Party Mode is a living-room game show. One screen shows a game board that everyone can see, and each team plays from a phone that becomes their buzzer. Here is everything you need to know before your first game.
The game board
The heart of the game is a board of categories and point values, a lot like the game show Jeopardy. Higher point values mean harder questions.
You can show the board on any screen with a web browser — a TV, a laptop, or a tablet — so the whole room can see it. The host gets a link and a QR code for this. If you would rather keep things small, every team can also see the board right on their own phone.
Your phone is your buzzer
Each team joins from one phone or tablet, and everyone uses the same QR code — it appears right on the game board before the game starts, and the host can also print it or text the link. Scan it, pick your team name and photo, and you are in. There is nothing to install and no account to create.
When you join, you get a short team code. Jot it down — it gets your team back into the game if the phone dies or you switch devices.
That device becomes your team’s buzzer for the whole game. Keep it charged and close by.
Taking a turn
Team 1 starts the game by picking a category and a point value from the board. The question or task then appears on the main board for everyone to see. It might be a trivia question, a name-that-tune clip, a photo that slowly reveals itself, or a physical challenge.
Buzzing in and answering
If your team knows the answer, buzz in on your phone. The fastest team gets to answer first — type it or speak it.
Get it right and your team earns the points and picks the next square. Get it wrong and your team loses that point value (unless the host has turned the penalty off) — and the other teams get a quick 7 seconds to buzz in and steal. Miss the window and the square closes.
Each square takes three answers at most: after the third wrong answer the square is done, even if teams are still waiting to steal.
If nobody buzzes in before time runs out, or nobody gets it right, no points are awarded. The board shows the answer, the square is closed, and the same team picks again.
Physical challenges
Some squares are physical tasks, and every team races to complete them at the same time. Think stacking cups, paper-airplane distance contests, or charades.
Before the game starts, we tell the host exactly which supplies are needed. The host can swap out any task they do not have supplies for, order the items quickly through our Instacart integration, or choose to only include tasks that need no props at all.
We ask each team to film their physical challenges and upload the clips. When the game ends, those clips are turned into a highlight video that is shared with all players — it is the best part of the morning after.
Place Your Bet squares
A couple of squares each round are betting squares. When one is picked, every team secretly wagers on their phone — anything from 0 up to 1,000 points (or up to your total score, if you’re above 1,000). Then one question appears and every team answers at the same time.
Get it right and you win your bet; get it wrong and you lose it. The moment every bet is locked in, the question appears — and after everyone answers, your phone tells you how you did while the board celebrates the teams that got it right and shows the answer.
Winning the game
The game ends when all rounds are complete. The team with the most points wins. If there is a tie, a speed round of trivia decides the winner.
The host can also end the game early at any time — the team in the lead when the game ends takes the crown.
Joining, rejoining, and getting unstuck
Lost your connection or closed the browser by mistake? Open the same link again and you will land right back on your team’s screen with the game in progress. Switching to a different phone? Enter your team code and pick up right where you left off. Nothing is lost.
One phone per team is the rule — if someone else signs in with your team’s code, the first phone is signed out with a friendly note. Great for a dead battery, useless for cheating.
If the room needs a break, the host can pause the game and resume it later. And if a question sits unanswered, the game moves itself along — nobody has to fiddle with anything.