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How to run a great show
Step-by-step guides for every part of Game Show Studio, with screenshots and a how-to video for each. Start at the top and work down, or jump to what you need.
Start here
Getting started
Your account, the TV, how guests join, and your first show in minutes.
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The desktop app
Run the whole show from your own computer, even with no internet: install it, sign in, start a show and get guests in over your Wi-Fi.
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A tour of the parts
What Setup, the Rundown and Live are for; the TV, the phones, hosts and cues.
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Start from a game template
Pick a game, answer a few plain questions, and a wizard builds your whole show.
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Build your show
The Rundown: add, arrange, check and save steps; reserves; defaults for every step.
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Your AI cohosts
Choose and name them, give them a personality, tell them about the show, set how they behave.
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Backgrounds, music and media
Search the video library for a looping background; your own pictures, music and sound effects.
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Music bingo
Bingo where every square is a song: a clip plays and guests find the title on their card.
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Price guessing game
Show an item and guests guess its price. The closest guess wins, with or without going over.
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Survey Says
Guess how a survey came out: rank the answers, or pick the most popular one.
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Majority Rules
Opinion questions with no right answer: the biggest group wins.
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Trivia
Fill a round four ways, five kinds of question, wagers, and letting a category or a grid choose the next question.
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Bingo
Number bingo or your own words, songs and pictures; winning patterns; cards for everyone.
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It's Sketchy
Draw a secret prompt, bluff about everyone else's drawings, and vote for the real one.
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Draw & Guess
One player draws a secret word live on the TV while everyone else types guesses.
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Squares
Football squares, touchdowns and list pools: claim, lock, draw, score. No money handled.
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Closest number
Ask for a number: the closest guess wins, with or without going over.
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Written answers
An open question that guests answer in a few words, shown on the TV.
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Spin wheel
A wheel of names, prizes or dares that picks fairly.
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Buzzer
Open the buzzers and the fastest phone wins.
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Photo challenge
Give a prompt, guests take a photo, everyone votes, and the best one wins.
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Photo showdown
You pick the finalists from the photos guests send, and the crowd picks the winner.
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Name That Tune
Play a clip, guests type the song title. Songs from Spotify, the platform or your own computer.
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Picture round
Show a picture or an emoji and the room types what it is.
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Price round
Show an item and guests type its price: the closest guess wins.
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One More Spin
One More Spin is a bonus board: a guest spins, taps STOP, wins what the lit space says, and chooses to bank it or risk one more spin.
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Tap Derby
Tap Derby is a horse race for teams: every guest taps a big button on their phone to make their team's horse run.
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Crowd Percent
Crowd Percent asks how many people said yes to a survey question. Every guest guesses the percentage on their phone, and the closest guesses score the most.
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Only One
Only One puts a question on the screen with a board of answers, and only one is right. The room votes the answers they think are wrong off the board, and the right one must survive.
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Truth in the Lies
Truth in the Lies shows a subject and a pile of statements. Most are false, and a few are secretly true. Guests tap the ones they believe.
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Three Answers
In Three Answers, every question has exactly three right answers hidden among a few wrong ones. Guests race to buzz in, and the fastest gets first choice.
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Category Climb
In Category Climb, teams take turns: one player describes words without saying them, and their team shouts the answers. Enough right answers climb the team to a harder category.
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Risk Your Answer
In Risk Your Answer, guests spread tokens over the answers to a question. Tokens on the right answer score and are kept. Tokens on wrong answers are lost for good.
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Number Line
In Number Line, every guest has an empty line of slots. Everyone is dealt the same numbers one at a time, and each number must go in a slot that keeps the line in order.
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Trivia Market
Trivia Market is rapid multiple choice trivia where every right answer adds to a guest's bankroll, and the leader is offered a chance to spend some of it on a reward.
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Close Enough
In Close Enough, guests take turns revealing hidden items to add up to a target amount without going over. Closest to the target wins the round.
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Take the Offer
In Take the Offer, one guest plays against the appraiser. They keep one sealed vault, open the rest a few at a time, and after each round decide whether to take a sure offer or keep playing.
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Fact or Fake
Fact or Fake shows an odd word and several explanations, and only one is true. Guests write convincing fakes, then everybody votes for the one they think is real.
