music, your phone by the mic still makes the noise.

Round patterns that keep the night moving

• Answer deadline per round — 5:00 on the screen the moment you read the last question. Teams self-pace instead of being nagged; the pub quiz format has always been a race against the room, this just makes it visible.
• The music round — start the countdown when the playlist starts. When the timer hits zero, sheets come in, no "one more listen".
• Half-time break — scheduled-start mode counts down to a time: "Round 4 begins at 21:15". The bar gets its rush, and teams drift back without being herded.
• Tie-breakers — flip to count-up mode and make it a speed round: first correct answer wins, the stopwatch on screen for drama.
• Picture-round handovers — a two-minute countdown turns sheet-swapping chaos into a transition.

Set the timer's title per round ("Round 3 — Sport") and the TV doubles as your running order.

Between question slides, the countdown owns the screen.

Pair the timer with a live leaderboard

The timer keeps the night on schedule; the scores keep it competitive. A trivia night leaderboard on the same TV — updated between rounds from the same phone — turns the marking break into the most-watched moment of the evening. Teams refresh the standings on their own phones exactly the way they watch the countdown.

If you run a recurring quiz, a season-long quiz leaderboard gives regulars a reason to come back next week: same teams, running totals, a champion at the end of the month.

The setup, start to finish

Create the timer once (free — only the quizmaster needs an account), bookmark the link on the pub's TV browser or Chromecast, and reuse it every week. Set the round length, hit start from your phone, and spend your attention on the banter instead of the clock. Total setup time is shorter than the argument about the Eurovision question.