Templates Create a poll

How to host a live quiz

A live quiz turns a room of phones into a game show. Most of what makes one fun happens before the first question: short questions, sensible time limits and a smooth start.

What you need

  • A screen everyone can see — a projector, a TV or a shared screen in a video call. The host screen has a full-screen button.
  • A VotePoll account to make and host the quiz. A Free account is enough; players don’t need one.
  • Players with a phone, tablet or laptop and an internet connection. Nothing to install: they play in the browser at votepoll.io/join.

Open Live Quiz and press Create a Live Quiz. The editor saves as you type, so you can build the quiz over several sittings.

Write questions for a big screen

Players read the question on the shared screen and answer on their phone, often from across the room. Short questions make the game.

Instead of “Considering the events of the early 20th century, in which year did the First World War, which involved many European powers, begin?”

Better “In which year did the First World War begin?”

The long version spends half the time limit on reading. Put the context in your introduction, not in the question.

  • Give each question 2 to 8 answers with exactly one correct. Four answers suit most questions; two work for true-or-false style questions.
  • Make the wrong answers believable. If one answer is obviously silly, the question really has three answers.
  • Use pictures where they are the question: “Which flag is this?”, “Whose baby photo?”, a diagram to label. Answers can be pictures too.
  • The editor marks a question that isn’t finished yet, and Host tells you what is missing before the game can start.

Choose time limits and points

Each question has its own time limit, from 5 seconds to 4 minutes. A rough guide: 10–20 seconds for a quick recall question, 30–60 seconds when people need to read a picture or work something out.

Points reward correct answers that come quickly. You set the maximum points, how many seconds still earn full points, and the minimum for a correct answer at the last second; in between, the points fall in a straight line. The editor shows what an answer is worth at each moment. With the defaults on a 20-second question, an instant correct answer earns 1,000 points and one after 10 seconds earns 500.

  • Reward knowing, not just speed: give full points for the first few seconds, so careful readers aren’t punished for reading the question.
  • Make the last round count: set a higher maximum, such as 2,000, on a final question.
  • Warm-up or opinion question: choose No points.

Get everyone in

  1. Press Host. The lobby shows the game PIN, the address votepoll.io/join and a QR code.
  2. Players scan the QR code (the PIN is filled in for them) or type the PIN, then choose a nickname. Names appear on the screen as people join.
  3. Remove a player with an unsuitable nickname with ✕, and lock the game once everyone is in so nobody else can join.
  4. Press Start game.

A Free account allows 30 players per game and Premium 250; anyone who tries to join a full game is told so.

Keep the game moving

  • The answer is revealed as soon as everyone has answered, or when the time runs out. Press Skip to reveal it earlier.
  • After each reveal the screen shows how the room answered. Take a moment on a question most people got wrong — it is the most useful moment of the quiz.
  • Show the leaderboard after some questions rather than every one; it keeps the suspense for the end.
  • Short on time? End game shows the final results from the questions played so far.
  • A player whose phone drops out or who reloads the page continues with the same score, as long as they use the same browser tab.

After the game

The podium shows the top three, and every player sees their own rank. Close the game when you are done; the PIN stops working.

The results stay with the quiz on the Live Quiz page: the final leaderboard and, for each question, how many players answered right, wrong or not at all. With Premium the report also lists every player’s answer, points and response time, and can be downloaded as CSV. Reports are kept for 14 days (90 with Premium) and then deleted. The quiz itself stays, ready to host again with a new PIN.

Live quiz or quiz poll?

A live quiz needs everyone at the same time, with you leading. If people should answer on their own, at their own pace — homework, a practice test, a quiz in a newsletter — make a Quiz / Test poll instead and share its link. How to make a classroom quiz covers that kind of quiz.