Good old Asda – exposing the pub quiz cheats

Keep an eye on your papers tomorrow, as I suspect the story in the press release below might get a bit of coverage. Asda mobile has proved that we are now a nation of pub quiz cheats. It’s a good yarn and no doubt will be picked up. Even though it got less to do with clever statisticians at Asda and more do to with the clever people at their PR agency, Biss Lancaster.

The reason I don’t believe it is that I’ve actually tried text cheating and it is so fiddly and time consuming it is a total waste of time. By the time you find someone who knows the answer, you’ve missed three other questions.

 

Pub quiz scores on the rise as texting takes hold

Britain is fast becoming a nation of pub quiz geniuses after it was revealed that the score required to win is now between two and three points higher than it was a decade ago. But according to research from Asda mobile, the cause is our love of text messages rather than text books.

The figures came to light when Asda mobile noticed regular increases in the number of texts being sent between 8.30pm and 10.30pm on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday evenings, the evenings when the majority of pub quizzes are held. To uncover the truth, Asda mobile teamed up with quizzing.co.uk who confirmed their suspicions and revealed that the average score required to win a pub quiz has increased over the past decade.

Quizzing.co.uk is Britain’s foremost protector of the quiz institution and estimates that around 2.5 million people take part in pub quizzes every week. Its Managing Director, Jane Allen, commented: “Feedback from quiz masters around the country suggests there has been a definite increase of between two and three points in the score required to win a pub quiz, as well as an increase in the number of sneaky quiz goers being caught using mobiles. It may well a coincidence and the average quiz goer may be more intelligent than they used to be, but we suspect foul play and believe texting is responsible.”

Craig Thirkell, from Asda mobile, commented: “It’s no secret that we Brits love a good pub quiz but it came as quite a shock to discover just how much under the table texting goes on across the country. Text messaging is now very much part of life and, as such, maybe pub quizzes should now include a round where the answer must be sent via text – after all, if you can’t beat them, join them!”

And a spokesperson for JD Wetherspoon, which operates almost 700 pubs across the UK, added: “Our pubs run regular quizzes and while they’re all operated fairly, no doubt some people use texts to get some of the more difficult answers from friends and family members.”

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