A multiplayer reaction time game for everyone in the room

Quick Draw tests who in the room reacts fastest. A red circle on the big screen and a red pad on every phone wait a random moment, then turn green and say TAP. The three fastest clean taps score 3, 2 and 1 points; anyone who taps early scores nothing that round.

Host on this screen

Opens the room set up for Quick Draw. Phones join with the code it shows.

Start Quick Draw

Join from a phone

Type the code on the big screen.

Why a slow phone or slow Wi-Fi doesn't lose

Each phone times its own tap from the moment its pad turns green, and sends the time, not the tap. So a phone whose connection is a second slower still gets a fair time: the game ranks the taps by how fast each player reacted, not by which message arrived first.

An example round

Five players. The pads turn green. The cat taps after 0.31 seconds, the frog after 0.28, the fox after 0.44, the owl taps before green, and the bear after 0.52. The frog gets 3 points, the cat 2, the fox 1; the owl's early tap scores nothing, and the bear is fourth.

Good for

Waking up a room after a big meal.
Groups who just met, since it needs no answers about yourself.
Settling a tie at the end of Read the Room or Most Likely To.

Questions

What's a good reaction time?

Most people react to a color change in a few tenths of a second. Players who wait for the green, rather than guessing, usually do best over a game.

Can you cheat by tapping early?

A tap before the signal scores nothing that round, so guessing doesn't pay.

Does anyone need to install anything?

No. The big screen and every phone just open roomful.hatcherylake.com in a browser.