Competitive socialising: Gen Z chooses quiz nights over clubbing
• April 8, 2026
David Gall (second from the left) hosts the weekly pub quiz nights at Empire, team N For Knowledge received their $25 prize for placing second from last. Photo: Keesha Levesque
The Gen Z audience for pub quiz nights is growing as young Kiwis go out to clubs less and less.
Nightlife engagement has been declining in recent years, with only 16 per cent of people aged 18 to 30 going out after 10 pm.
Research from Mintel suggests Gen Z prefer competitive socialising over regular pub visits, with a 13 per cent increase between 2019 and 2023.
Jonathan Morgan, head writer at Believe It Or Not? Quiz Events, says he’s noticed an increase in younger audiences at quiz nights since Covid-19.
“I’m always amazed and pleased to see how young the people going to quizzes are,” says Morgan.
He says the quiz environment allows people to socialise in a moderately competitive atmosphere.
Empire Tavern, located in the Auckland CBD, hosts a weekly Tuesday trivia night.
According to Ella Boon-Marmont, a 21-year-old regular at Empire’s trivia nights, the chill environment trumps going to a club.
“I feel like, especially in New Zealand, since the drinking age is 18, people get over clubbing quite quickly.
“So when they’re in their 20s, [they’re] trying to figure out other ways to be social and drink,” says Boon-Marmont.
She has a core group of people she goes with on Tuesdays, but she’s met new people through the event.
A study by Impact 360 and Barna shows more than half of respondents strongly agree that in-person friendships are more valuable than digital ones.
Only a quarter of Gen Z respondents agreed that online connections were as meaningful to them as in-person friendships.
Morgan says a sense of community, product consistency, and escape from the world through analog tech are the three main factors that appeal to the younger audience.
“We’re not trying to take over Friday, Saturday [and] Sunday . . . We’ve carved a niche in the middle of the week,” says Morgan.
David Gall, the host of Empire’s weekly pub nights, says quiz nights are a great outlet to socialise.
Gall hosts about nine quiz nights each month through Empire.
Quiz night categories include memes, geography, music, arts and literature and more.
“Some of the questions are aimed at the older generation, but the younger generations are really acing some of the answers you wouldn’t expect them to get,” says Gall.
According to Morgan, there should be enough current events in every quiz to satisfy all audiences.
“Half the people tell me that the quiz is too old and the other half tell me it’s too young,” says Morgan.
He says the music and cinema rounds engage younger audiences, but there’ll always be content for everyone.
“It’s a very sticky product, and I feel like if you go to the right venue with the right host and the right questions, those three things keep [you] there,” says Morgan.
Gall also adds that quiz nights help teach people about topics they previously didn’t know about, which, according to him, has perks.
“The more information you get, the better you’re going to be in society, and you’re more knowledgeable,” says Gall.
Believe It Or Not? works across 400 pubs, clubs and bars in New Zealand.
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Our journalists sometimes use AI tools which are checked by humans for accuracy.
AI was used to help with research.
AI was used to transcribe audio from the interview.
