You've made your first quiz, now you want to play it for your next classroom activity! This post will show you all you need to know when playing a QuizWhizzer game, either live in a classroom environment or remotely.
This video demonstrates the basics of how the gameplay works. There are a few extra things to consider though, so read on if you want to learn more (the video is also a little dated, so this post has the most up to date information).
Start a game
Click on the quiz you would like to play to open the detailed view. You will then see a green start button which you can click to launch the game:
Game mode
You will then be asked to select a game mode.
There are three modes to choose from:
- Live Race - a race to the finish, everyone starts at the same time and first to the finish wins.
- If a player reaches the end (last space on the map), they will finish the game and their finish place will be locked. If there are still questions left, the player can continue them for academic purposes, they won't count towards their score.
- Homework - players work until all questions are finished. The winners are decided based on how far on the map they are AND highest score, so if there are multiple players on the last space, the player with the highest score will win, not who arrived first.
- Use this mode if you want to play more questions-focussed rather than a race. It also works better when players are joining at different times.
- Sync Race (NEW) - Work through the questions at the same time. As the game host you will control when to move to the next question. The question will be displayed on the main screen as well as player devices. Like in Homework mode, the winners are decided based on the furthest position on the map with the highest score.
Now once you have decided on the game mode you want to play, press the continue button to move to the map selection screen.
Maps are the race setting for your game. Players will race each other on the map while answering questions. If you click on the “Community made” tab you can browse all the maps created by QuizWhizzer members. This tab also fetches maps based on the number of questions in your quiz and the forward movement you select:
Once you’ve selected the map you want to use, you can customize the movement as well as the music (or choose to have no music).
Next you can choose the options for the game. There are quite a few options so we won’t cover them all here (you should see explanations below each one on the screen). We recommend you explore them at your own pace to avoid getting overwhelmed!
A few notable options:
- ⚡ Powerups
- Powers are placed randomly on the map (represented by a rotating question mark). If a player lands on one, they will get a powerup based on their current position - players who are further ahead are more likely to get defensive powerups, while players lagging behind are more likely to get attack powerups.
- Learn more about the different powerups here →
- 🚀 Avatars
- Here you can choose custom avatars for each player. If you've just signed up you won't have any avatar packs, but you can browse packs created by the community here as well.
- Learn more about custom avatars here →
- 🎯 Maximum attempts
- If you set this greater than 1, players will be able to try again after they submit and incorrect answer.
- Player will get 50% credit for two attempts, 25% credit for three attempts and 0 for more than three attempts.
Time limit ⌛
If you launched in homework mode, you can also choose a time limit from this screen. As you would expect, this works on an individual level for each player.
If you launched in Live Race, the time limit can be set from the active game screen. This is because this timer is more advanced and can be adjusted in real time! So in this case everyone goes off the timer on the central screen.
Once time runs out, it will automatically stop the player from answering more questions.
Active Game
Now you've launched the game, it's time to share it with your students! You will be shown a lobby screen giving you the opportunity to wait for everyone to join.
In the screenshot below, the number in the red box is the access code. This can be entered by students going to https://quizwhizzer.com/play. This is good for in-person settings to provide an easy way to join the game without some complicated URL to type in. To make it even easier, we now provide a QR code to scan to join the game directly when in person!
For remote settings, the link in the blue box can be shared directly with students (e.g. via a messaging platform) so by following the link they will be brought directly into the game where they can enter their nickname.
As players join, you will start to see their avatars appearing on the screen. By default these are uniquely coloured circles, unless you have an avatar collection enabled.
Start the game
Once you start the game, players will be presented with the first question.
Here is an annotated view of the player interface:
As you can see, there is a navigation bar at the bottom of the screen, which allows the player to switch through various views. They can see their position on the game board and the leader board.
The powerup slot (top right) will show a powerup when the player lands on a powerup space (rotating question mark), which they can tap on at anytime to activate it.
When the player submits their answer, the view will automatically switch to the map so they can see their avatar progress in realtime!
The player also gets instant feedback if they got the answer right or wrong. This is a huge benefit to online learning, as opposed to working from a worksheet.
The game screen
Usually if everyone is playing at the same time, the game host will have the map projected on a central screen for everyone to see.
Game settings
You will notice there is a control panel at the right hand side of the screen. This allows you to change the presentation of various elements on the board as well as adjust the game timer if you're playing in live race mode (timer will not show in homework mode as it cannot be adjusted).
Here's what you can adjust:
- Player avatar size
- Player name font size
- Whether to show player names
- Whether to show the spaces
- Whether to show the numbers on the spaces
- Whether to show the access code (recommended to hide after players have joined for more screen real estate).
- Turn music on/off
And in a live race you can start the timer, which you can pause/stop/reset at any time.
Leaderboard
On the game controls panel you will also see a button "Show leaderboard" which will allow you to see a real time view of all players' positions in the game:
Tip: Viewing players on a space
The game will only show up to 7 players on a space. You can hover over them to view the full list of players on that space.
Game Results
A modal window will pop up to tell you when all players are finished.
Click the view results button to see the winners and celebrate 🎉 This page will also show the question that students struggled with the most and who got the longest streak 🔥
Next click the View results table button to see a table of everyone's responses and you can discuss the questions as a class.
This shows a table of everyone's responses so you can get a quick understanding of what people struggled with and review the questions as a class.
If you click on a cell, a pop up with the question will appear, giving the perfect opportunity to discuss the questions as a class.