Guide
How to Display Trivia on One TV — or Every TV in the Room
By the 321Trivia Team ·
If a table can’t see the question, they aren’t playing. Here are the ways to get trivia onto a TV — from a single screen behind the bar to every screen in the building — and what to check before the first question.
What the screen needs to show
Whatever you use, the room needs to see the question and its options, how much time is left, and between questions, the scores. For phone-based trivia, the join code or a QR code should be on screen before the game so people can get in as they sit down. With 321Trivia all of that is one page — the TV display — that runs in a web browser, separate from the host’s controls.
One TV: plug a laptop in
The simplest setup is an HDMI cable from the host’s laptop to the TV.
- Connect the cable and set the laptop to extend the display, not mirror it.
- Open the TV display in a browser window and drag it onto the TV.
- Make it full-screen, and keep the host controls on the laptop’s own screen.
Extending rather than mirroring means the room sees the game while you see the controls — including the answers before they’re revealed.
One TV, no cable: cast it
If the TV has a casting device or smart-TV casting, you can cast the browser tab showing the TV display. It works, but casting adds a moment of delay and depends on your Wi-Fi, so test it in the room before the night. A cable is more reliable if you can run one.
Several TVs
You have two good options:
- Open the display on each screen. A browser-based display can be opened on more than one device at once — a smart TV’s browser, a streaming stick with a browser, or a small computer behind each TV. Each shows the same game, live. This avoids long cable runs and means one screen dropping out doesn’t take the others with it.
- Split one signal. Send the laptop’s HDMI output through a splitter or the venue’s existing video distribution to every TV. It’s one source to manage, but every screen depends on that one cable and laptop.
Before the first question
- Read it from the back. Stand at the furthest table and check you can read a long question and all four options.
- Turn off sleep and screen savers on the laptop and any computer driving a TV, and plug the laptop into power.
- Check the TV’s picture settings. Turn off overscan (“just scan” or “screen fit”) so the edges of the display aren’t cut off.
- Sound. Decide whether audio comes from the TV or the venue’s speakers, and test the volume with the room full, not empty.
- Wi-Fi. Phones in the room need a connection too; make sure your guest Wi-Fi can take a full house, or that mobile signal is good.
Where this fits
Screens are one part of the night. For the rest — format, questions, pacing and prizes — see how to host a bar trivia night, and for how 321Trivia runs on your TVs, bar trivia with 321Trivia.