Go to the main page. There, you'll see a room name automatically generated for you. If you like that name, click it to enter the room. If you don't, you can refresh the page (F5) for a new one or type one into the text box yourself.
Once you're in a room, share the link with everyone you want to play with. They'll show up in the list of users. When everyone's in, you're ready to play!
Buzz Off! assumes everyone involved can communicate with each other. A voice call, text chat, or simply being in the same room all work fine, assuming everyone has a device that can get online.
A typical round beings with the host asking a question. Someone buzzes in. The host asks whoever buzzed in to give an answer.
If the answer was wrong, the host resets the room to let someone else buzz in. If correct, the host asks the next question, then resets the room.
| 🌟 | Room host | The person in charge. |
| 🐝 | Buzzed in | The player who hit the Buzz! button first. |
| 🥇/🥈/🥉 | First/Second/Third | The players who hit the Buzz! button first, second, and third in Top Three mode. |
| 🔒 | Locked out | You tried to buzz in while the room was prelocked. |
The room host was the first person to join the room, or the person who had been in the room longest when the host left. The room host can change the game mode and has access to three extra buttons:
| Reset | Clears everyone's locked and buzzed-in status so that you can ask another question. |
| Prelock | Prelocks the room. Anyone buzzing in while the room is prelocked will be locked out until the room is reset. |
| Unlock | Unlocks the room if it's prelocked. Players can buzz in normally after the room is unlocked. |
The room host's name is always first in the user list and is flanked with 🌟stars🌟.
Prelocking is a way to punish players who buzz in while you're still asking the question. If someone tries to buzz in while the room is still prelocked, they'll be "locked out" and unable to buzz in until the room is reset.
You can tell if a room is locked if padlock icons flank the Buzz! button, like this: 🔒 Buzz! 🔒
Unlocking the room allows any non-locked out players to buzz in.
Resetting the room allows all locked out players to buzz in again, but does not undo the prelock. Only the Unlock button does that.
The host has access to two different game modes: First Past The Post and Top Three.
First Past The Post, the default, means only one player can be buzzed in at a time. A room in Top Three mode lets up to three players be buzzed in at once.
The host can switch between modes at any time. For example, if someone buzzed in and answered wrong, and you want to give someone else a chance, switch to Top Three mode to let someone else buzz in.
Yes! You can find these by hovering over the buttons and reading the tooltip, or in the table below:
| Buzz! | Space |
| Reset | R |
| Prelock | P or L |
| Unlock | U |
Afraid so. Buzz Off! uses SignalR and WebSockets to work.
If it's any consolation, all the JavaScript used here is free and open source, and is the bare minimum needed to make Buzz Off! work. No tracking here!
See for yourself here and here.
When someone buzzes in, the buzzer plays for both the host and whoever buzzed in. If you don't like the sound, uncheck the Sound? checkbox at the bottom of the page.
If you'd like to use it for your own projects, it's available under the CC BY 3.0 license here: https://freesound.org/s/423219/.