Welcome to the National Championship! This is different from a regular Team Trivia show. Most
of the game flow is automated from our National HQ — you'll be reading questions, managing your location, and
doing scoring. This guide walks you through everything you need to know.
The National Championship is played simultaneously at locations across the country. It's more automated than a
regular trivia night:
National HQ runs the show. The game timing, splashes, questions, and answers are all
controlled from a central "Game Director" console. You don't have to click through questions — they advance
automatically on every screen, everywhere, at the same time.
You run your location. You read questions aloud, keep your teams on track, and enter scores
for your teams.
Everyone stays in sync. Because the game is centrally timed, every location is on the same
question at the same time. This matters for the scoring breaks — everyone gets the same amount of time to
score their teams.
The big picture: The National Championship screen (screen.php) shows the same
content at every location because it's being driven by HQ. Your host nav page (nav.php) shows the
current question/answer and any scoring controls you need.
2. Before the Game — Setup
Equipment you need at your venue
At least one TV hooked up to a laptop — no exceptions. The championship relies on the automated game screen, and all your teams need to see it clearly. If you normally run score-only mode without a TV, that does NOT work for the championship.
A laptop (or desktop) running the host nav — this is where you'll see questions, answers, and scoring controls. Most hosts use the same machine for both the TV output and the host nav (nav in one window, screen in another window on the TV output).
Reliable internet — the game is driven from HQ in real time. A bad connection will cause sync issues. Use a wired connection if possible, or make sure Wi-Fi is solid.
Speaker setup — for both your mic and music. See the Music section below.
Pens, TMs, pads, and handouts — halftime & final handouts (with keys). Scratch paper if you normally use it.
What you'll need open
Window
What it does
Who uses it
nav.php
Host control panel — shows current question, scoring controls, chat with HQ
Host (and scorekeeper if separate)
screen.php
The TV display — what your teams see
Opens on the venue's TV/projector
championship_dashboard.php
Live scoring grid and national leaderboard across all locations
Open in another tab.
Opening the game screen
Log in to nav.php at your location as normal.
Click LAUNCH GAME SCREEN. This opens screen.php in a new window — move it to
your TV or projector.
The screen will show the pregame countdown. It's being controlled by HQ — you don't need to touch it.
When the pregame countdown finishes, HQ will start the game automatically. You'll see Round 1 splash appear
on the TV and in your nav sidebar.
Tip: The old buttons for "LAUNCH RULES" and "START GAME WITH ROUND ONE" have been
removed from championship mode — HQ handles those.
3. Hosts vs. Scorekeepers
Depending on your location, you may have one person or two handling the game. Both roles use the same
nav.php page, but focus on different parts of it.
🎤 Host
Reads questions aloud, interacts with teams, reads the answer after the timer, and manages the room. Uses
the question info area of nav.php:
CURRENT ROUND/QUESTION display
CATEGORY box
QUESTION box
ANSWER box (click SHOW to reveal)
HOST INFO boxes (for pronunciation hints, extra context)
📊 Scorekeeper
Enters team answers/scores for each question, halftime, and final. Uses the scoring area
of nav.php. During regular rounds, scoring happens as the game goes. At the three big breaks, the
scorekeeper gets dedicated time to catch up.
If you're a solo host, you'll do both — read the questions AND enter scores. The game flow is
designed so you have time at halftime and final breaks to finish scoring.
Music
Music is up to you. HQ is not pushing music through the game system — you run your own playlist the way you normally would. Two common approaches work well for the championship:
🎵 Timed playlist
Plan a song (or two) per question that's roughly the length of your answer timer. Fade out when the timer expires. This gives the room a musical countdown feel and cues players that time's almost up.
🎶 Background playlist
A continuous playlist that plays quietly in the background the whole game. Less work to manage, less tied to the timer — more like a trivia bar vibe.
Whichever you pick: keep the volume where teams can still hear you read the questions and announce answers. You're the host, not the DJ.
4. The Game Flow
Here's what happens during a typical championship game, from start to finish:
Pregame
Screen shows "Championship Begins In" countdown
Alternates between countdown and sponsor slides (if configured)
Nav stays on the launch screen — nothing to do except wait and check in teams
Rounds 1–3 (each round)
Round Splash — Screen shows the 3 categories + points available (5/3/1). Nav shows the
same.
Question displays — Read the question aloud to your room.
Answer Timer — Countdown timer runs. Teams write their answers.
Host Talk — A short pause where the host tells everyone they only have 10 seconds left to
turn in an answer.
Answer Reveal — Screen shows the answer. Host reads it aloud.
Next Question — Automatically advances to Q2, then Q3.
After Round 3 — Halftime
Halftime Splash — "MULTIPLE ANSWERS — UP TO 10 POINTS"
Halftime Question — Read the question. This is a multi-part question, up to 10 points
total.
Halftime Answer Timer — Longer than normal. Teams work on it.
Host Talk + Answer — Host says time's up, then the answer displays.
HALFTIME BREAK (gate) — The screen shows "HALFTIME BREAK". Scorekeeper enters halftime
scores. This is when you use the score display buttons (see section 6).
When HQ is ready, the game will advance to Round 4.
Rounds 4–6
Same flow as rounds 1–3, but points are 6/4/2 per question.
After Round 6 — Second Score Break
After the Round 6 Question 3 answer displays, the game holds at a gate ("Ready for Final Round") so scorekeepers
can finish entering all round 4-6 scores. Use the score display buttons here too.
