How it works
Trinko Trivia is a web app for running a Jeopardy-style trivia night: the board on the TV, every phone a buzzer, and a score that adds itself up. Three steps, and nothing to install.
- Pick a board. Write your own, import a spreadsheet, or take one ready to run.
- Put it on the TV. One page on the screen: the board, the scores and a code to join.
- Phones buzz in. A team name, nothing else. No app, no account. First to buzz answers.
Try a round › · Put it on the TV ›
The words
- Board
- The questions for one night: categories across the top, a square for each question.
- Night
- One game on one board. It gets a four-character code while it is open.
- Host
- Reads the questions and rules on the answers, from a laptop or a phone.
- Party mode
- No host and no TV needed. The game runs itself and marks the answers; a near miss goes to the judge.
- Boost
- A square where every team types an answer at once. Points to everyone right.
- The wheel
- A square that spins first: extra points, Double, or Bankrupt.
- The pot
- Wrong answers feed it. The next right answer takes the lot.
- The Final
- One last question. Every team bets on it before they see it.
The details
If you are playing tonight
Joining
One phone per team. Scan the QR on the TV or type the join code, then your team name. Your phone shows a 4-digit team PIN; write it on a coaster. If the phone dies, open the code again, tap Take over beside your team, and enter the PIN.
The board
Six categories, squares worth more as you go down. The team in control picks a square. The host reads the question, then unlocks the buzzers: your button lights up. Hit it. It goes green and shows your place: first, second, third. First to buzz answers out loud. Wrong, and the second buzz gets a go. Right earns the square and you pick next.
Two misses and the square opens to the rest of the room: everyone else types an answer for half the square. Every right answer earns the half, a miss there costs nothing, and the fastest right answer picks next. The host can run the older way instead, where the square passes down the buzzes until someone has it.
Buzz before it lights up and you are locked out for a few seconds. Wrong answers can cost the square's points, if the host has that on.
The pot
Every wrong answer's penalty, and everything a bankrupt on the wheel takes, goes into a pot. It sits on the TV so the whole room can see it grow. The next right answer of any kind takes it: a buzz, a boost, the Final. When several teams are right at once, the fastest one collects. The host can switch the pot off for a night.
All Play Boost
Some squares are secretly boosts. When one comes up, every team types an answer on their phone before the clock runs out and locks it in. Nobody sees right or wrong until the end. Once it is locked, it is locked.
The wheel
Some squares are secretly wheels. The team in control spins: on the TV and, in digital mode, on their own phone. Land on points and a right answer earns the square plus those points. Land on Double and a right answer earns twice the square. Land on Bankrupt and your score drops to zero the moment it lands. The wheel question is yours alone, no buzzers. Miss it and there is no penalty, but it opens to every other team's buzzer for the square's normal value.
Bonus points
Some nights have extra ways to score: a round bought for the table, someone's birthday, a first-timer brought along. Your phone lists whatever this room decided counts. Depending on the room, the host approves it, the other teams vote on it, or it just counts. Every award goes up on the TV.
Party mode
Some rooms run without a host. Before each question every team taps Ready. The question stays hidden until everyone has, then appears on every screen at once, and the buzzer opens a moment later at a moment nobody can predict. The night opens on a buzz-off for first pick. First to buzz types the answer on their phone and the game marks it: spelling and capitals are forgiven, and a near miss goes to a judge that reads the question, the answer and what was typed. Nothing is shown until the square is done, so a miss goes to the next buzzer, and two misses open the square to everyone else for half. The organizer can give a refused answer its points at the reveal. Say your answers if you like: choose it in the lobby and the phone types what it hears, with the box there to fix it. Or the room can have every team type on every square. Boosts and the Final are typed and marked the same way. A TV is optional: the phones carry the board, the questions, the answers and the scores.
The Final
Before you see the question, wager any amount up to your score and lock it. Then the question appears: type your answer and lock it. Right adds the wager, wrong subtracts it.
The end
The host marks every boost and the Final, scores post, and the standings go up on the TV.
If you are running a night
Setting up
Build a board or buy one, then press Start a game: choose the board, name the game, and say whether you are hosting it or letting the room run itself. You land on the console. Copy the TV link onto the bar's screen and open it, then click or tap anywhere on the television once so the sounds play. The console also offers bonus points for the night; it never holds up the Start button.
Running it
Tap a square, read the question, open the buzzer. The team that got in first has its own block with Right and Wrong, and the button says what the tap will cost. Miss it and the next team is named for you; a second miss opens the square to the rest of the room. On a laptop the routine is on the keys: Space opens the buzzer, R and W rule on the team on the hook, N is nobody, and Enter is the one big button on every other screen. Boosts and the Final are typed by every team; you mark a boost the moment it closes. Every score change can be undone.
When it ends
The standings carry the night's numbers, with a copy button for the venue and a CSV. Run it again keeps everyone in their seats. Closing the room frees the code.