Host guide

Back to my quizzes

Everything you need to run a great game, in about five minutes of reading.

Quick start

Sign in (top of My quizzes) before you build, so your quizzes are saved to your account and follow you to any device.
Build your quiz in four steps (tap between them in any order): Basics (your name, in the room or remote, Party Mode, sound), Rounds (rounds and questions -- write your own, or pull them in from your Question bank, where you keep questions to reuse; press 💾 on a question to keep it there), Look (theme, colour, logo) and Party (awards and Wildcards).
Try it with ▶ Preview: a private practice game with bots, showing your controls, the shared screen and a phone side by side. Nobody else can join.
Press Host. Open the shared screen link on a TV or projector. Players scan the QR code or go to the join page and type the room code.
Start the game once everyone's in, then run each question from your own phone or laptop: reveal, then next.

💡 Get everyone joined before you start -- once a game begins, anyone arriving late can only watch.

The three screens

🎛️ Your controls

Only you see this. Start the game, reveal answers, mark free-text answers, move to the next question.

It never shows on the TV, so you can peek at what's coming.

📺 Shared screen

For the TV or projector: questions, the countdown, reveals, scoreboards and awards, in your theme.

Watch-only -- no buttons, nothing to click by accident.

📱 Players' phones

Each player answers here. Phones show the question too, so anyone who can't see the TV can still play.

🌍 Playing remotely (Zoom, Teams, Meet)?

You have two options. Pick one in the builder's Basics step, or in the lobby.

📺 On a shared screen: open the shared screen link and screen-share that window on the call, exactly like a TV. Never share your host controls -- they have your buttons, and players would be watching the wrong page.

📱 On their own phones: nobody screen-shares. Once someone has answered, their phone also shows everyone's screen -- who's answered, the reveal, scoreboards, the mini-game race -- and plays the sounds.

Paste the join link from the lobby into the call's chat. Keep talking on the call as usual.

Question types

Every question type can sit in any round, so mix them. Points are set per question (bidding and mini games work their own out).

🔘 Multiple choice

A question with a few options. Players tap one.

The right answer lights up on the shared screen at the reveal, with how many picked each option.

Marking: Automatic.

Best for: Any group, any size -- the fastest, easiest round type.

✏️ Free text

Players type their answer.

Add accepted answers and matching answers are marked right straight away (small typos are forgiven).
Leave accepted answers out for opinion or judgement questions -- you mark each answer at the reveal.
You can always override a mark at the reveal.

Marking: Automatic with accepted answers, otherwise by you.

Best for: Small and medium groups. For big groups, always add accepted answers.

🔢 Ordering

Players put a shuffled list in the right order (oldest to newest, smallest to biggest...).

Only the exact order counts -- one swap and it's wrong.

Marking: Automatic.

Best for: Any size. Keep lists to 4 or 5 items so it's fair on a phone.

🎯 Closest to the pin

Players guess a number (a year, a height, a count).

Whoever is closest wins the points. If two guesses are equally close, both win.
Optional exact bonus: extra points on top for hitting the number exactly.

Marking: Automatic, at the reveal.

Best for: Any size -- everyone has a chance, even with no idea.

💰 Bidding round

A "how many can you name?" challenge, e.g. "Name countries beginning with A".

Everyone secretly bids how many they can name.
You open the floor: the highest secret bid starts, and anyone can raise with +1 taps.
Set a maximum bid in the question (e.g. 27 for EU countries) so nobody bids more answers than exist.
You lock it in when bidding dies down (there's no timer). Whoever holds the bid types their answers on their phone (only you see them) or says them out loud.
You mark them Succeeded (they win points equal to the bid) or Failed (they lose that many).
People who bid the same top amount all go for it -- or either can raise to take it alone -- and you judge each one.

Marking: By you, live.

Best for: Small groups, or as a showpiece finale. Only the top bidder plays, so big groups spend it watching.

Needs Hobbyist to host.

⚡ Fastest answer

Multiple choice where speed matters.

The fastest right answer wins the points, then chooses: keep them, or steal the same amount from another player.
Anyone who answers wrong loses the points, however fast they were -- so guessing is risky.
Answers within a quarter of a second of each other count as a tie, and both players win.

Marking: Automatic.

Best for: Any size. The steal causes the best arguments.

Needs Hobbyist to host.

🧩 Connections

Clues appear one at a time, all pointing at one answer ("Angel, Niagara, Victoria..." -> Waterfalls).

