HotSeat

For the host

Running the show

You are not a referee with a rulebook. You are the reason the room is loud. Read this once before your first session and you will not need it again.

Before you start

  1. Set up takes about fifteen minutes

    Pick the activity, take the tagline it gives you, add everyone, shuffle into teams, pick captains, choose your rounds. Do this before people are hungry.

  2. Your screen is the only one with answers on it

    Keep it facing you. Team devices only ever see what they are meant to see: the prompt, the buzzer, the clock.

  3. Read out loud, and commit

    Half of this is your delivery. A lyric read deadpan is funnier and harder than a lyric read musically. Lean into it.

  4. Judge fast

    Close enough is correct. Arguing about phrasing kills more rounds than a wrong answer ever will.

  5. You can always correct a score

    Marked the wrong team? Fix it. Scores are a running ledger, so a correction nets out and nothing else is disturbed.

Picture Abhi Baaki Hai

The Bollywood segment. 6 games, one to 3 rounds a night. Round lengths differ: most run 5 questions, Pair the Connections runs two. Mix buzzer rounds with the hookstep round: sending one player up alone after a whole-room round is what stops the quiet ones staying quiet.

Solo rounds

Koi Yahan Aaj Nache Nache

nominee buzzer · 10s

One nominee per team. Hear the song, do the hookstep. No half measures.

  • Each captain nominates one player for the whole round. Only that nominee may buzz.
  • Read it aloud: “do the hookstep of this song from this movie.”
  • First nominee to buzz gets 10 seconds from the moment they buzz.
  • You will not know every hookstep, and that is expected. Use the reference clip, or put it to a voice vote.
  • Rival teams heckling is the round working as intended, not a problem to manage.
  • Nobody buzzing? Open the floor before you move on. Someone always cracks.

Team rounds

Which Movie Am I?

team buzzer · 10s

Five clues, revealed one at a time. Buzz the moment you know it.

  • Reveal the clues one at a time. You control the pace, and there is a cooldown before the next one unlocks.
  • Teams can buzz at any point after a clue lands. They don't have to wait for a fresh one.
  • Buzzing early is a gamble worth rewarding: a team that buzzes on clue one still only gets 10 seconds.
  • If nobody has buzzed once all five are out, the final window starts: 10s easy, 15s medium, 20s hard.
  • Two teams buzzing at once is your call. The screen shows the order; you decide.
  • First correct answer takes 10. If they miss and a different team gets it, that team takes 5.

How Good Is Your Guess?

simultaneous lock · 10s

Two films, one question, ten seconds. Everyone locks in at once.

  • Read the question and both options aloud before you open the lock. The buttons stay dead until you do.
  • Ten seconds once it opens, the same on every phone.
  • Reveal only after everyone has locked in or the clock runs out.
  • Correct is 10. Wrong is minus 2. This is the one round where a guess costs something.
  • Then read the Facts line. That is the mic drop, don't skip it.

Spot the Correct Plot

simultaneous lock · 25–45s by difficulty

Three plot summaries. One is real. The title is never shown.

  • Never say the title. That it stays hidden is the entire game.
  • Read all three plots aloud, then open the lock: 25s easy, 35s medium, 45s hard.
  • Once it is revealed, ask who can name the actual film. First to shout it takes 5 more. Mark them on screen.
  • Teams may pass rather than guess.
  • Nobody locked in by the end? Straight to the next question.

Pair the Connections

simultaneous lock · 35–55s by difficulty

A grid of films hiding one group. Find it before anyone else does.

  • Eight tiles means find four; six tiles means find three. The question tells you which.
  • You don't run anything mid-round. The phones do the work. Watch the room.
  • Only the two fastest correct groups score: 10 and 5. Everyone else takes nothing, right or wrong.
  • No partial credit. A group of four with three right is simply wrong.
  • Reveal after the timer, then move on.

Aap Chronology Set Kijiye

simultaneous lock · 35–55s by difficulty

Put the films in order by release. Sounds easy. It is not.

  • Pick a mode at the start: Mix walks easy → medium → hard, or fix one tier for all three questions.
  • Films per question go down as difficulty goes up: 5 easy, 4 medium, 3 hard. Easy gets the most films and the least time on purpose.
  • Check the direction before you reveal. Easy defaults to descending, which catches people out; you can flip it.
  • Obscure films carry their hint on screen automatically. Nobody has to ask you for it.
  • All or nothing. The whole order has to be right.
  • Only the two fastest correct orders score, and the points go up with the tier.