Mumbai’s quizzing scene is buzzing. From pub nights to WhatsApp groups, a new wave of quizzers is trading scroll-time for face time
Hands go up as beers go down at Doolally’s quiz nights. Pic Courtesy/Doolally
On A random Wednesday, at 8.30 pm, Doolally at Andheri is packed. Hands are going up, as beers are going down. People are raising their hands, yelling, “Here!” over each other to get a chance to win a free beer. For years now, Doolally has been hosting quizzing events, which pull big crowds, and has resulted in a kind of community of quizzers. What started as a fun event back in 2014 has now turned into a full-blown tradition at the brewery.
On A random Wednesday, at 8.30 pm, Doolally at Andheri is packed. Hands are going up, as beers are going down. People are raising their hands, yelling, “Here!” over each other to get a chance to win a free beer. For years now, Doolally has been hosting quizzing events, which pull big crowds, and has resulted in a kind of community of quizzers. What started as a fun event back in 2014 has now turned into a full-blown tradition at the brewery.
As we make our way through the room, we find that every person is more enthusiastic than the last. One player tells us, “I think Doolally was the one that really opened up this culture. They were the first to start offering beers as rewards, which always makes it fun!”
Shankar Krishnan
Quizzing has always been popular at a competitive level. Countless quizzing competitions — Mastermind, World Quizzing Championship, Tata Crucible, just to name a few — are proof of that. Of late, it seems to have picked up as a popular hobby as well. Older and younger people alike have been quizzing just for the fun of it, out of simple curiosity to know more about the world. Quizzing clubs, pub quizzes, even WhatsApp groups — quizzing is happening everywhere.
Bombay Quiz Club members at a quizzing event. Pics Courtesy/Abhinav Dasgupta
Sewri resident and corporate executive Shankar Krishnan and other members of his residential society, Ashok Gardens have started a WhatsApp group of quizzing enthusiasts. He tells us, “It’s about 100 members, and counting! Many are from our society, but it includes quizzing enthusiasts from all over India, even some from overseas. Someone posts a question, and anyone can answer it (without Googling, of course). The quiz group has gained such popularity that Shankar and other members have even helped organise an inter-society competition between Ashok Gardens and another society in its vicinity. He says, “It’s all for the fun of it; there is no monetary prize, but people like to participate for the fun, learning, and the opportunity to make friends.”
Kumar Varun as he conducts his show KVizzing with the comedians. Pic Courtesy/Kumar Varun
For Ria Chopra, writer and content creator, quizzing started at the school level. She says, “If you were academically performing well, your teachers would push you into quizzing. In hindsight, I’m so grateful to them that they did.” Chopra quizzed competitively throughout her academic career, and really got into it in her time at Lady Shri Ram College, Delhi University. Through this she became part of many quizzing groups which ultimately led her to participate in one of the most celebrated television quiz shows of all time, Kaun Banega Crorepati.
Ria Chopra ended up in the hotseat with Amitabh Bachchan at Kaun Banega Crorepati. Pic Courtesy/Ria Chopra
Kumar Varun is a stand-up comic and a quizzer himself. Similar to Chopra, Varun also started quizzing in school, continued it through college, and went on to start his own show, KVizzing with the Comedians. When asked how he got the idea to start this show, he says, “Quizzing is not just for a specific set of people. That is the myth I’m trying to break. Anyone who is slightly aware of the world around them can be a quiz participant. I might know more about cricket and someone else might know more about, say, Star Wars. But all of us know something. I realised this with my comedian friends when I entered the stand-up scene. None of them were quizzers, but all of them could be.”
Quiz enthusiast Shankar Krishnan is a part of a WhatsApp quiz group that has now started organising offline events. Pic Courtesy/Shankar Krishnan
Belinda D’souza, Brand Manager at Doolally, tells us, “We are proud to have nurtured the community of quizzers in Mumbai and Pune. We pioneered this and the community has rewarded us. We’ve now hosted over 1000 quizzes across our taprooms in Mumbai and Pune every Wednesday, and online every Friday for our loyal Twitter crew (over 300 players strong!). Fast-forward to 2025, and the quizzing scene in Mumbai has exploded. Almost every microbrewery runs a quiz night now and we like to think we had a little something to do with that. Companies like India Wants To Know, Thinq2Win, and Ace of Pubs, now fixtures of the Indian quizzing landscape, have had a Doolally connection.”
Players enjoy a night of quizzing alongside their pet dog. Pics Courtesy/Doolally
The recent rise of quizzing as a hobby can even be attributed to the post-pandemic boom in offline events. D’souza says, “After years of scrolling and streaming, we’re seeing a big shift back to in person. And that’s where communities like running clubs, book clubs, gaming groups and yes, quizzing nights really shine. Over the years, our taprooms have become home to all sorts of offline communities: we host running clubs that meet up on early mornings, book clubs that nerd out over new releases, gaming clubs, and of course, our beloved quizzing regulars every Wednesday.” Chopra adds, “When I’m quizzing I have to put my phone aside.
There are a few hours when I can be entirely off the grid, and I quite enjoy that.” To this Varun adds, “I think we’re all trying to find ways to spend our time better. There has been a lot of conversation about screen time and doom-scrolling, and quizzing is the perfect balance of learning and entertainment.”
Quizzers fill this sheet to participate and win coupons as rewards
Another reason people enjoy quizzing is because it’s a great way to make friends. Chopra says, “For instance, if I have just moved to a new place, it can be quite intimidating to meet new people. If I go to a quizzing club, it’s an environment I’m already familiar with, so then I can allow myself to meet new people there.” In his own shows, Varun shares, “I see people meeting each other and connecting. They remember that they had met each other at other quiz events, and they just get talking.”
Abhinav Dasgupta, quiz enthusiast and treasurer of the Bombay Quiz Club, says that quizzers in Mumbai are quite the tight-knit community. He’s been quizzing for about two decades now. “The association of like-minded people really helps. People have been part of the club for so long, there are inside jokes and so on. Speaking of myself, I’m married to a fellow quizzer whom I actually met at a quiz,” he tells us.
(Left) A screengrab of Ashoka Garden’s WhatsApp quizzing group. Pic Courtesy/ Shankar Krishnan
“There’s also what we call a ‘quizzer’s high’, when you’re able to connect the dots and get the answer; that’s a big part of why I enjoy quizzing,” says Chopra. Varun elaborates, “Every good quiz should give you one of these two feelings. One is that it should give you validation, this feeling of, “Hey man! I knew that.” Or it should give you some knowledge, like, “Wow, I didn’t know that!” That ‘Aha!’ moment has to come after every question. That’s what brings people to quizzing.”
Young people are now, more than ever, becoming interested in quizzing. Dasgupta says, “We see a lot more young people coming in than they used to. In fact, around 2016-17, we really thought we were getting sort of stagnated because my generation was slowly getting older and we had zero succession. But now I think it’s a lot better. We’ve even organised a few Gen Z-themed quizzes.” D’souza elaborates, “Trivia isn’t just for ‘quiz nerds’ any more. It’s become social, accessible, and even a bit cool.”
Varun says, “Regardless of age, I think it’s a universal experience to learn an interesting bit of information and want to share it with your friends.” And that’s exactly the itch that quizzing scratches — the innately human urge to share, be it an experience, knowledge, or a beer. Krishnan adds, “Trying to find out things about things for its own sake — I think this is a worthy objective by itself — and trivia quizzing is a great avenue for this.” In a world that often feels rushed and disconnected, quizzing reminds us that curiosity is worth slowing down for and that sometimes, the best kind of connection begins with the right question.
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