Everything that doesn't belong cluttering the TV or your phone mid-game.
Three devices, one game. The access code and room code are the two things that move between them.
The one thing to know going in: the room code gets typed in twice on two different devices -- once on the TV, once (per player) on each phone. That's normal, not a bug.
No TV handy? The phones work on their own. Your phone has a page on each side of the game: swipe left for the scores, or swipe right for the room's QR code (so a friend can scan in from your phone) and Leave Room. The dots at the top show where you are, and you can tap them too.
The display just needs any browser pointed at this site. Not every TV has one -- here's what to expect, and what to do if yours doesn't.
| TV / Situation | Has a browser? | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Samsung (Tizen) or LG (webOS) smart TV | Yes | Nothing -- open the browser and go. |
| Google TV / Android TV | No | Bring your own device (see below) |
| Apple TV | No, never has | Bring your own device (see below) |
| Roku | No, never has | Bring your own device (see below) |
| Hotel / hospitality TV (any brand) | Almost always locked down | Bring your own device (see below) |
| Older TV with no smart features | No | Bring your own device (see below) |
Bring your own device (works on any TV, no subscription needed)
The venue's own trivia night: multiple-choice questions written for the place or the event -- the pub, the shower, the library -- wearing its logo and name. Everyone answers on their own phone; the TV reveals the correct answer and awards points once everyone's locked in (or the clock runs out). Questions go from easy to hard, up to 20 a game; Play Again picks up where the last game left off. It only appears in rooms opened for a venue or event that has its own questions.
A board of 12 tiles: 3 categories, each with questions worth 100 to 400 points. Whoever's picking has 30 seconds to choose a tile (or one gets picked at random), and everyone answers on their phone -- right answers earn the tile's points, wrong ones lose them, or you can Pass to sit it out. The fastest correct answer earns the next pick. Three rounds, each with a fresh board.
Doublers are hidden on the board -- one in round 2, two in round 3. Find one and it's yours alone: wager up to your score (or the tile's value, if that's more) and answer solo. Everyone else bets on you, for or against, before the question appears.
Sweep a column. Get every tile in a category right and you earn +400 -- speed doesn't matter, and everyone who manages it gets the bonus. On a Doubler, a winning side bet counts as right; passing or skipping the bet doesn't. A Hot Seat you weren't allowed to answer doesn't count against you.
Traps. If you're the only one who swept a category in round 2 or 3, you may secretly hide a trap on the board -- nobody else knows if you did, or where, until someone picks it. 🔥 Pants on Fire: everyone must answer, wrong answers lose double. 🪑 Hot Seat: the picker answers alone, double or nothing. 🩲 Wedgie: if the picker misses, the trap setter collects the points. A trap hidden on a Doubler fizzles.
Plain rules. Some games are set up without column sweeps and traps (handy for one-on-one): just tiles, Doublers and the Final Wager.
The Final Wager closes the game: one topic, one tougher question. Everyone secretly wagers up to their own score, then types an answer within 40 seconds (close spellings count). Results reveal one player at a time, leader last.
| Outcome | Points |
|---|---|
| Right answer | + tile value |
| Wrong answer | − tile value |
| Pass or no answer | 0 |
| Every tile of a category right (each sweeper) | +400 |
| Doubler, picker right / wrong | ± wager |
| Doubler side bet, called it / didn't | ± tile value |
| Final Wager, right / wrong | ± wager |
A country is highlighted on the map -- on the TV, with a close-up on your phone -- and you tap the right one before time runs out. Pick a region -- Africa, Europe, Asia & Pacific, the Middle East, or the Americas -- or go World Wide. 20 questions a game -- mostly maps, plus a few flags, bodies of water and famous landmarks -- and the same answer never comes up twice. Every game ends on a Final Wager: secretly bet some of your points, then type the answer to one last map, flag, body of water, or landmark. Stuck? Buy one clue on your phone -- the capital, the country, or a place the water touches -- for half your winnings. Close spellings count -- but "Niger" won't get you Nigeria. Country Monkey also turns up as a category on the Thinking Pants board.
A flag goes up on the TV with four countries to choose from. The longer you wait, the more help you get -- first the part of the world, then the capital city, then the country on the map -- but every clue lowers what a right answer is worth. You get one lock-in per flag, with no changing it, and a wrong answer simply scores nothing. 15 flags a game, getting harder as you go.
The Final Wager closes the game: secretly bet some of your points, then type the country for one last flag. Stuck? Open clues on your own phone: the region takes 10% off what you'd win, the capital 25%, the map 50%. A wrong answer still loses the whole wager.
| Locked in with... | Points |
|---|---|
| Just the flag | +400 |
| + the region | +300 |
| + the capital | +200 |
| + the map | +100 |
| Wrong answer or no lock-in | 0 |
| Final Wager, right / wrong | + wager (less 10% / 25% / 50% per clue) / − wager |
A social-deduction party game. Everyone but one secret impostor gets the same word; the impostor gets only a one-word clue. Talk it out, then vote on who you think is faking it -- or if you're the impostor, declare and try to guess the real word before you're caught.
| Outcome | Points |
|---|---|
| Correctly accuse the real impostor | +2 |
| Wrongly accuse someone else | −1 |
| Impostor survives a round (no majority reached) | +1 |
| Impostor survives via a wrong accusation | +3 |
| Impostor declares and guesses right | +5 |
| Impostor declares and guesses wrong | −2 |
| Abstain | 0 |
One player sets a "true" answer on a slider for a statement about themselves. Everyone else tries to guess where they landed -- the closer your guess, the more points you earn.
How well do you know each other? Each round, everyone privately answers a question about themselves on their phone -- no wrong answers. Then the TV shows one answer somebody gave ("2 of you said: Gentle truth"), and everyone picks who they think said it. Everyone's phone looks the same while picking: if you gave that answer yourself, just pick yourself too -- you score for finding the others who said it.
Answer honestly: you score for reading people, and for being read. After each reveal, talk it over: the next question starts once everyone taps Continue (or after a minute). If everyone gives the same answer, it's "Unanimous!" and a new question takes its place. After 12 rounds, the TV shows who reads the room best, plus awards -- and your phone tells you who you know best, and who knows you best.
| Outcome | Points |
|---|---|
| Perfect read (found everyone who said it) | +6 |
| Partial read (e.g. 1 of 2 found) | share of 6 |
| Perfect read with 2 or more to find | +2 bonus |
| Each person who correctly picks you | +2 |
| Wrong pick | 0 |
We don't store anything about you or your game. Player names, scores, and session info exist only in server memory for as long as your room is active -- nothing is written to a database, and it's gone the moment the room closes or the server restarts. The only things we keep in permanent storage are the trivia/word content itself and a list of access codes -- neither has anything to do with who played or how they did.
RandoMania! turns any TV into the big screen and every phone into a controller. One person creates the room -- everyone else fills it with their own answers, guesses, and chaos, live, all at once. No hot-seat, no waiting your turn.
Randy H., with Claude (Anthropic) as a tireless co-developer. Ideas, bugs, and features are a group effort around here.
Country and water maps drawn by Randy H., built on world maps from Wikimedia Commons. Flags from flag-icons by Panayiotis Lipiridis, used under the MIT license (license text). Join QR codes drawn with QR Code Generator for JavaScript by Kazuhiko Arase, used under the MIT license (license text); "QR Code" is a registered trademark of DENSO WAVE INCORPORATED.
Bug report, feature idea, or you just want to say hi -- ask.randomania@gmail.com.