This quick start guide will provide you with some tips to get you started quickly into the world of QuizXpress! Please note that QuizXpress also has an extensive user manual.
Software installation
QuizXpress runs on Windows 8/10/11. We recommend a computer with an Intel i5 or i7 processor , 8GB of memory and 350Mb of free disk space.
The first step is to install QuizXpress from the link you received in your email after you placed an order or requested the evaluation version.
If you purchased a QuizXpress license, fill in the Activationkey in the top field (online activation section) and press the Activate button to activate your license.
If you’re evaluating QuizXpress, press the Evaluate button to continue.
QuizXpress consists of the following applications:
- QuizXpress Studio – The quiz design application. This is where you create your quizzes.
- QuizXpress Live! – The quiz player. Quizzes created in QuizXpress Studio are played in the quiz player during your quiz event.
- QuizXpress Setup – In this application quiz show settings can be configured.
QuizXpress Keypad Programmer – The keypad programmer is used to couple keypads or buzzers to a receiver. Used for extending your set with keypads\buzzers or renumbering existing keypads. - QuizXpress Buzzer Test – A test program to see if your receiver connects successfully and keypad\buzzer commands are received successfully.
- QuizXpress Virtual Keypad – A ‘virtual version’ of the QuizXpress keypad that you can use for testing. It can be run locally or on another computer on the same network.
Next to these we have the QuizXpress mobile apps available for iOS and Android. But more on that later.
Hardware installation
If you ordered and received a QuizXpress bundle including buzzers or keypads, the receiver (the black box that comes with the bundle) will be automatically installed the first time you connect it to a USB Port.
You will see the following notification messages in the windows taskbar:
Needless to say that if you the audience is using mobile phones to play along, the above step isn’t necessary.
Creating a quiz : QuizXpress Studio
QuizXpress Studio is the part of QuizXpress where game shows are designed using a variety of well known quiz concepts. QuizXpress Studio is intuitive and user friendly, offering lots of branding options.
This section shows some tips and tricks to help you setup your first game show.
How do I create a question ?
On top, QuizXpress Studio has several tabs.
Click on the INSERT tab and choose one of the various layouts (including an open question, a question with two or more answers, a question with a picture\video and much more).
How do I enter the question and the answers?
To enter the text for a question or answer just click on it and start typing.
How do I set the correct answer of a question ?
Just right click the correct answer and click Set Correct Answer.
How do I create a fastest finger question ?
When you click on the QUESTION tab, you can choose whether a question is of type Lock-out (fastest finger) or if everyone can answer a question.
How do I create a letter, number or text question (mobile phones only) ?
After having inserted an Open question, click on the QUESTION tab and select an input mode. After selecting the Input mode your are prompted to enter the correct answer for the question.
How do I select a specific style to a question?
In order to use one of the predefined styles for various subjects, click on the DESIGN tab and choose one of the designs. You can also click on the question or any of the answers to change various aspects of their visuals like color, font etc.
How do I create a question that has no interaction with the public but just shows information (in the form of text, video, or audio)?
QuizXpress supports various question types of which one is ‘Billboard’. This type of question just displays a slide without user interaction, no countdown clock is shown. To set the type of question, click on the QUESTION menu and click on the Question type button in order to select a question type.
Setting up QuizXpress for first usage
We are now going to configure some settings for the Game Show before first usage.
In order to do so, start QuizXpress Setup. You can find QuizXpress Setup in the Windows start menu (section QuizXpress) or you can start it from QuizXpress Studio by clicking the HOME tab > button External > QuizXpress Setup.
If you purchased one of our QuizXpress bundles, start by selecting the corresponding buzzer system.
If you are evaluating QuizXpress or if you purchased a QuizXpress mobile license, make sure the option ‘None’ is selected.
If you purchased a buzzer bundle, next to selecting the corresponding buzzer system, enter the keypad range you are going to use. By pressing the Test button you can check whether your receiver (which needs to be attached to the computer) is working correctly. In this case, a green check will appear next to the Test button.
If you purchased a QuizXpress Mobile license or are evaluating, please refer to the section setting up QuizXpress mobile.
Tweaks
On the Sound and Screens tabs you can change various settings relating to the sounds played during a quiz and the appearance of the QuizXpress Live! welcome screen.
If you hook up an external screen to your computer like a beamer/projector or an LED screen, please make sure to first configure its resolution in QuizXpress Setup. Go to the Screens tab and choose the resolution of the external screen.
Go to the ‘Advanced’ tab for changing some settings which are typically changed:
This setting applies to the final score screen. By default, the top 3 players are shown by default. By using this setting, the quiz master has control over showing the top 3 in reverse order (3,2,1) by using the computer keyboard, remote control (app) or QuizXpress Director.
Turn this on to build suspense when revealing the final scores!
By activating this option, QuizXpress Director, the control panel for a quiz show, is automatically shown on the computer screen.
Alternatively, press ‘D’ after having started the quiz to show Director.
QuizXpress Director on the computer can be used when connecting an additional screen to the laptop in combination with using extended desktop in Windows. This results in the quiz being shown for the audience on the external screen, while QuizXpress Director is only visible on the laptop screen for the quiz master.
