Q: Are phone cheats killing the pub quiz? A: Not according to these question setters

"As a nation of committed trivia buffs, it was unsurprising that we leapt on news of a quizmaster in Manchester who outed a team for cheating. Just where, we asked, is the special place in hell reserved for those quizzers who take a sneaky look at their phones under the table? According to the BBC, a massive whodunnit ensued after the landlord at the Barking Dog in Urmston revealed that the cheats were whispering questions into their smartphones, but refused to name and shame them."

"It is a misdemeanour that is, according to some quizmasters, an increasingly common blight on one of the nation's favourite pastimes. I think it's definitely more prolific now, especially with smartwatches even if you don't have a phone in your hand, there's still a way for you to be able to cheat, said David Hartley, a 33-year-old quizmaster from Staffordshire. He has hosted quizzes in four venues for nearly a decade and started banning devices about two years ago."

"David Moyce, the landlord and quizmaster at the Alma in Cambridge, said he recently had to ban a group of students who won in suspicious circumstances. He had suspected cheating after the painfully weak team suddenly played their joker which doubles points before a round in which they got every question right. There was no proof. But then one of the gentlemen came back, handed over some money and said: Yeah, we did cheat,' Moyce said."

Hundreds of thousands of people attend pub quizzes weekly, creating a strong national trivia culture. Cheating using smartphones and smartwatches has become an increasingly common problem at pub quizzes. Landlords and quizmasters have confronted, banned, or expelled suspected cheaters and begun prohibiting devices. One landlord reported cheats whispering questions into smartphones and declined to name them. A quizmaster noted that smartwatches enable cheating even without phones and has banned devices in multiple venues. Another quizmaster banned students after suspicious play and later received a confession and returned money from one team member. Some pubs are adopting hi-tech measures to deter cheating.

Read at www.theguardian.com