Quiz Buzzer System on Players' Phones

An online quiz buzzer system: every player's phone becomes one big button, and the host's screen shows who pressed first and by how many milliseconds. Each press is timed on the phone itself and the clocks are synced all game long, so a player in the far corner of the Wi-Fi does not lose a press they made first. Formats cover Jeopardy-style games, team trivia with a one-minute timer and Brain Ring; without phones, players buzz in with keyboard keys, gamepads, USB buttons or touch zones on one tablet.

How to run a quiz with buzzers

1
Open a room

Pick a format and press «Buzzers on players' phones» — a QR code and a 6-character code appear.

2
Players join

They scan the QR code, type a name, pick a color or a team, and the phone turns into a big button.

3
Open the buttons after the question

When you finish reading, press «Open the buttons» or Space. The first press is named with its milliseconds.

4
Judge the answer

Correct (Enter) adds the value, wrong (Backspace) subtracts it and reopens the buttons for the others.

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What the buzzer system does

The first press wins, not the fastest network
A press is timed by the touch itself; the host syncs each phone's clock every 2 s (every 0.5 s while the buttons are open) and waits 150–600 ms for slower phones before naming the first.
Honest milliseconds
Time after the signal and the gap to the previous player for every press, plus each phone's ping and clock error; gaps inside the error are marked as too close to call.
All screens light up at once
The opening is scheduled a fraction of a second ahead, so every phone and the host's signal switch on at the same moment.
Four formats with their own rules
Jeopardy-style values 100–500 with ×2 and ×3 rounds, team trivia with 60 + 10 s, Brain Ring with 20 s and the remaining time to the other team, and free play.
False starts like on TV
Pressing early locks the button for 0.25–2.5 s or takes the question away from that player or team.
Works without phones
Keyboard keys, USB buzzers and pedals, gamepads including PlayStation Buzz! controllers, or 2–4 touch zones on one tablet — in the same game as phones.

Why the first press is not the first to arrive

In most online buzzers the winner is whoever's message reaches the server first. On one Wi-Fi network two phones can differ by 50–200 ms simply because one sits behind a wall or has a sleepy radio, while a real race between two quick players is often decided by 10–30 ms. So arrival order rewards the network, not the player. Here each phone times the touch itself, the host keeps each phone's clock in sync and shows how accurate that sync is, and a press that is too close to call is marked as such instead of being handed to the faster connection.

Questions about the quiz buzzer

How does a phone on slow Wi-Fi still win when it pressed first?

The phone records the moment of the touch on its own clock and sends that moment, not just the press. Every two seconds the host measures each phone's clock against its own, and after the first press it waits a little longer than the slowest phone's round trip. So a press made 30 ms earlier wins even if it arrived 100 ms later. Arrival order is used only when a phone's stamp cannot be trusted, and such a press is marked in the list.

What does «≈» next to a gap mean?

The two presses are closer than the measurement can reliably tell apart. On one Wi-Fi network the error is usually a few milliseconds, on mobile data it can be tens of milliseconds — each phone's «±» is shown in the player list. For such a close call the host decides, and «Give the turn» hands the answer to the other player.

What happens if someone presses before the buttons open?

That is a false start. In Jeopardy-style games the button is locked for a moment (the TV show uses a quarter of a second; here it is 0.25–2.5 s), and in Brain Ring the team loses the right to answer the question. The penalty is set in the rules, and the host can lift it with «Unlock».

Can we play without phones?

Yes. Choose «One device»: each player gets a keyboard key or a gamepad button, and USB buzzers, foot pedals and PlayStation Buzz! controllers work too. On a tablet, 2–4 players can buzz in by tapping their own zone of the screen. Keys and phones can also be mixed in one game.

A player's screen went dark — is their score lost?

No. The phone reconnects by itself under the same name, with the same color and score; a press made while it was offline still reaches the host and is marked if it came too late. If the host reloads the page, «Back to the game» reopens the same room with the same code and score within 12 hours.

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