Quiz Show Game Maker
Make your own quiz game board with categories, point values, clues and answers, then host it for 2 to 8 teams on one screen or on a TV.
This is an example board. Type your own categories, clues and answers over it, or press Clear board to start empty.
Chart: score after each clue
Settings: teams, buzzer and scoring
How to make and play a quiz show game
Start in Edit board. The page opens with a small example board, clearly marked, so you can try a round right away; type over it or press Clear board. Give the board a title, pick 1 to 6 categories and 1 to 6 rows, and set the points for each row (100 to 500 by default). Choose a category above the list to write its name plus a clue and an answer for each tile. Everything saves as you type.
Press Play to show the board. Click a tile to open its clue in large text, read it out, and press Show answer when the room is ready. Then score it: Right on the team that answered gives it the tile's points and closes the clue, Wrong takes the points away (when that setting is on) and leaves the clue open for the other teams, and No one closes it without points. Played tiles go blank, with a dot in the color of the team that won them. After the last tile the final standings appear, and New game keeps the board and sets every score back to zero.
Hosting tips: with a laptop connected to a TV or projector, press Open display window and drag that window to the big screen. It shows the board, the open clue, who buzzed and the scores, and it shows an answer only after you press Show answer. Tick Show me the answer before it is revealed in Settings and the answer stays on your own screen. Print sheet prints a host answer key with every clue and answer by category, and Print blank sheet prints a planning grid for writing a board on paper first.
Scoring and settings
House rules differ from one classroom, party or club to the next, so the scoring is a set of switches rather than fixed rules. By default a right answer adds the tile's value, a wrong answer subtracts it, and the host decides which team gets each clue. You can turn off Wrong answers lose points, tick Double values for a second round, set an answer timer that sounds a horn at zero, and change the number of teams (2 to 8) and their names in Settings.
The built-in buzzer is on by default: while a clue is open, the first team to press its letter key or tap its name buzzes in and the other teams are locked out. After a wrong answer the clue opens again for the teams that have not answered yet. Turn it off when teams raise hands or use a separate device such as the trivia buzzer. The + and − buttons under each team change a score by the smallest value on the board, and Settings lets you type any score. For a quiz without a board, the score keeper adds up round scores and the team scoreboard shows team totals on one screen.
Keyboard shortcuts
- E: switch between Edit board and Play
- Tab to a tile, then Enter: open that clue
- Space or Enter: show the answer, then go back to the board
- Team letter keys (A, L, Q, P, Z, N, T, H by default, changed in Settings): buzz in
- ↑ or +: the team that buzzed is right; ↓ or -: it is wrong
- 1 to 8: that team is right; Shift plus the number: that team is wrong; 0: no one
- U or Ctrl+Z: undo
- F: full screen, M: sound on or off
Shortcuts do nothing while you type in a field, so writing clues never triggers one, and a key held down counts once.
Questions
Can I use it as a trivia game maker for classroom review?
Yes. As a game show maker for class review, build one board per unit with questions from your lesson, put the class in 2 to 8 teams, and play it on the classroom screen or interactive board. Export each board as a file so you can load it again next term.
How do I save a board and use it again?
The board, teams and scores are saved in this browser as you go, so a refresh loses nothing. Export file downloads the board as a small file, and Import file loads it on any computer. Share link puts a smaller board in a link; a long board does not fit, and the page tells you to use the file instead.
How do I show the game on a TV without showing the answers?
Open the page on a laptop connected to the TV, press Open display window and move that window to the TV in full screen. The TV shows the board, the clue and the scores, and the answer only after you press Show answer. Your laptop keeps the controls.
Is anything sent to a server?
No. This quiz game maker runs in your browser: boards, clues, answers and scores stay on your device unless you export a file or copy a share link yourself. There is no sign-up.
More in Scores and games
Put this quiz show game maker on your website
Free for classrooms, clubs, blogs and shops: paste this code into any page. It works the same inside your site, and counts stay in each visitor's own browser. For a dark version, add ?theme=dark after /quiz-show-game-maker/ in the code.