HELP CENTER · STEP-BY-STEP
Get an online room moving
Online rooms coordinate two to five players around the same four sounds. This guide covers the small details that prevent a lobby from waiting forever.
Public or private
A public room appears in the lobby and does not need an invitation. A private room stays out of the list; share its code or invitation only with the people you want to join. A private code is still a key to an active room, so do not put a real name, address or other personal information in the room title.
Join, preload and get ready
Enter a short nickname, choose a room and keep the game tab visible while the sounds preload. Each device needs its own microphone permission. Ready means the device has the deck and can attempt a take; it does not start the round by itself. The host starts after everyone is ready, and a player who is still loading should say so in the separate call the group is using.
What happens in a round
Everyone receives the same reference sound and a count-in. Each player has one take and a 120-second round window. Numeric scores appear after the take. A player who misses the deadline scores zero, while the room can continue if somebody leaves. After the review state, a player advances the room to the next sound.
Rejoin and recover
The room uses a session token in the current browser so a refresh can reconnect. Reopen the same invitation and choose Join. If the room has expired after two hours, the token cannot bring it back; join another public room or create a new private one. If audio fails, retry the deck before starting a round.
Score-only by default
Public rooms share readiness, progress and numbers, not live voice chat or recordings. Private rooms offer an explicit per-take sharing action after scoring. The privacy and terms pages explain the boundary, expiry and respectful-use rules in plain language.
A host checklist
Before inviting people, choose a short room name, decide who will start each round and agree on a separate call if the group wants to talk. Keep the invitation private, check that everyone can hear a reference clip and wait for each device to show Ready. A small plan makes a two-minute round feel much smoother.
If the room is empty
A public room may close when its host leaves or when its expiry window ends. Refresh the lobby, choose another room or create a new private room. Do not keep refreshing a stale invitation while a friend is trying to start a replacement; send the newest link through the channel the group already trusts.
How to finish and rejoin
After the final sound, let the review state finish before closing the tab so the result is visible to everyone. If you disconnect mid-round, reopen the same invitation in the same browser and use Join. A rejoin can restore room state, but it cannot recover an expired room or a take that was never submitted.
The room privacy boundary
The room coordinates game state, not a social profile. Use a nickname that does not identify a child, school, workplace or location. If somebody posts personal information in a room, ask them to remove it and leave the room if necessary; support can explain the available correction path without needing the audio.
A smooth round order
The host can announce the sound number, wait for the reference clip to finish and give players a moment to check their input before starting the count-in. Keeping one person responsible for advancing the review state avoids two devices moving at once. Players should not start a second take in another tab because the room records one attempt per sound.
When someone is still loading
A slow connection may leave one player on a loading state while the rest of the room is ready. Let that player retry the deck or rejoin before starting. If the rest of the group continues, the missing player can wait for the next sound rather than sharing a private code in a public channel.
Handling a disconnected host
If the host loses the tab, wait for the room to report whether the session is still active, then reopen the same invitation. If the room cannot advance, create a replacement and send one fresh invite. A replacement room is safer than trying to reuse a stale browser token or posting several old codes.
Accessibility and pacing
Players can take a little more time to read the phase and control labels before recording. Use the visible count-in, keep the tab focused and describe the next action in the separate call if the group is talking. A slower round is easier to recover than a rushed take that nobody can submit.