QR code quiz
Put the quiz on a TV or projector, let guests scan the QR code with their phone camera and play from their seats. No app, no account, no sign-up. This page explains how a QR code quiz works in ZappyQ, from the host screen to the podium.
At a glance
How it works
A QR code is just a web address your phone camera can read. In ZappyQ, every live game gets a unique join link and a six-digit PIN. The host screen shows both: a large QR code and the PIN next to it. A guest either points the camera at the screen or opens zappyq.com/join and types the PIN. Either way they land in the same lobby, pick a nickname and wait for the host to start.
From then on the host screen drives the game. It shows each question and the countdown and, after every question, the correct answer and the current leaderboard. Each guest's phone shows the same question and the answer buttons, so nobody has to read small text from the back of the room. At the end there is a podium for the top three, and the host gets a report with the hardest questions.
Setup
Building a quiz needs no account. Hosting a live game needs a free one.
Write questions yourself with six question types, or type a topic and let the AI quiz generator draft up to 20 questions you then edit. Choose a colour theme and a scoring mode.
Open the host screen on the big screen. The lobby shows the QR code and the PIN. Guests scan it with the camera app (no QR reader needed on a current phone) or type the PIN at zappyq.com/join. Latecomers can still join until you lock the game.
Advance question by question. After each one, the screen reveals the right answer, how the room answered and the leaderboard. Finish on the podium and open the report to see which questions were hardest.
No app
No. ZappyQ runs in the browser on iPhone, Android, tablets and laptops. The camera app on any current phone reads the QR code and opens the join page directly. Nobody downloads anything, nobody creates an account and nobody pays.
Players also do not hand over personal data. They choose a nickname (or accept a generated one, such as Swift Falcon), and the game stores only that nickname, their answers and their score. A filter blocks offensive custom nicknames, and everything is deleted 24 hours after the game is created.
Where it fits
Anywhere with a screen, a host and guests with phones.
Put the QR code on the screen and on a card at every table. Guests join on arrival; the host advances the questions and the leaderboard does the arguing. Each phone answers for itself, so a table that wants to play together shares one phone.
How well do the guests know the couple? Twenty questions, speed scoring and a podium that is funnier than a speech. Grandma scans the code like everyone else.
Open a session with a poll and close it with a quiz on the talk. The Host Plan has no player cap, so a full hall joins the same way as a small room.
The QR code goes on the projector, students join with a nickname and the report shows which questions to revisit. See the page for teachers.
A five-question energizer on the Friday call. Remote colleagues scan the code from the shared screen or type the PIN. More on the page for trainers.
Living-room quiz on the TV. Up to 25 players on the free plan, which covers most living rooms. See the pricing page for the Host Plan if you need more.
Big screen
Small things that make the first minute smooth.
Connection
Nothing is lost. The game runs on ZappyQ's servers, not on the phone. If a guest's screen locks, the browser closes or the Wi-Fi drops, they reopen the page and are reconnected with their score, streak and rank intact. The reconnect relies on a cookie on the device, so the same phone picks up the same player.
A question missed while offline simply counts as unanswered; the player continues with the next one. The host screen is never affected by a single phone dropping out.
Scoring
Three scoring modes and an optional streak bonus. Pick per game.
The classic. A correct answer within half a second scores full points (1,000 by default), and the value falls to half at the deadline. Fast and right beats slow and right.
Every correct answer is worth the same, no matter how fast. Good for review sessions where you want thinking, not thumb speed.
One point per correct answer. The leaderboard becomes a simple count of right answers.
Optional in every mode. From the second correct answer in a row, players earn an extra 100 points per step, up to 500. Polls never score and never break a streak.
Any question can be set to double points or no points. Polls have no right answer and are never scored. Back to the ZappyQ home page.
FAQ
No. ZappyQ players join in the browser: they scan the QR code on the host's screen with their phone camera, or open zappyq.com/join and type the six-digit PIN. There is no app to install, no account to create and nothing to pay. Any phone, tablet or laptop with a browser and an internet connection works.
They type the PIN instead. Every ZappyQ game has a six-digit PIN shown next to the QR code; the guest opens zappyq.com/join in any browser, enters the PIN and picks a nickname. Keep the lobby on the big screen for exactly this reason, and tell guests they can use mobile data if the venue Wi-Fi is slow.
On ZappyQ's free plan, up to 25 players per live game. The Host Plan removes the cap, so a wedding party or a conference hall joins the same way. The practical limit is the room's internet connection, not the plan. Players always join free; only the host has a plan, and the free plan has no time limit.
Not as a built-in feature. ZappyQ scores each phone as one player and runs a quiz as one continuous set of questions. For a pub quiz with teams, let each table share one phone and join under the team name; for rounds, run several short quizzes back to back. The leaderboard and the report are per quiz.
Nothing is lost. The game runs on ZappyQ's servers, so a player who drops out reopens the page and is reconnected with score, streak and rank intact. A question missed while offline counts as unanswered and the player continues with the next one. The host screen is unaffected by any single phone.
Try it tonight
Build the quiz free, put the QR code on the screen and let guests join from their seats.