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Rules & Info

Everything that doesn't belong cluttering the TV or your phone mid-game.

How It Works

Three devices, one game. The access code and room code are the two things that move between them.

🔑
Access Code
Given to whoever's hosting tonight.
→ unlocks hosting
📱
Host's Phone
Enters the access code at /host, gets back a room code.
→ room code
📺
TV / Display
That room code gets typed in on the TV, which becomes the shared screen.
→ same code, via QR
👥
Players
Scan the TV's QR code (or type the room code at /play) to join on their own phones.

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.

TV Setup

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 / SituationHas a browser?Fix
Samsung (Tizen) or LG (webOS) smart TVYesNothing -- open the browser and go.
Google TV / Android TVNoBring your own device (see below)
Apple TVNo, never hasBring your own device (see below)
RokuNo, never hasBring your own device (see below)
Hotel / hospitality TV (any brand)Almost always locked downBring your own device (see below)
Older TV with no smart featuresNoBring your own device (see below)

Bring your own device (works on any TV, no subscription needed)

  • HDMI cable, straight from a laptop -- the simplest option. No WiFi pairing, no account, nothing to buy if you already own the cable. Just plug in and switch the TV's input.
  • Phone + USB-C/Lightning-to-HDMI adapter -- same idea if a laptop isn't handy. Rotate the phone to landscape first and request the "Desktop site" in your browser -- mirroring a phone held upright wastes most of the screen as black bars on a widescreen TV.
  • A personal streaming stick (Chromecast, Fire TV Stick, Roku Stick) -- a one-time purchase, no ongoing subscription required to cast your own browser tab. Needs to join the same WiFi network as the device casting to it, which can be unreliable on hotel guest networks.

How to Play

Trivi-yeah!

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.

Thinking Pants Beta

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.

OutcomePoints
Right answer+ tile value
Wrong answer− tile value
Pass or no answer0
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

Country Monkey

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.

Flag Me Down New

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-in0
Final Wager, right / wrong+ wager (less 10% / 25% / 50% per clue) / − wager

EmpossDurr

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.

OutcomePoints
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
Abstain0

On The Spectrum

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.

Profiler 4+ players

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.

OutcomePoints
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 pick0

Privacy

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.

About

Mission

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.

Built by

Randy H., with Claude (Anthropic) as a tireless co-developer. Ideas, bugs, and features are a group effort around here.

Credits

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.

Get in touch

Bug report, feature idea, or you just want to say hi -- ask.randomania@gmail.com.