JoeQuiz was written by Joseph Huang, a student at Waterloo University, and is designed to solve two major problems with long-distance quizbowl games conducted over the phone. One is uncertainty over who buzzed first. The second is unintelligibility of questions read over the phone. The trade off is that the host must do some advance preparation, and that there is a slight—but hopefully rare—complication in the progress of the game.
As with all software manuals, the instructions herein will seem unnecessarily complicated, but the software should be easy to figure out in practice. Stuff in boldface is there for a reason!
Technological:
Human:
Step 1 (P, H): Download JoeQuiz.exe by clicking here (148k self-extracting Windows executable).
Step 2 (H): Record each tossup in a separate sound file and convert it to MP3. For now, MP3 is the only supported format. Make sure you speak clearly and in a quiet environment. Don’t forget to play the files back to make sure they sound OK.
Step 3 (H): Re-name the MP3 files as two-digit numbers starting from ‘01’. Numbers one through nine must start with zero. For convenience, you can give each tossup its original number from the question pack, but for safety you might want to start the pack with a couple of test questions.
Step 4 (H, M): Send the MP3 files to each team. A full slate of tossups could run as high as 10 MB. For now, the questions must be in a folder named “question” (all lower-case, no ‘s’) Players: if whoever receives the sound files is going to be playing, he/she MUST NOT listen to them in advance. You’re on the honour system here. It may be best if a non-player gets the files, so he/she can listen to a question or two to make sure everything’s OK. I’m stating the obvious, but if you receive the files by e-mail, remember to move them to your computer!
Step 5 (H, P): Make sure each team has the host’s IP address or router address. It’s best if the host is not behind a router or firewall. Otherwise, the host must open a port. University computers are always behind firewalls.
Step 6 (H, P): Agree on a time. As noted above, the host does not have to be in a neutral location, though he should have his own computer (the host can be on the same computer as a team, but you have to be very careful to always highlight the players’ window when the question starts. Better to avoid confusion).
At the completion of Step 6, the game is ready to be played.
Step 7 (P): This is blindingly obvious, but I’m willing to wager many inveterate quizbowlers like myself didn’t think of it: place the computer keyboard so that the four players can sit around it, not in the traditional line. You won’t fit in a line, and there’s no other team to face anyway. Also, close unnecessary programs. A team whose computer is very slow or whose CPU is being tied up may in some circumstances have an unfair advantage.
Step 8 (H, P): Get in touch by phone. If the host is in a neutral location, someone will have to pay for a three-way call. The local moderator’s job is to be on the phone. Start each tossup with the phone speaker off; this is in case one side’s sound file starts a lot later than the other.
Step 9 (H): Get connected. Run JoeQuiz and click “Host”.
Step 10 (P): Run JoeQuiz and click “Connect”. DO NOT click “Host”. Follow the instructions on screen. When entering player and team names, use the onscreen buttons rather than your “enter” key. When choosing a key for your “buzzer”, remember that some keys have funny names, so if it’s not a normal character, don’t forget what it is. When both teams are ready, each should see a blue background.
Step 11 (H): Make sure everyone is ready, then announce tossup #1 and click the “play question” button.
Step 12 (H): When your display shows which team buzzed first, ask that team’s local moderator for an answer.
OK, here’s where it gets mildly complicated (or at least departs from normal quizbowl play).
Make sure everyone understands step 13. There may be times when one team buzzes in later in real time but earlier in the question. If there’s heavy traffic on the net this difference could be extreme. This is where the local moderator comes in:
Step 13 (P, M): Once your team buzzes, your file will stop playing. The local moderator must then start counting down the time limit for answering the tossup, regardless of whether you’ve heard what the other team has done. The player who buzzed must give an answer. The local moderator does not pass this answer to the host until it is established what team buzzed “first” (i.e. earlier in the question). Furthermore, the “no discussion” rule stays in effect. In the (hopefully) uncommon event that the team that buzzed later in realtime turns out to have buzzed earlier in the question, and gives a wrong answer, the local moderator conveys the eliminated answer to the surviving team, and they double-click to hear the rest of the question. They can then buzz in again, and either keep the previous answer or change it.
OK, the rest is simple and natural. It may well emerge from playtesting that steps 16, 17 and 19 are unnecessary.
Step 14 (H): If the first team to buzz is wrong, make sure the other team’s moderator announces the eliminated answer, then click “Continue question”. If neither team buzzes you will see a message to that effect.
Step 15 (P): If the other team has answered incorrectly after the question has finished, you will see an orange screen saying “Prepare to buzz in”. You can buzz as soon as you see this screen.
Step 16 (H): Once the tossup has been answered correctly, announce “Turn on your speakerphones for the bonus.”
Step 17 (M): Turn on speakerphones.
Step 18 (H, P): Read bonuses normally. Players are on their honour to avoid imitating an opposing player’s voice giving wrong answers!
Step 19 (H, M): When the bonus is complete, announce “Turn off speakerphones for the tossup.”
Repeat from Step 11. The question automatically advances to the next in sequence, but in case of unforeseen circumstances, the host can manually type in what question to read.