Universal rules

In a buzzer round you answer out loud, and the host decides what counts. That holds whoever is loudest about disagreeing.

The moment a team buzzes in, a 10-second countdown starts on every screen in the room. Everybody can see whose clock is running and how much is left of it.

A wrong answer passes down the order of who buzzed. When that runs out the floor reopens, because a team that never buzzed has still never had a shot at the question. Anyone who picks it up after somebody has missed scores 5 rather than 10. Buzzing first and answering is the whole contest.

In a lock-in round every team answers on their own phone inside the same timer, and nothing is revealed until it runs out. Some of those pay everyone who got it right; others pay only the two fastest correct answers, and one of them charges you for guessing wrong. The round tells you which before it starts.

Only as many devices as there are teams can join with the session code. The device is shared: any hand on the team can hit it. Playing solo instead? Everyone uses their own phone as a team of one, up to 8 people.

The captain nominates one player, once, for the whole round, not question by question. Only nominees may buzz.

Most rounds run 5 questions; a couple run fewer because their questions are longer. Short rounds keep the pace up and stop any one game outstaying its welcome.