Before: slide 23 of 70
No score, no timer, no lifelines, no way for the hall to join in.
A good quiz, trapped in a slide deck.
The NGO's quiz on Jain philosophy lived in a PowerPoint deck I had written (kbds by संयम). A deck can show a question. It can't keep score, run a clock, hide two options for 50:50, or let a hall of people vote.
Everyone in India knows how Kaun Banega Crorepati works. Borrowing that format means nobody needs the rules explained.
The ladder: spiritual progress, not prize money
Fourteen levels, each one a step on the spiritual path.
There are 70 questions, 5 per level, each with its 50:50 pair. Safe levels are 7, 12 and 14, and the clock grows from 30 to 60 to 120 seconds as the questions get harder.
A ladder that matches what the audience already values makes every step feel like it means something, not just more points.
load · show · options · timer · lock · right · wrong · explain
No tech crew. One person, one keyboard.
On stage, under lights, with a microphone in one hand. That is the real context, so the controls were designed for it.
Four lifelines
The audience poll turns spectators into helpers.
Take the hot seat: three real questions from the show
The poll was the first time the whole hall had a job. Between contestants, Fastest Finger First (items arrive shuffled on every phone, and the Top 10 score 50 down to 5 points) and an audience question (+10 for everyone who gets it right) kept everyone playing.
Once people have voted, they care about the answer. That reaction is what turns a hall of spectators into players.
Three screens, one system
Weak Wi-Fi, strangers' phones, two halls at once.
The audience link goes to people I don't know, so database rules make sure no phone can wipe the bank or push a fake question. The projector only reads data, so a dropped connection pauses the show and never loses it. Each room keeps its own state, so two halls can run from one question bank without mixing answers.
In a live room, one crash or one prank on the projector costs the whole evening. Reliability isn't polish here; it's the product.
What came next
The audience wants to play, not watch.
KBS still runs, unchanged, as one of the games on that platform.
Build the specific thing first, watch what people love, then turn that into the general product.