Four ways to play.
Same question on the screen, same four answers on every phone. What changes is how the points work. Pick a style per game; a night can mix them.
Fade Away
The clock starts the second the answers land. Know it straight away and you bank close to a thousand; think it over and the prize shrinks every second. While you hesitate, wrong answers start fading off the screen, so a slow player gets a hint and a fast one gets the points. No penalty for a miss. Everybody learns it in one question, which is why a first game is usually this one.
Good for: any room, first games, big crowds, kids.
Full rules
- The question shows alone for the reading time (4 s by default), then the answers land and a 12-second clock starts.
- A right answer is worth 1,000 points at the start and drains to 100 at the end of the clock. A wrong answer or no answer is 0.
- Wrong answers fade off the screen at 5 and 8 seconds.
- You can change your answer until you lock in or the clock ends; only the final one counts.
- Between questions: the right answer, the fun fact and the standings for 30 s (the host sets it, 12 to 90).
Clued In
Twenty seconds, and help is on the way: a clue at seven seconds, another at fourteen. The value is draining the whole time, so every clue you wait for costs you points. Jump early on a hunch, or hold for the hint and settle for less. Change your mind and that costs a little too, so it rewards the person who commits. The quiet thinkers' game.
Good for: people who like to think, quieter rooms, study groups.
Full rules
- A 20-second clock. The first clue appears at 7 s, the second at 14 s. Both clues are wordplay: the first rules out a wrong answer, the second points at the right one.
- A right answer is worth 1,000 at the start and drains to the end of the clock.
- Each change of answer costs 100 points. A wrong answer costs 100.
- Clues are written for every question in the bank; you can write them for your own questions too, or leave them blank.
- Between questions: the answer, fun fact and standings for 20 s by default.
The Gambler
Speed counts for nothing here. Before each question you see only the category, and you put a chip on it blind: a big one if it's your subject, a small one if it isn't. Right, you keep the chip; wrong, it's gone. Halfway through, a board of tiles to sort. Then the final: one question, and you choose how much to risk. The whole game can turn on it.
Good for: teams that argue, regulars, a game that swings on the last question.
Full rules
- A game is 8 questions: 3, halftime, 3, final.
- Round one chips are 1, 3 and 5 points; round two chips are 2, 4 and 6. Each chip is used once per round. The chip is staked on the category before the question shows.
- Right: you bank the chip's value. Wrong: you lose the chip, not points off your score.
- Halftime is a board of tiles: tap every tile that belongs. Each right tile pays a point; each wrong tile takes one back.
- The final is one question with a stake of your choosing, 0 to 15. It is the one place a score can go down.
- The question clock is yours to set: 45 s by default, 15 to 120. Between questions: 25 s by default.
Globe Trotter
A geography game. The TV spins a globe to tonight's region (Europe, Africa, North America or the United States) and settles on a map with one country lit. Name it from four answers on your phone, which shows the same map. The reveal turns the country green and names its neighbours, and the fun fact stays up long enough to read.
Good for: map lovers, travellers, a room that likes to learn something.
Full rules
- A game is one round of five places on one map: the countries of Europe, Africa or North America, or the 50 states. The maps take turns from game to game.
- Scoring is the same as Fade Away: a 12-second clock, wrong answers fade out at 5 s and 8 s, and a right answer is worth more the faster you give it.
- The fun fact stays up for at least 10 s after every answer.
What's the same in every style
- The fun fact after every answer: a line or two on why the answer is right, on every screen, for the gap before the next question. The host can hold it there as long as the room wants.
- Standings after every question, with the ticker underneath: what just happened and who it happened to. Nobody is ever the joke; the ticker only talks about good things and close things.
- Solo or team. Play as yourself, or share one name and one score with your friends, beside you or in another city. Everyone sees the same question on the same clock.
- The Final Call. The podium, a card for every player (best question, streak, rank over the game), and points added to their all-time record if they've kept a name.
Round formats
Some games have a shape of their own on top of the style:
- Six Rounds — six themed rounds of three, climbing from medium to hard.
- Five Rounds — five themed rounds of three, one flavour each.
- Elimination — five rounds of three, and the lowest scores are knocked out at the late breaks until two are left for the final. Needs four playing; best with six or more.
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