How to Play: Competition Mode

Setting Up

One player creates a room and gets a 4-digit code to share; everyone else joins with that code. Each player picks Team 1, Team 2, or Spectate (watch only, can't buzz). Each team needs at least one player before the host can start the match.

Reading & Buzzing

Each toss-up question is read aloud word by word, just like at a real tournament. Anyone on Team 1 or Team 2 can buzz in at any time — spectators can't. Once someone buzzes, the reading stops immediately and that player has a limited time to answer (multiple choice questions allow less time than short answer, since typing takes longer).

Buzzing early matters. If you buzz in before the question has finished being read, that's an interrupt — it carries a bigger risk (see scoring below). If you buzz after the full question has already been read, there's no interrupt penalty.

Scoring a Toss-Up

• Correct answer: +4 points
• Wrong answer, buzzed in early (interrupted the reading): −4 points, and the question restarts from the beginning so the other team can hear the whole thing and buzz in
• Wrong answer, buzzed in after the question was fully read: 0 points — no penalty, and the other team gets a chance to buzz on the same question
• Nobody buzzes in time: 0 points, correct answer is shown, and play moves on
• Both teams buzz and both get it wrong: the question is dead — correct answer is shown and play moves on

Bonus Questions

Answer a toss-up correctly and your team earns a bonus question worth +10 points if answered correctly, or 0 if wrong or time runs out. Only players on the team that won the toss-up can submit an answer to the bonus — the other team just watches. Bonus questions get more time than a toss-up buzz, since there's no reading or buzzing involved.

Question Formats

Most questions are either multiple choice (pick W/X/Y/Z) or short answer (type your answer). A few short-answer questions instead ask you to check off every correct item from a list, or tap items into the correct order — those show up as checkboxes or numbered slots instead of a text box, but everything else about buzzing and scoring works the same.

Match Length & Scorecard

A match is 24 toss-up questions (plus any bonuses earned along the way). The scorecard on the side of the screen fills in live as the match progresses, so both teams can track the score question by question. When the last question is done, you'll see a full match summary — final score, a topic-by-topic breakdown, and a "Play Again" option to run it back with the same room and teams.