🎙️ How to host

Host controls ↗

A run sheet for the person driving the game. You need two browser tabs — /board to share and /host to yourself — and the host PIN. Print this if you like (⌘P); it's laid out for paper.

Before the meeting

  1. Pick your question pack. On /host, open 🎫 Game code, choose a code and press Load. Each pack is three rounds plus Fast Money, and a pack can only be played once — used ones drop off the list, so you can't accidentally run the same questions twice in a tournament.
  2. Put the players in the roster. Up to four a side, in the same panel, then Save roster to this code. Anyone listed taps their own name on their phone instead of typing it, which is the difference between starting on time and spending five minutes moving people to the right team. Leave it blank and players type their own names. In a tournament you skip this step. If the pack is assigned to a match, the picker shows 🏆 and the match's two teams, and the boxes fill themselves from the bracket and go grey — see Tournaments below.
  3. Set the team names. ⚙️ Setup → the two name boxes → Save names & scores. A loaded game code fills these in for you — and a bracket-assigned code fills them in from the bracket instead.
  4. Open the board in a second tab and check the sound. Click 🔇 Enable sound in its top-right corner — browsers won't play audio until somebody clicks something, and finding that out live is not fun. It should read 🔊 Sound on and the lobby music should be playing.
  5. Post the player link in the meeting chat. The address of this site with /play on the end. Players need the office network or the VPN — mobile data can't reach it. Send the player instructions with it if the group hasn't played before.

Sharing your screen

Share the board window, never your whole desktop. Your host panel shows every answer before it's revealed. If you have only one screen and must share the desktop, untick Show answer text in the Answers panel first — the buttons still work, they just stop spoiling the board.

In the Teams share picker choose the window holding /board, and tick Include computer sound so the room hears the buzzers and music. Put the board window on a second monitor if you have one — the host panel wants to be in front of you the whole game.

Getting everyone in

The board shows the game code in gold, and the names of players as they join. Wait until both teams are on before you start — you can see who's missing at a glance.

Somebody not on the roster taps I'm not on the list and types their name; they pick their own team, so glance at the board and make sure they picked the right one. Anyone who joins late just joins — nothing needs restarting.

Running a round

  1. Choose the question and the multiplier, then press Start. Start a round. Round 1 is , round 2 , round 3 . The board flips to the empty answer board with a cascade of cards.
  2. Read the question out loud, then arm the buzzers. 🔔 Arm buzzers, or just press B. Every phone in the game vibrates and turns into a live buzzer. Arming after you finish reading is what keeps the face-off fair.
  3. The first name to land takes the face-off. The buzz order appears under the button with the gaps in milliseconds, so a photo finish settles itself. Ask that player for an answer.
  4. Reveal what they said, if it's up there. Click the answer in the list, or press its number 18. Wrong answer: ✕ Strike, or X.
  5. Give control to whoever won the face-off. Q for team 1, W for team 2 — the higher answer wins it. That team now plays the board out, and the strike pips count against them.
  6. Clear the board, or hand over the steal. All answers revealed and the points go to the team in control. Three strikes and the other team gets one guess: right, and you press Q/W to switch control before revealing — the whole pot follows the control marker.

Points are added automatically as answers turn over, weighted by the multiplier. You never type a score during a round — the only reason to touch the score boxes in ⚙️ Setup is to correct a mistake.

Fast Money, and finishing

Open 💰 Fast Money & end game. The round panels collapse out of the way on their own so you're not hunting for controls.

Start Fast Money Two contestants from the winning team, five questions, 2:00 on the clock. Type their names, press ▶ Start clock, and reveal each answer as they say it. 200 points takes it.
Playing: 1 / 2 Which contestant you're recording for. Switch to contestant 2 and tick Hide contestant 1's answers on the board so the second player can't read the first one's answers off the screen.
⚔ Head to head One player from each team on their own questions; both sides keep what they win. This happens automatically if the scores are level after three rounds, but the button calls for one at any score if you just want to play it.
End game Always press this. It plays the theme out, files the result under 📋 Past games, and — if the room is playing a tournament match — writes the score into the bracket and advances the winner. Fast Money is optional; you can go straight here after three rounds.

Tournaments

Build the bracket on the Questions page (/edit, editor PIN) under 🏆 Tournament — teams, rosters, and who meets whom. Give each match a question pack there too, in the dropdown on its row.

Then there is nothing to set up on the day. A match that has a pack can be started two ways, and they do exactly the same thing:

From the bracket 🏆 Tournament on /host▶ Play here on the match's row.
Or from the code 🎫 Game code → the match's code → Load, the same as any other game.

Either way the room comes up with both team names and all eight players already seated, straight off the bracket — you don't retype them, and nobody ends up on the wrong side because a name got spelled two ways. The room is also pointed at that match, so End game files the score into the right slot and moves the winner up on its own.

The picker tells you before you commit: a bracket-owned pack shows 🏆 Quarter-finals 2: Team A v Team B instead of the pack's own names, and its roster boxes go grey with Save roster to this code hidden. That's deliberate — loading it would overwrite anything you typed there. Fix a name or a player under 🏆 Tournament on /edit, where the bracket actually keeps them.

📺 Open bracket screen is the thing to share between matches — it updates on its own, so you can leave it up.

Correcting a score after the fact is back on /edit. Draws are refused — a tied match has no winner to advance, so replay it.

More than one game at once

🚪 Room on the host panel. Each room is its own meeting: own board, own players, own scores. New room gives you a key, you share that room's board URL, and players type the key when they join.

Rooms nobody touches for 30 minutes close themselves. If you're only running one game, ignore this panel entirely — the default room is already there.

Keyboard shortcuts

18Reveal that answer
X or SpaceStrike
BArm buzzers
Q / WGive control to team 1 / team 2

They don't fire while you're typing in a box, so the roster and name fields are safe.

If something goes wrong

No sound in the meeting Two separate things: 🔊 Sound on in the board's corner, and Include computer sound in the Teams share picker. Check both.
A player can't join Network first — office Wi-Fi or VPN, not mobile data. Then the code: it's the gold one on the board, and it changes when you load a different game.
Somebody's on the wrong team Have them tap Change name / team at the bottom of their phone screen.
A phantom buzz, or a false start Clear next to the arm button wipes the order. Arm again and re-run it.
You revealed the wrong answer Click it again to hide it. Clear strikes undoes strikes. Scores are editable in ⚙️ Setup — fix the number and Save names & scores.
The host panel says connecting Reload the tab. The game lives on the server; nothing is lost by refreshing.
You need to start the whole thing over Reset whole game in ⚙️ Setup: scores to zero, board cleared, players stay connected.

Three things not to do

Don't share your whole desktop. The host panel is a spoiler from top to bottom.

Don't paste a PIN into the meeting chat. Players never need one — only /host and /edit ask, and only you should be on those.

Don't press 🗑 Clear all in Past games mid-tournament. It wipes the results log and puts every question pack back on the shelf, which is exactly what you want the week before an event and never during one. The bracket keeps its own scores, and a dated copy is saved on the server first, but don't rely on that at 2pm on game day.

Sending this to the players by mistake? They want the player instructions →