There is a particular kind of excitement that settles over a room when a quiz night begins. Not the loud excitement of a football match or a concert, but something quieter. Teammates lean closer. Debates start before questions are even finished. Someone insists they know the answer, but someone else is certain they are wrong.
On Tuesday evening, that familiar energy filled Tehila Café and Grill as quiz enthusiasts gathered for another Black & White powered Quiz Night, a series that has steadily become part of Kampala’s social calendar over the past few weeks, with its daily activations.
What started as a simple night of trivia has grown into something bigger. Across Kampala, quiz nights are attracting young professionals, groups of friends, couples and workmates looking for a different kind of night out. In a city where many evenings revolve around football screenings, traffic-filled commutes or casual drinks, quizzes have created a space where conversation is the main event.
The appeal is surprisingly simple. People enjoy testing what they know, arguing over what they think they know, and discovering that the quietest person at the table somehow remembers the answer nobody else could figure out.
At Tehila Café, host Davis Kamanyire, AKA Uncle Davis, guided teams through several rounds of questions covering history, current affairs, science, entertainment and general knowledge. With this happening on Martyrs’ Day eve, round one was entirely dedicated to questions drawn from the story of the Uganda Martyrs, their lives, faith and death.
Between rounds, conversations flowed freely. Colleagues became teammates. Friends challenged each other’s confidence. Tables celebrated correct answers as though they had scored winning goals, while wrong answers often generated even bigger laughs. Music filled the breaks, drinks kept arriving, and the competitive spirit remained friendly throughout the evening.
The Black & White Scotch Whisky, whose “Better Together” theme felt particularly fitting for the occasion and while only one team would leave with the top prize, the evening itself was built around shared experiences, teamwork and connection.
“This is exactly what a night out should feel like, you come in as yourself and leave feeling like you belong somewhere,” said Raymond Karama, Black & White Brand Manager, Uganda. “Black & White has always been about shared experiences, and quiz nights have become a great example of that.”
Perhaps that explains why quiz nights continue to grow in popularity. The prizes are nice, and winning certainly helps with motivation, but people keep coming back for something else.