Alternatively, when you have a QuizXpress mobile license (or are evaluating), you can use the QuizXpress Director app, available for iOS and Android. Please refer to the section setting up QuizXpress mobile for more information.
Turn on this option to show slides full screen. This causes the background of a slide to be shown full screen while the question and answers are centered to prevent overlap with the top panel showing the countdown clock.
Setting up QuizXpress Mobile
If your license supports using mobile phones or if you are evaluating QuizXpress, you can setup how to use mobile phones on the Mobile tab in QuizXpress Setup.
There are two ways you can play using mobile phones:
- Remote server – You play through the internet. An internet connection is required for both the computer running the quiz as well as the players playing along.
- On local Wi-Fi – Both the computer as well as the phones are connected to the same Wi-Fi network. No internet connection is required, you can play locally. We provide small routers in our shop allowing you to easily setup your local Wi-Fi network and play with phones without needing an internet connection.
By default, the activated setting is Remote server with server www.buzzerpad.com.
How players can play along
Players can play along in Remote server mode on their phone in two ways:
- By using the QuizXpress Smart buzzer app, available for iOS and Android.
- By navigating to www.buzzerpad.com in a browser
The QuizXpress Smart buzzer allows you to play on local Wi-Fi. On the startscreen, the button Connect to WiFi automatically lights up after the quiz player starts.
Another advantage of the QuizXpress smart buzzer is that it show questions and answers on the phone and supports letter, number and text questions.
Setting up the QuizXpress Director Host app
- With the computer keyboard using a range of shortcuts. To name a few:
- Space – move to the next slide
- S – show intermediate scores
- A – show who answered correct or incorrect
- Using QuizXpress Director, the quizmaster control panel
- Using the QuizXpress Director host app
Once the Quiz has been started press the square button with the arrow on the top. The Director app will now connect to the running quiz and will transform into a quiz remote with many options. Clicking the tabs at the bottom will show you all options at a glance. The first tab acts as a remote control which enables you among others, to advance through the quiz with the big central arrow and show scores and responses graphs.
Note: if your Director app does not connect to a quiz running in Remote Server mode, make sure that the server selected in the Director app is the same as the server indicated in QuizXpress Setup. In order to check this, click the ‘hamburger’ menu in the top left, click Settings and make sure that the Game server is set correctly (Central US for www.buzzerpad.com / Western Europe for www.buzzerpad.eu / Local Wifi).
Running a quiz : QuizXpress Live!
Once you finished your quiz, it is time to start it. QuizXpress Live!, the quiz player, takes care of showing the questions, playing all the sounds and videos and listening to the responses of the audience. It uses the settings as configured in QuizXpress Setup in the previous step.
A quiz can be started a couple of ways:
1) Start QuizXpress Live! from the windows start menu. You are prompted to choose a quiz file (file extension: .qx) to play.
2) Select a quiz file in windows explorer. When you right click you can choose to play the quiz. Alternatively, you can choose to edit the quiz, in which case it opens in QuizXpress Studio.
3) When you have a quiz opened in QuizXpress Studio, Click on the QUIZ SHOW tab. By clicking Run Production the quiz show is started.
Once the quiz is started you will see the QuizXpress Welcome screen. If you would like to change the appearance of the different elements on the welcome screen, you can do so in QuizXpress Setup on the Sounds and Screens tabs.
What follows is the buzzer sign-on screen. Here, each player needs to press his or her buzzer to sign up for the quiz. Please note this step is optional. If you prefer to skip this screen, switch on the setting Automatically register all configured keypads and skip the registration screen.
Now the quiz is ready to start! Below you see a screenshot of a typical question.
Some key elements on the slide have been highlighted:
- The countdown clock, showing how much time is left to answer the question. The amount of time is configurable per question in QuizXpress Studio.
- The numbers you see are the buzzer\mobile numbers that still need to make a choice. The quizmaster can use this information to trigger players to respond.
- The number of players that responded so far
- The amount of points to be won for the question. This is configurable per question in QuizXpress Studio. Use counting down points to reward fast responses (tip: in combination with penalty points to prevent players guessing ;-)).
Hosting a quiz : QuizXpress Director
QuizXpress Director is the quiz master control panel that can be used for full control over the quiz.
In the previous section about QuizXpress Mobile, the QuizXpress Director mobile app was highlighted.
Alternatively, you can also use QuizXpress Director on the computer. QuizXpress Director on the computer can be used when connecting an additional screen to the laptop in combination with using extended desktop in Windows. This results in the quiz being shown for the audience on the external screen, while QuizXpress Director is only visible on the laptop screen for the quiz master.
You can start QuizXpress Director by pressing the ‘D’ key after QuizXpress Live! has been started. It can also be started automatically when a quiz is started by setting the ‘Enable QuizXpress Director’ setting in QuizXpress Setup as outlined earlier in this guide.
Below you can find a screenshot of QuizXpress Director. On the left hand side, all possible commands available to the quizmaster are shown. Several tabs allow you to see all questions, answers, notes, teams, scores and responses.
Want to spice up your game show with additional games ? Mini games can be started ‘on the fly’ from QuizXpress Director at any moment.
So far for the QuizXpress Quick Start guide. Is this all there is to QuizXpress ? Definitely not, this is only the tip of the iceberg! If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us!