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Trivia Race
In Trivia Race, teams or players run along a track. Everyone answers each multiple choice question, and a right answer moves the racer forward, further for harder questions.
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Phrase Wheel
Phrase Wheel hides a phrase behind blank tiles. On their turn a guest spins the wheel, calls a letter, and wins the wedge's value for every match, then tries to solve the phrase.
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Answer First
Answer First is a clue board with categories and rising values. The player in control picks a tile, everyone races to buzz in, and the fastest types the answer.
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Mystery Rules
In Mystery Rules, guests answer a prompt, and a hidden rule decides the points. The scores are the clue, and guests try to work out the rule.
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Crossword Clash
In Crossword Clash, teams take turns answering clues to fill a crossword. Every word uncovers part of a master answer that a team can gamble on.
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Take a Side
In Take a Side, two debaters are given opposite sides of a proposition at random, whatever they believe. They argue it, and the rest of the room votes for the better argument.
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Prize Path
In Prize Path, teams or players answer trivia to move along a winding board. Every space does something, and the first to the finish wins.
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Rapid Run
In Rapid Run, every guest runs the same course of short challenges on their phone at their own pace. Clear one to unlock the next, and be first to finish.
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Word Clues
In Word Clues, a hidden word is shown as blank tiles, and clues appear one at a time. Guests type guesses at any moment, and the earlier you solve it, the more it is worth.
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Mystery Basket
In Mystery Basket, guests get a creative brief and a basket of surprise elements, and must use every element. The entries go up anonymously and the room votes.
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Keep It Quiet
In Keep It Quiet, one guest performs a funny challenge while everyone else must stay silent. A noise meter on the TV counts every outburst as a strike.
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Pick a Side
In Pick a Side, everybody calls one of two outcomes, like heads or tails. A coin is flipped, and those who called it wrong pay.
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Live poll
Ask a question and watch the bars grow on the TV as the room votes.
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Timer
A big countdown or stopwatch on the TV.
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Reaction wall
Emoji reactions, messages and photos from guests float across the TV.
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Queues: requests, karaoke, questions and more
A line guests join from their phones: song requests for a DJ, karaoke singers, questions for the host, dares, or just who is up next.
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Screens and cards
Welcome, title, rules and break cards, announcements, the scoreboard and the winners.
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Player funnel
Narrow the field round by round: keep the top scorers in, take others out, and let only the players still in play the next game.
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Teams and scores
Let guests pick teams, keep scores for players and teams, and show the leaderboard.
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Run the night by voice
Talk to your cohosts to change screens, ask questions, reveal answers, play sounds and jump around.
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AI cohost voice cheat sheet
What to say to your AI cohosts to run each game, the scores, the sound and the screens.
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The Host Remote
Run your show from a phone or tablet: start it, tap any step to see its keys, put it on the TV, and flip in a side game.
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52 how-to videos, in the order to watch them.
Quick answers
What is Gig Game's Game Show Studio?
Game Show Studio is human-hosted and AI-assisted: you are the host, and one or two animated AI cohosts - Sally Sharp and Barney Bartflast - back you up. They talk with you through a microphone, work the TV, and keep a room full of phones in the game. Together you can run trivia, bingo, a prize wheel, drawing games, photo challenges and more.
Is it a real host or just an AI?
It is human-hosted and AI-assisted. You are the host: you choose the games, set the pace and talk to your guests. Sally and Barney are your animated AI sidekicks - they banter, read out questions, run the screens and keep score on your cue, and you can step in or quiet them at any moment.
Will the AI change my questions?
Not unless you ask it to. By default the cohosts read your questions, choices and answers exactly as you wrote them, and with two cohosts they take turns by question. If you choose Dynamic AI, the AI words what the cohosts say so it is different every time and the two cohosts can bounce off each other. The question, every choice and the answer are still said. Dynamic AI uses more of your AI tokens, and you can switch it on or off for each show.
Do my guests need to download an app?
No. Guests scan the QR code on the TV, or go to giggame.app and type the code shown on screen. They play in their phone's browser.
Ready to run your first show?
Build it in minutes, then let your AI cohosts carry the night.
Included with every Gig Game membership. Guests join free from their phones - no app, no account.