Final Round
Final Splash — "TWO QUESTIONS: +2 CORRECT, -3 INCORRECT, 0 NO ANSWER"
Final Question — The final question displays.
Final Timer + Answer — Long timer, then the answer.
Final Break (gate) — "Ready for Final Scores". Enter final scores, then show the national
leaderboard.
5. Scoring Halftime, Round 6, & Final
Halftime scoring
Halftime is worth up to 10 points for championships (not 8 like regular shows)
Multi-part question — score each part according to the answer key
Enter all teams' halftime scores in the scoring area of nav.php
Final scoring
Ten questions
+2 points for each correct answer
-3 points for each incorrect answer
0 points for no answer / blank
A team could theoretically go from +20 (all correct) to -30 (all wrong)
Important: Championship final scoring is NOT a wager. Don't use the regular wager-based scoring
interface. The championship scoring handles this automatically.
6. Showing Scores on Screen
This is different from regular trivia! Instead of the old "SCORE UPDATE" and "SCROLL ALL SCORES" flow where you cycle one team at a time or scroll a long list, the championship shows 6 teams per page, auto-rotating every ~8 seconds, bottom-to-top (last place first). Pages loop until you hit STOP or the game resumes.
During the halftime break, R6 break, and final break, you'll see three buttons appear on nav.php for displaying
scores on your TV:
Button
What it shows
LOCAL
Only teams from YOUR location, ranked bottom-to-top
REGIONAL
All teams in your region (for regions with multiple locations — e.g., WV has 3 locations, Atlanta has 2)
NATIONAL
All teams across every championship location, nationwide
STOP SCORES
Ends the score display and returns to the game
How score display works
Scores show in pages of 6 teams each, cycling automatically every ~8 seconds
They display bottom-to-top (last place first), looping until you hit STOP or the game resumes
Gold / silver / bronze highlighting for the top 3
National scores show team name + region + score
Suggested flow: Show Local first so teams at your venue see their standings, then Regional (if
applicable), then National last. Hit STOP SCORES when you're done announcing.
7. The "SCORES ARE READY" Button
You'll see a green SCORES ARE READY button next to the score display
buttons. This is important.
Why it exists
National scores shouldn't be shown until every location has confirmed their scoring is complete and
correct. If Atlanta is still entering halftime scores when Denver displays the national leaderboard, the
rankings will be wrong.
How to use it
Finish entering all scores for the current break (halftime, R6, or final)
Double-check your entries against the team answer sheets
Show your Local scores on the TV and announce them
When you're confident everything is correct, click SCORES ARE READY
The button turns dark green with a checkmark
The status below updates: "X of Y locations ready"
The NATIONAL button is locked until ALL locations click
ready. You'll see it greyed out as "NATIONAL (WAITING)" until everyone's in. Once all locations
mark ready, it unlocks for everyone.
Tip: If you click READY too early and catch a mistake, you can still fix the score — the READY
button is a signal to other locations that you're confident, not a lock on the data.
8. Using the Championship Chat
On the right side of nav.php you'll see a Championship Chat sidebar. This is for coordination
with other hosts and HQ during the game.
Regional chat — default, only hosts in your region see these messages
National chat — all championship hosts see messages (when enabled)
Messages show sender name + location + time
Use this for things like "we're running a bit behind," "my screen froze," or asking HQ a question
Etiquette: Keep chat focused on the game. Don't spam — everyone's trying to run trivia at the
same time.
9. Troubleshooting
"My screen isn't updating"
First, check that the screen window is actually the championship screen (screen.php) and not a
regular show screen
Hard refresh the screen with Ctrl+Shift+R (Windows) or Cmd+Shift+R (Mac)
If that doesn't work, close the screen window and click LAUNCH GAME SCREEN again
Check the chat to see if other locations are having the same issue — might be a HQ pause
"The question on nav is showing a different question than the screen"
Refresh your nav.php page
If still out of sync, the automation polling may have stalled — refresh should re-sync within a few seconds
"The score display won't stop"
Click STOP SCORES on nav.php
If that fails, HQ can force-advance the game which will exit the score display automatically
"I missed the READY button / it disappeared"
The READY button shows up during the halftime break, R6 break, and final break
If you missed it, message HQ on chat to let them know your scores are in
HQ can verify your scores on the championship dashboard
"I accidentally clicked NATIONAL before all locations were ready"
You can't — the button is locked until everyone's ready
If it somehow fired anyway, click STOP SCORES and message HQ
"A team's score is wrong after I marked ready"
Fix the score in the scoring interface — it'll update immediately
The dashboard and national leaderboard will update with the correction
If national scores have already been displayed, message HQ so they know
"The timer on screen ran out but nothing happened"
The game has a brief "host talk" pause after the timer before showing the answer — this is intentional, use
it to say "pencils down"
If it's truly stuck (10+ seconds), refresh the screen
"My teams want to see a specific round's scores again"
You can show Local/Regional/National scores any time those buttons are visible (during halftime/R6/final
breaks)
Between rounds 1-3 or 4-6, scores aren't displayable — keep them focused on the game
"Nav.php chat is showing the wrong time"
All championship times are Eastern Time (ET)
If times look off, refresh nav.php
Emergency: everything is broken
Stay calm — don't panic in front of your teams
Message HQ on chat immediately with a brief description
Announce a brief break to your room ("We're having a quick technical issue, back in a moment")
Refresh both nav.php and screen.php — this fixes 90% of issues
If needed, HQ can pause or roll back the game state