You reveal each clue with the big Reveal clue button. Players can guess at any point: the fewer clues showing, the more points.
With four clues, guessing after the first is worth 4 points and after the last is worth 1.
A wrong guess locks that player out of the question. With round lives set, it also costs a life.
You see every guess as it lands, and can Mark right a guess the accepted answers missed (it gets its points, and its life back).

Marking: Automatic -- add accepted answers.

Best for: Any size. Great tension as clues drop.

Needs Hobbyist to host.

🎨 Draw it (Quiz Master)

Everyone gets a secret prompt to draw on their phone, then guesses each other's drawings.

Each player gets a different prompt from your list (type or paste them, or tap From my question bank). They have 60 seconds by default -- no letters!
Press Start guessing when pens are down. Up to 6 drawings (you choose) go up one at a time; everyone but the artist types a guess.
Press Reveal the prompt: each right guess scores (2 by default) and the artist scores for every person who got it (1 each).
Only each artist ever sees their own prompt.

Marking: Automatic (typo tolerant).

Best for: Groups up to about 12 -- bigger rooms still work, only some drawings are shown.

🦄 Unique answers

"Name something you'd find on a bus" -- driver, seats, passengers... answers nobody else gives score most.

Everyone types an answer. At the reveal, matching answers are grouped on the screen -- "Seats ×4", "🦄 Chewing gum".
You set the points: a unique answer (default 3), a shared one (0, or minus to punish the obvious) and a not-valid one.
Tap Not valid for answers that don't count ("a giraffe"), or merge two that mean the same ("driver" and "bus driver"). Scores follow instantly.
Optional: a list of valid answers (paste it, comma-separated) -- off-list answers don't count, and typos group with the right one.

Marking: Automatic grouping; you judge validity (or give a list).

Best for: A great opener at any size. A round of 10 works well.

Needs Hobbyist to host.

🎵 Multiple answers

One question, several answers, e.g. "Name the song AND the artist".

Each part has its own points, plus an optional bonus for getting them all.
Parts with accepted answers are marked straight away; the rest you mark at the reveal.

Marking: Automatic with accepted answers, otherwise by you.

Best for: Music and film rounds. Add accepted answers for big groups.

Needs Hobbyist to host.

🎮 Mini games

A quick game everyone plays on their own phone, dropped into a round like a question.

Stop the Clock: stop the timer as close to the target as possible. The clock disappears after 3 seconds.
Colour Clash: tap the colour the word is written in, not the word. +1 right, -1 wrong.
Hurdles: tap to jump. Clean jumps speed you up; hitting a hurdle costs a point.
Roulette: bet free chips, or risk your own points for double winnings. The wheel spins on the shared screen.
Quick Draw: tap the moment the screen turns green, five times. Fastest average wins; tapping early costs a second.
Balloon Pump: tap like mad to pump balloons until they pop. Most pops wins.
Higher or Lower: call the next card. One wrong call ends your run -- the longest streak wins.
Memory Pads: watch the pads flash, then repeat the sequence as it grows. One slip and you're out.
Points go by finishing place (by default 1st 5, 2nd 3, 3rd 2, and 1 for everyone else who played).
Anyone who doesn't play at all (phone left on the table) scores nothing and takes no place.

Marking: Automatic.

Best for: Any size -- a palate cleanser between question rounds.

Stop the Clock and Quick Draw are free; the other six need Hobbyist.

Round settings

+ New round asks what kind of round you want -- General knowledge, Picture, Quick-fire, Connections, Who said it?, Survivor, Mini games and more -- and sets it up for you. Each round's + Add button adds its own kind of question; other types are under "Other question types".

🗣️ Who said it?

Each question is a quote (shown in quote marks) with two suspects. They stay hidden -- on every screen -- until you tap 🥁 Reveal the suspects, with a drumroll. Any multiple-choice question can do this: tick "Hide the options until I reveal them".

💀 Survivor

Give a round lives and tick Survivor: every wrong or blank answer costs a life, and at zero you watch the rest of the round. The screen shows how many are still standing, and if nobody is, the round ends early.

🏷️ Subtitle

An optional line of context under the round's name -- handy when the name is a clue or an in-joke, e.g. Building Better Worlds with the subtitle Switch sprint stats.

It shows under the round name on the shared screen, on phones and on the "Up next" screen.

⏱️ Timer

Give every question in a round its own countdown (30 seconds by default).

Choose Starts by itself (a few seconds of reading time, then answers open) or You start it -- handy if you read questions out loud first.

