A zoom pub quiz which spiralled out of control is now hosting a live charity night in Dundee.
Steven Elder originally started hosting the pub quiz as a way to get through the first lockdown.
While it started with just friends and family, he said it soon “got out of control”.
“It started with just four people,” Steven said.
“Next thing we knew we were six weeks into this thing, and had a leader board going and had way over 100 people, with around 40 families attending every week.”
Steven said that he was “100% surprised” about the popularity of his quiz.
“We had people asking every single week if their family could join and be part of it.
“I was able to say yes until a certain point where every single round I was going away for 15 minutes to count all the answers.
“So I had to call a cap on it.
“Eventually all the quizzes I made I just sent to other people and they started running their own quiz nights with their families.
“I was surprised, but no one had anything really except for going home or if you’re working from home, switching the laptop off and sitting in front of the TV.
“It was something different that everyone really bought into, which was good.”
Creating a live event
Steven knew he had something special on his hands, and made the decision to create a live event.
“Once we had such a strong crowd, I knew there was legs in it to be able to take it live,” he said.
“And why not? If you’ve got that many people who have not had a night out in so long, no one was getting on holiday, so we knew it was a bit of a prime opportunity to have a charity fundraiser.
“It’s been well over a year in planning now, so I hope it’s going to be a great success on the night.”
Now, Steven hopes to use the pub quiz to raise funds for two mental health charities.
“We decided to raise funds with it for the Tayside Health Fund, which is part of the NHS Tayside,” he said.
“I know there’s been a lot of stories on young peoples mental health and young people taking their lives during the pandemic, a few of them have been people we’ve known and been friends with.
“So we’re also going to split it with Feeling Strong, which is a local Dundee mental health charity.”
Items from local businesses, as well as Dundee, United and Rangers, will be auctioned and raffled off at the event.
The event, named SaturTAY Night Fakeaway, will be hosted at the Malmaison in Dundee on September 18, and is already selling fast.
Steven added: “We’ve got an all singing all dancing quiz night followed by Eat the Peach playing into the wee hours of the morning.
“We’re aiming to raise about £5,000 so we can split that between both charities.”
Tickets can be booked through Steven.