How to play
You need a phone. That's it. No app, no account, no password.
You need: a phone. That's it.
No app. No download. No account. No password. You don't hand over your email, and we don't want it.
- Scan the QR code on the big screen with your phone's camera.
- Tap the link that pops up. That's you in.
- Play. Watch the big screen, tap on your phone.
If your camera won't scan it, ask whoever's on the mic for the link — it's short.
While you're playing
- Keep your phone awake. If it locks itself, just unlock it — you won't lose your place.
- Don't refresh unless you have to. You'll be fine if you do; the game remembers you on that phone.
- Your phone stays quiet. The sound comes from the venue's PA, not from your handset.
- One phone, one player. If two of you play off one phone, the game will only see one of you — and only one of you can win the meat tray.
Beat the Local: what happens on your phone
You play one at a time, so most of the session your phone just tells you where you are in the queue. When you're up:
- Cash builder. Nothing to tap — answer out loud and watch the money climb.
- Take an offer. Three buttons. The big number puts you closer to The Local; the small one gives you a head start. Pick quickly, the whole bar is watching.
- Head to head. Three options. Tap one and you're locked — you can't change it, and you can't see what The Local picked until the board reveals you both together. They can't see yours either.
- Get home and your money goes in the team pot and you're in the final. Get caught and you're out, and it goes with you.
- The final chase is all out loud. Put the phone down and shout.
The logo means a question is coming
When the next question is about to land, your phone fills with the venue's logo for about a second, then the question appears underneath it. Every game does it at the moment its show starts moving — a question going up, the race starting, a new round, the draw spinning, and "eyes down" when a bingo game begins. Not on every number called, which would be relentless. It's a heads-up: most people are watching the big screen or talking to their table, not staring at their hand, and without it a question just quietly turns up and you've lost ten seconds of it.
If your phone is set to vibrate it gives one short buzz at the same time, so you get the nudge without having to be looking at all. Phones stay silent — the room's sound comes out of the big screen's speakers, and forty phones chiming slightly out of time with each other would be its own kind of awful.
Common hiccups
- "The doors are closed." Some games lock new players out once they've started — that's the game, not a bug. You'll catch the next round.
- You dropped out. Reconnect on the same phone and you'll be put back where you were.
- Nothing's happening. Look up. The caller is probably mid-flow, and your phone will wake up when they push the next thing.
Now stop reading your phone and look up — there's a game on.