Works on multiple choice, free text, ordering, closest to the pin and multiple answers.

❤️ Lives

For connections rounds: a shared pool of lives per player. Each wrong guess costs one, and at zero they can't guess again that round. Resets every round.

💡 Hints

Add a hint to multiple choice, free text, ordering, closest to the pin or multiple-answer questions, then reveal it from your controls if the room is stuck.

🖼️ Pictures and audio

Attach an image or a short audio clip to a question (up to 5MB).

Audio can play on the shared screen for everyone, or privately on each player's phone (best for "name that tune" with headphones, or noisy rooms).

🎨 Theme and sound

Pick a look for the quiz (22 themes -- see them all in the Theme showroom). With Quiz Master, each round can have its own.

Sound effects play on the shared screen; you can switch them off for the quiz.

🤝 Tie-breaker

Add one closest-to-the-pin question at the end of the quiz. It's only asked if the game ends tied for first. Only the tied players answer, and it repeats if they tie again.

Rounds for your crowd

👥 Big groups (15+ players)

Great: multiple choice, fastest answer, closest to the pin, ordering, connections and mini games -- everyone plays at once and it's all marked for you.

Careful: free text and multiple answers without accepted answers -- you'll be marking every single answer by hand.

Skip or save for the finale: bidding -- only the top bidder plays.

Turn on a round timer to keep things moving, and use Quick awards so breaks stay short.

🛋️ Small groups (2-8 players)

Everything works. Bidding, free text and connections with lives are at their best here -- the banter is the point.

Leave timers off (or long) so people can talk it through.

💡 A good shape for a night: 5-8 rounds of 5-10 questions, a mini game between heavier rounds, and your trickiest round last. Preview it once with bots to check the pace.

💡 Venue wifi is usually the weak point with lots of players. Ask people to join while you set up, and have them use mobile data if the wifi struggles.

Must-know mechanics

Answers stay hidden until you reveal. Nobody, including you, sees what people answered until you press reveal.
See who's still thinking. With up to 24 players, the shared screen shows everyone's token, lighting up with a tick as they answer, and your controls list who has answered -- handy for a friendly nudge. Bigger rooms just show the count.
The scoreboard shows between rounds, not after every question -- it keeps the suspense, and the end-of-round reveal counts down from last place to first.
Late arrivals watch, they don't join. Once the game starts, joining closes (they'd have missed points). Anyone opening the link sees the shared screen on their phone instead.
Faces and reactions. Everyone gets an avatar when they join (a random face, remembered on their phone) and can build or draw another in the lobby. Players can send emoji reactions that float up the shared screen, except while they still have a question to answer. Switch reactions off on your controls if they get too much.
🎙️ Voice host (Quiz Master). Pick a voice in the builder's Basics (▶ Hear it to try it). It reads each question and introduces each round on the shared screen, and answers open once it's finished reading. Muting the screen (🔇) silences it too.
👪 Family-friendly. Tick it in the builder's Basics (or on your controls in the lobby or during the game) and swear words in players' names, team names, answers and guesses are starred out (f***) on every screen. You can also hide a rude Draw it drawing (🙈 Hide this drawing) and reset a rude drawn face (👥 Players: remove or reset).
After the quiz. Every phone gets a 📸 Your night card (place, points, right answers, awards) to share or save. Back in the builder and your Question bank, each question shows 📊 % got it right, so you can see which were too hard or too easy.
Someone joined twice, or had to leave? A name can only be used once, so the same person on their phone and a laptop is stopped at the door. To take someone out, open 👥 Players: remove or reset on your controls (in the lobby or during the game): they drop off the scoreboard, can't rejoin from that device, and you can let them back in.
Closed the page by accident? Reopening the link on the same phone carries straight on. Moving to a different phone mid-game isn't possible yet.
Tap the TV once for sound. Browsers only allow sound after a tap, so the shared screen shows "Tap to turn on sound" -- tap it before you start.
Keep your host controls open. Your device holds the answers and does the marking (so players can't peek or fake a score). Connections guesses are marked the moment they land, so leave the page open while people guess. Host from the device, or signed-in account, you started the game on.
"🤷 I don't know" lets a player pass on multiple choice, free text, ordering and multiple-answer questions: it counts as answered, so you're not left waiting, and scores nothing.
Wrong answers can cost points in fastest answer (you lose the question's points) and in bidding (you lose your bid). Everywhere else a wrong answer just scores nothing.
You can re-mark answers. Mark a free-text answer or a bid wrongly and just change it -- the score adjusts without double counting.
Repeat warnings: if the same question appears twice in a quiz (same type, wording and answer), the builder flags it. Nothing is blocked.
Light or dark? Use the 🌙 / ☀️ / 📱 switch (on My quizzes, the builder and this guide) to pick how your screens look. Players' phones and the shared screen always show the quiz's theme.
Sign in to keep your quizzes. Quizzes built without signing in live in that one browser. Signing in keeps them on your account, on every device.
🗒 Host notes. Give any question a note ("You could have had...") and any round an intro ("Multiple choice, 20 seconds each"). Only your controls show them: a round's intro as it starts, a question's note after the reveal. Players and the shared screen never see them.
"How tonight works". While people join, the shared screen and phones show a slideshow of the rules your quiz uses (teams, captains, Wildcards, timers...). It never names awards or mini games, and only lists round names if you tick that. Switch it off in the builder's Basics step.
Unsaved changes are kept on your device. If your phone closes the builder in the background, reopen it and your changes come back. They're only on that device until you press Save quiz, so save before switching devices.

