National challenges, pub events: 9 quiz contests you can’t miss this July

Registration: Free. Book early, as you’ll want the comfiest seats to be on the edge of all evening. Reserve for teams of up to six by calling Depot48 at 9717450029. The venue is in New Delhi.

Kolkata Sports Quiz Festival (KSQF 2023)

We’re seeing players cross state lines to attend the upcoming Kolkata Sports Quiz Festival (July 22-23), so competition’s bound to be fierce. Let’s break down all the events:

July 22 Quizzes
^12:30pm – Football Quiz by Samanway Banerjee
*3:30pm – Women in Sports Quiz by Jayashree Mohanka and Reesoom Pal
^5pm – Cricket Quiz by Abhishek Mukherjee and Ashoke Sanyal
*7:45pm – Sports in Pop Culture Quiz by Auritro Chowdhury and Indranath Mukherjee

July 23 Quizzes
^11am – India in Sports Quiz by Charanpreet Singh and Somnath Chanda
*2pm – World Cup Cricket Quiz by Deepanjan Deb
^4pm – Sports Quiz by Joy Bhattacharjya and Titash Banerjea

Registration: Free. Sign up in teams of three on the spot. The KSQF will unfold inside the Satyajit Ray Auditorium at the Indian Council for Cultural Relations.

4 Edge’s Pub Quizzes

Bengaluru’s newest nerd-out is a weekly Wednesday quiz night at the 21st Amendment, a lively pub in Indiranagar. Starting around 8.30pm with free entry, the quizzes will be on general topics requiring no expertise. Winners are promised premium whiskey, wine and kamikaze shots, in that order.

Registration: Free, on the spot. Sign up in teams of up to four, and make sure at least one of you gets a pen.

CL’ASHES’ Cricket Quiz

Chennai group XQuizIt is organising an online quiz on The Ashes, a Test cricket series between England and Australia that’s running till July 31. The quiz itself will hold prelims on July 23, where you can ‘urn’ your spot for the finals. Sign up solo on pages.razorpay.com/clashes23 and write to mailxquizit@gmail.com for queries.

Quizzer of the Year (QOTY)

From the creators of Kaun Banega Crorepati has come a new quiz show aimed exclusively at students. Starting on Sony LIV, QOTY will be a national interschool contest where players must answer daily questions for a chance at winning a Rs 1 crore scholarship—unheard of at the school level. Siddhartha Basu, the grand old man of Indian TV Quizzing (‘Quiz Time’, ‘Mastermind India’) will be running the show in his inimitable style.

Registration: Free, with an FAQ and more details on qoty.sonyliv.com. Students between classes 9 to 12 are eligible to participate. The televised stage is yet to begin.

IIM-B’s Open Business Quiz

Pensive college teams at an older edition of IIM-B’s quiz.

‘Bizarre’ seems to be the top pick for naming a business quiz these days. While the christening isn’t creative, the actual questions ought to be hard-hitters, what with IIM Bengaluru at the helm.

Slated for July 9 (10am to11.30am), this offline quiz will have prelims on finance, marketing, entrepreneurship, emerging technologies, notable personalities and recent updates in the business world. The top eight teams will compete in the finals, hosted by the ever-popular Major Chandrakant Nair. Its analytical and trivia questions will run from 2pm to 6pm—longer than our board exams, and likely far more gruelling.

Registration: Free. Sign up in teams of up to three here, by 8am of July 9. Cash prizes worth Rs 20,000 are in store for the winners.

The Columban Open Quiz 2023

The Columban Open is one of northern India’s most well-known school quizzes. Held at St Columba’s School (Delhi), this contest for students of classes 8 to 12 will hold its eliminations on July 21. From this, 16 teams will qualify for the semi-finals and finals slated for July 21 and 22. Major Chandrakant Nair, whose schedule seems to be on fire this month, will host the later rounds.

Registration: Paid, at Rs 200 per team. Each team must have four members. Schools can send more than one participating team. For details, see the signup form.

The G20 Quiz

VIT Chennai is hosting an offline quiz on all things G20 on July 8. Show up, show off and you could win cash prizes. The event starts from 2.30pm at VIT’s Netaji Auditorium.

Registration: Sign up solo or in teams of up to three using this form. For queries, contact 80892 95337/9110643829/ 9654772101.

Ace of Pubs Quizzes

This pub quiz company holds trivia events at bars and lounges across many metro cities. Their network is expanding rapidly, so you’ll likely find something brewing in your area. To find upcoming events, see aceofpubs.com/events. We’ll fill the Mumbai-shaped hole in this story so far with a quick look at the city’s schedule:

> General Trivia at Cafe Calma – July 8 from 8pm to 10pm
> Mind Games Pub Quiz, Brewdog | Effingut Quiz Nights, Colaba – Both on July 11 from 8-10pm
> Brain teasers & riddles, Out of the Blue – July 11 from 8.30-10pm
> The Big Bollywood Quiz at Dobaara – July 13 from 8-10pm
> General Trivia, The Sassy Spoon Powai – July 13 from 8-10pm
> General Trivia, Mamba Restobar – July 13 from 9.30pm

View more cities and quizzes for the full month on aceofpubs.com

This is a developing story by Express Puzzles & Games, and will be updated when more contest dates are announced. Until then, try our Friday news quiz or follow @iepuzzles on Instagram for more brainy fun.