How to Use Knowledge Bowl Online

User Interface

The user interface of Knowledge Bowl Practice Online practically speaks for itself. Each button says exactly what it does, and hovering over the button will give a sentence long explanation of the role it plays. On desktop or larger displays, the layout is as follows: the question section and input tools on the left, and chat and communication tools on the right. The buzz queue and list of active players are below the question section.

Getting Started

To get started on KB Practice online, simply press the next button. The question section will then begin to read the question, one word at a time. At the end of the question, you’ll have ten seconds to buzz in. If you buzz in, you’ll get ten seconds to answer, and as far as I know, it’s the same in most versions of Knowledge Bowl.

Buzz Logic

If somebody buzzes in, and you buzz in while they’re answering the question, you’ll be added to the buzz queue. This means that when they are done answering the question, if they get wrong, you will be instantly buzzed in and have ten seconds to answer. This is the same in real Knowledge Bowl, where buzzer races are important. Luckily, thanks to the live aspect of Knowledge Bowl Online, buzzes are instant, and you will almost never lose buzzer races because of a slow or faulty connection.

Chatting with Friends

Chat features are also implemented on Knowledge Bowl Practice Online. The right side of the screen shows the history of the session, including incorrect, correct, and missed answers, chat messages, and user actions. To change your username, simply type anything into the text input below the chat box, and it will instantly be updated on the server. The text box above can be used to draft and send chat messages as well.

Keyboard shortcuts

Below is a table displaying the various functions that can be called with keyboard commands. These are implemented for better ease of use and the ability to access features quicker.