Team games (Hobbyist; captains Quiz Master)

👥 How it works

Pick Teams in the builder's Basics step and name 2-8 teams. Everyone still answers on their own phone and scores for themselves; teams are ranked on their players' points.

Team score: the average per player (fair when teams are different sizes) or the total (bigger teams have an edge). You choose per quiz.

🔀 Getting into teams

Players pick on their phone in the lobby, you Shuffle everyone into even teams, or you choose each player's team.

Whichever you pick, you can move anyone in the lobby. Anyone still without a team goes into the smallest one when you start, and teams are fixed from then on.

Teams name themselves: in the lobby, each team's first member can rename it from their phone. (In a Shuffle game, tap Shuffle before starting so teams have time to.)

🧢 Captain mode

Pick Captain answers and each team gives one answer per question. Teammates tap their suggestion; the captain sees them all (with who suggested what) and locks in the team's answer.

The captaincy takes turns round by round, or stays with the team's first member. If a captain doesn't answer, the team's most popular suggestion counts (not for fastest answer).

Team picks lets each team vote for its captain before every round (from round 2). With 🏴‍☠️ Mutiny on, crews can instead vote to overthrow the captain due to take over: more than half of them must want it, and they choose the replacement. You press Count the votes when everyone's had their say.

Bids are the captain's call. In mini games everyone plays and the team's best result counts. Team scores are the team's points, so every team has the same chances whatever its size.

🏆 Scores and awards

Scoreboards show the teams first, then every player with their team.

With Party Mode, the final ceremony ends on the Winning Team, with its MVP just before. A tie between top teams goes to the tie-breaker question, answered by everyone on those teams.

Wildcards are off in team games.

Party Mode extras

Turn on Party Mode in the builder for louder round transitions, jokes, a scoreboard with commentary, and these extras:

🏆 Awards

Fun awards between some rounds (you choose which, or leave it on Surprise) and a final ceremony at the end.

Quick style shows a round's awards on one screen; the final ceremony reveals them one at a time.

🃏 Wildcards (Hobbyist)

Before chosen rounds, players get cards to play in secret -- double or nothing, steal points, swap scores, slow a rival's timer and more.

All the cards flip over together on the screen, then pay out at the end of the round. Last place gets an extra card, so they're a great comeback tool.

If a player has Slow-Mo time left, your Reveal button waits for them -- they bought that time fair and square.

Plans

Players never pay -- only the host needs a plan. Anything marked 🔒 can still be built and tried in ▶ Preview; hosting it for real needs the plan it names. Quizzes saved before plans began keep hosting as they were. See the plans

Free

3 quizzes, up to 4 rounds and 30 questions each.

Multiple choice, free text, closest to the pin and ordering; timers, lives and hints.

Classic, Pub Quiz, Sports and Science themes, plus seasonal themes in season. Stop the Clock and Quick Draw.

Party Mode's final ceremony (3 awards), Play again, Preview with 1 bot.

Hobbyist

20 quizzes, up to 10 rounds each, 1,000 questions in all.

Every question type except Draw it, plus pictures and audio.

Every theme except Corporate, all 8 mini games, all the awards, Wildcards and team games.

Preview with up to 5 bots.

Quiz Master

Everything, with room for everything.

Draw it, the voice host, captains (with team picks and Mutiny), your logo, Corporate and a theme per round.

Preview's bot skill levels and Skip to round.

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