Kicking off in September 2016 and running until April 2017, the third DQL season saw some major changes. The number of teams increased by just 1 (from 13 to 14) but this was enough to necessitate the teams being split into two divisions for the first time.
We had also grown too big for one single venue, so this season’s matches were mostly divided between JW Sweetman’s, Burgh Quay (Division 1) and The Long Stone, Townsend Street (Division 2).
In order to divide our teams fairly between two divisions (i.e. avoid any complaints from teams about who ended up in Division 1 vs Division 2) it was decided to treat them as equal divisions for this season only – namely, using past DQL results as a guide, distribute the teams so that both divisions were roughly equal in strength. Then, at the end of the season play off the top 2 in each division against each other to decide the prize winners.
Accordingly, the top team in Division 1 (Obi Won This Round) played the top team in Division 2 (The Rollin’ Estonians) in a “league final” to determine the overall league champion and runner-up. Obi Won This Round lived up to their name, triumphing 51-38 in the final and accordingly became the first team to win the the Dublin Quiz League title more than once.
In a similar fashion, the 3rd-4th place playoff was between Division 1 runners-up Team Jules and Division 2 runners-up Team Irish Life. This time it was the Div 2 team who won out, but only by a single point! With a score of 45 points to 44, Team Irish Life thereby found themselves with the bronze medal.
At the end of this season, promotion/relegation was put in place between Divisions 1 & 2 – namely, the bottom 3 teams from Division 1 traded places with the top 3 teams from Division 2, thereby ensuring that from the following season onwards, the two divisions were no longer equal to each other and the league would function in the usual hierarchical manner. Hence, this was the only Dublin Quiz League season to date which had an end-of-season playoff.
Winning teams
- Champions: Obi Won This Round (€300 prize)
- Runners-up: The Rollin’ Estonians (€200)
- 3rd place: Team Irish Life (€120)
- 4th place: Team Jules (€80)
Winners’ gallery
2017 champions Obi Won This Round 
2017 runners-up The Rollin’ Estonians
Final league tables
| Division 1 | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | For | Against | Difference | Bonus | Points | |
| Division 1 | P | W | D | L | F | A | Diff | B | Pts | |
| 1 | Obi Won This Round | 12 | 11 | 0 | 1 | 624 | 449 | +175 | 1 | 45 |
| 2 | Team Jules | 12 | 10 | 0 | 2 | 556 | 486 | +70 | 1 | 41 |
| 3 | My Mates in the Corner | 12 | 7 | 0 | 5 | 524 | 457 | +67 | 2 | 30 |
| 4 | The Floaters | 12 | 7 | 0 | 5 | 500 | 471 | +29 | 2 | 30 |
| 5 | The Magnificent Seven | 12 | 4 | 0 | 8 | 481 | 499 | -18 | 5 | 21 |
| 6 | Quiz Akabusi | 12 | 3 | 0 | 9 | 406 | 513 | -107 | 2 | 14 |
| 7 | Witchcraft and Quizardry | 12 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 339 | 555 | -216 | 0 | 0 |
| Division 2 | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | For | Against | Difference | Bonus | Points | |
| Division 2 | P | W | D | L | F | A | Diff | B | Pts | |
| 1 | The Rollin' Estonians | 11 | 9 | 0 | 2 | 518 | 408 | +110 | 1 | 37 |
| 2 | Team Irish Life | 11 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 532 | 396 | +136 | 2 | 36 |
| 3 | E = MC Hammer | 11 | 8 | 0 | 3 | 502 | 412 | +90 | 1 | 33 |
| 4 | Let's Get Quizzical | 11 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 416 | 416 | 0 | 2 | 28 |
| 5 | The Hitsquad Oracles | 11 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 370 | 469 | -99 | 2 | 12 |
| 6 | The Duodenojejunal Flexures | 11 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 341 | 485 | -144 | 1 | 7 |
| 7 | No Starbars in Warsaw | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 166 | 259 | -93 | 1 | 1 |
Note: No Starbars in Warsaw dropped out of the league at the halfway point of the season, hence why they played fewer matches than the others in Div 2.
- Points are awarded as follows: 4 points awarded for a win, 2 for a draw, 0 for a loss.
- Bonus points are awarded as follows:
- Losing bonus: 1 league point awarded to any team who loses a close match (by 7 points or less)
- Individual bonus: 1 league point awarded to any team who has a “perfect” individual round during a match (4 out of 4 correct with no conferring)
- If two or more teams are level on points, then the team with the most points “For” are ranked ahead. If that’s also equal, then we use the Points Difference (points For minus points Against).
- Teams in the prize money and/or promotion slots are shown in green. Teams in the relegation zone are shown in red.