Big Screen View for Live Quiz Games (Projector Setup)

A live quiz is hard to run from a single laptop screen. You are the one clicking "Reveal," you are watching who has answered, and you also want twenty-five students to read the question without craning over your shoulder. If the question only lives on your screen, you end up reading every question aloud, and the game slows to the speed of your voice.

The Big Screen is the answer to that. It is a separate page made for the projector or a classroom display: the question, the answer choices, the timer and the leaderboard, in large type, with nothing a student should not see yet. This post covers what it shows at each stage of a game, how to open it, and how to set the room up so the game runs smoothly.

What the Big Screen shows

The page changes with the stage of the game, and every stage is built to be read from the back of a classroom.

Before the game starts, it shows the join code in very large digits, the address students type to join, and a live count of how many players have joined. If you started the game in team mode, it also says how many teams there are. Students come in, see the code from their seats, and type it on their phones. You do not have to write anything on the board.

During a question, it shows the question number out of the total, the question text, and the answer choices as large colored tiles. Each tile carries a letter as well as a color, so a student who cannot tell two colors apart can still say "the C one." If the question has a timer, a bar counts down along the top. If the question has a picture, such as a number line or a fraction bar, it sits next to the question text. A multiple-select question says "choose all that apply," and a short-answer question tells students to type their answer on their own device, since there is nothing to tap on the projector.

After you reveal, the correct answers are highlighted on the screen, the wrong ones fade, and the leaderboard appears next to them. If you wrote an explanation for the question, it appears under the answers, which turns the reveal into a short teaching moment for the whole room. If the game has teams, the team standings appear as well, and with many teams the player list shrinks so everything still fits without scrolling.

At the end, the full leaderboard, and the team results if you used teams.

What the Big Screen never shows is the answer before you reveal it. Players and the projector get the question without the correct answer attached, and the answer is only sent when you choose to reveal. You can leave the projector up while students look at it, with no worry about anyone reading ahead.

How to open it

1. Create the game from your quiz page and wait in the lobby. You will see the QR code and join code on your own screen.
2. Choose "Big Screen" at the top of your host view. It opens the projector page in a new browser tab.
3. Drag that tab to the projector or classroom display and make it full screen (usually F11, or the full-screen option in your browser's menu).
4. Keep your own tab on a laptop or tablet. That is where you start the game, move between questions and reveal answers.

The Big Screen listens for what is happening in the game, so you do not control it directly. When you reveal on your tab, the projector changes by itself. If you refresh the projector page in the middle of a question, it picks up where the game is, and a timed question resumes its countdown from the time already used.

You can also send the Big Screen link to a different device. That is useful when the display in the room is run by a separate computer, or when another adult is running the room and you are teaching from an iPad. The address is the same for anyone who has it, so share it only with the person setting up the room.

Sound on the projector

The Big Screen starts with music switched off and sound effects turned down. Classroom speakers are usually loud and echoing, and a looping soundtrack from the front of the room gets old in about three questions. If you want the energy, there are toggles in the top corner of the page for music and effects, and the page remembers your choice for that device. Many teachers find that effects alone are enough: they give a small cue when answers are revealed without drowning out the discussion.

Setting up the room

A few habits make the difference between a game that flows and one that stalls.

Test it before students arrive. Open the Big Screen on the actual projector, with a game you have created, and look at it from the back row. If the text is hard to read there, move the display or dim the lights. The page is built to fit common projector sizes without scrolling, but a washed-out projector in a bright room beats any design.

Do not rely on the Big Screen alone for students who need the text up close. Each student also sees the question on their own phone or tablet, so a student with a vision need can read it at the size they choose. The projector is the shared view, not the only one.

Reveal on your schedule, not the screen's. The host view tells you when everyone has answered, and the Big Screen shows "everyone answered" too. When most of the room is waiting, reveal. On a question without a timer, you can wait for the last few students if the question was a good one. The projector follows whichever you pick.

What not to do: do not put the projector page on a screen students can reach with a mouse and let them click around expecting to control the game. It is a display, so nothing they click changes the game, but it invites a distraction you do not need.

If you want a spare, quiet setup, you can run a game without the Big Screen at all. Everything students need is on their own devices. The projector page exists to make the shared moments, the reveal and the leaderboard, feel like they happen together.

When you want more from your games

The Big Screen works the same way for a library quiz and for one you wrote. Try it first with a library quiz such as The Solar System, World Capitals or Fractions and Decimals. Once you want to write your own questions for the unit you are teaching, or run more games than a free account allows, take a look at the pricing page to see what each plan includes.