Ran my first Buzzers with Budds event at a brewery this past Friday! Went really well and everyone had a blast. I thought I'd post info on how I did everything in case you wanted to know more about this new game/service I offer.
Towards the end of 2019, I was getting hit up for a lot of corporate parties to do Family Feud based events, something I've always been able to do a pretty basic version of with handheld battery operated buzzers and a free Powerpoint template. It would get the job done. But I wanted to have something more legit so I found a great buzzer maker at www.buzzersystems.com. The crew there answered all my needs and questions and I quickly had a new system with a base that can hook up to 16 players' individual buzzers, complete with the handheld clicky Jeopardy buzz-in devices and a little box that lights up when they're first. They're extremely accurate and complete the lock-out type of gameplay really well. I also got two slap buzzers that you can attach for the Family Feud showdown style game play, so now I've got just about everything needed to run FF and Jeopardy recreations. I got some great software from www.crowdcontrolgames.com that help the shows look legit, too! They're totally customizable so for corporate shows, I can work in the company's name and any categories they might want to do no problem.
So that solved my corporate shows, but I was trying to think of ways to incorporate the buzzers into my weekly trivia nights in some way. I got to a few trivia nights early and had regulars try out the system, which they loved, and I could see how it could be a fun bonus round or even a whole event on its own. My smart wife Ashlee Starling-Budds suggested the name Buzzers with Budds, so we were ready to figure out what that might be! Then I got booked to try it with my friends at Ogopogo Brewing and quickly had to create a show for it.
Here's what I did: I setup all 8 buzzers on a large counter at the brewery and stood behind it (where we usually host bingo and where they sell merch) and announced what we were doing. Over 2 hours, I did 12 rounds of category based trivia, using rounds from my other weekly trivia nights. Here were the rounds we did:
Ad Slogans
Food, Beer and Wine
Sports Legends
Words Starting/Ending with H
Friends
Movies
As Seen on TV Products
The Office Quotes
90s
Famous Middle Names
Harry Potter
Board Games
I would announce the theme, and ask who wanted to play, and get a basic hand count. If it was 8 people, we'd do a team of four vs four, and if it was just 2 people, we'd do one on one, etc. Whoever buzzed in first got to answer and if they were right their team got one point. If the team guessed wrong, the other team got to guess to steal the point. The winner(s) of each showdown got raffle tickets, and I had about 10 prizes to raffle off at the end of the night. So if you won more, you had more chances to win prizes. It really felt a bit like a basic game show and of the 50-60 people in the bar, I'd say at least 25 came up frequently to try and participate. We gave away a shirt, a Stranger Things game, bottle openers, some $1 beer offers, candy, and more. It was well received and we'll probably do it again soon! One of the coolest party about it is I have 1000s of 11 question rounds ready to go, so I can pick and choose whatever based on the venue. Just like my daily podcast, it's another great use of the content I've already created but now for another purpose.
So that's Buzzers with Budds so far! Let me know what you think of this idea or how it might be made better! Always looking for insight from people who might want to play or use it at their next event. Cheers!
