Answer first: prepare the join link, code and QR path; test one disconnect and rejoin; save accessible backup questions without participant data; name a co-host or instruction channel; and define when a timer, score or leaderboard becomes provisional. If the technology fails, preserve the purpose of the activity before preserving the competition.
Key findings, verified 20 September 2026
- Kahoot! currently documents joining by PIN, direct link or QR code. Its current reconnect instructions say to resume as the previous player to keep the score; entering as a new nickname causes the previous score to reset.
- Mentimeter documents browser participation by code or link, live polls with real-time results, and live quiz scores on a shared leaderboard.
- Slido documents link or QR participation, separate participant and present views, anonymous Q&A, moderation, privacy controls and co-host support.
- Crowdpurr separates its Participant View from Presentation View and recommends rehearsal on the exact screen when possible.
- TriviaMaker's Crowd mode uses participant devices while Basic, Presenter and Buzz modes use different team or buzzer models. Switching modes is not a neutral recovery step.
What is a live quiz recovery plan?
A live quiz recovery plan is a written set of actions that preserves the session's purpose when a participant device, join path, host control, shared display, network, audio, identity rule or score fails. It is not a promise that the platform will never fail. A useful plan distinguishes a participant-local problem from a host-local, venue-wide, configuration or content problem and assigns a safe fallback to each.
18-point live quiz readiness checklist
Join and identity
- Copy the exact participant URL and open it from a signed-out browser.
- Confirm whether the join code is temporary, session-specific or protected by an extra security step.
- Test the QR code from the farthest intended seat and keep the typed URL visible.
- Record whether participants need an app, account, identifier or nickname.
- Define the display-name rule and how duplicate names will be handled.
- Disconnect one synthetic participant and document the exact re-entry path before promising that identity or score will survive.
Host and display
- Name a co-host or another person who can publish one consistent backup instruction.
- Save a local copy of essential questions and answer options without participant data.
- Check presenter, shared-display and participant views separately.
- Check zoom, text size, contrast, color-independent meaning, captions and keyboard operation.
- Disable notifications and close unrelated tabs on the presentation device.
- Decide how the host will pause, void or mark a question provisional after an interruption.
Network and scoring
- Test the venue network with the host device and at least two participant devices.
- Prepare a second network path only when organizational policy permits it.
- State whether speed affects score and what will happen when lag is uneven.
- Define whether a reconnect keeps, restarts or abandons a score; mark the result unknown until documentation or a safe rehearsal establishes it.
- Prepare an unscored show-of-hands, card, paper or verbal fallback with an accessible equivalent.
- State the threshold for ending rankings and continuing as discussion.
Failure-recovery matrix
| Failure | First action | Preserve | Avoid | Fallback |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Join code rejected | Confirm the active host session and canonical code | Question order and room instructions | Creating several competing rooms | Typed URL or nondigital response |
| QR code fails | Show the typed URL and code | The same active session | Camera permission as the only path | Manual browser entry |
| One participant disconnects | Use the tested rejoin path | Privacy and current question context | Promising score continuity without evidence | Record an unscored response |
| Host loses network | Pause and announce the backup channel | Purpose and participant safety | Uneven timed scoring | Local questions without rankings |
| Shared display fails | Move question text to the backup format | Exact wording and options | Tiny phone-only room instructions | Read aloud plus accessible text |
| Audio fails | Switch to visual instructions and captions or text | Timing and meaning | Repeating instructions only verbally | Text-first delivery |
| Score looks wrong | Pause the leaderboard and mark the round provisional | Raw responses when available | Silent result edits | Continue unranked; review later |
| Accessibility barrier appears | Stop the timed interaction and offer an equivalent path | Participation and dignity | Treating accommodation as a penalty | Untimed individual response |
Platform-specific recovery preparation
Kahoot!: use the documented resume path
Kahoot! says participants can join a live game or assignment from a browser or app with a game PIN, direct link or QR code; a direct link skips PIN entry but does not bypass configured requirements such as 2-Step Join. Its current join guide says a disconnected participant should use the rejoin option to resume as the previous player when offered. The current hosting guide is more specific: choosing “Resume as [nickname]” keeps the score, while rejoining under a completely new nickname causes the previous score to reset. That documented distinction should appear in the host notes. Kahoot! join guide; Kahoot! live-hosting guide.
Mentimeter: preserve whether the activity is polling or a quiz
Mentimeter documents browser participation by six-digit code or link without a participant account for live polls, with results shown in real time. Its quiz page separately describes a live interactive competition in which participants join by code and scores update on a shared leaderboard. A fallback should therefore preserve the intended evidence: opinion or feedback in a poll is not interchangeable with correct-answer scoring in a quiz. Mentimeter live polling; Mentimeter quiz presentations.
Slido: preserve anonymity and provide another host
Slido documents voting from any device using a link or QR code and distinguishes participant mode from present mode. Its Q&A documentation says questions can be submitted anonymously, while privacy controls can restrict access and co-host support can give another person session controls. A recovery plan must preserve the promised anonymity level and should not quietly replace an anonymous channel with a named workaround. Slido live polling; Slido live Q&A.
Crowdpurr: test participant and presentation views separately
Crowdpurr documents a browser-based Participant View opened separately from its dashboard and a distinct Presentation View. Its help center recommends additional join instructions through slides, placards, emails or handouts, and advises testing readability on the exact screen when possible. A projector failure and a participant-device failure are different incidents; the runbook should not collapse them into one recovery step. Crowdpurr Participant View guide.
TriviaMaker: do not change the participation model mid-recovery
TriviaMaker's current documentation describes Crowd mode as participants joining by URL on their own devices and answering in real time, while its pricing page lists separate Basic, Presenter, Buzz and Crowd capacities. A mode switch can change whether the unit is a team, buzzer or individual participant, so it can also change the meaning of a score. TriviaMaker Crowd mode; TriviaMaker modes and limits.
A reproducible 15-minute failure drill
- Create five harmless synthetic questions and join from two test devices.
- Record the normal host, display and participant state before changing anything.
- Close one participant tab, reconnect, and record identity, current question, submitted answer and score behavior.
- Put one device in airplane mode for 20 seconds, then reconnect through the documented join path.
- Hide the shared display and deliver one question through the accessible backup format.
- Mute the presentation device and verify that every instruction remains available visually.
- Close the host tab only if official documentation or a disposable test session makes that safe.
- Mark any behavior “unknown” when current documentation and the safe test do not establish it.
The drill succeeds when a different host can follow the written recovery step, every participant receives one consistent instruction, an equivalent accessible response path exists, and no one makes an unverified promise about scores. This is a reader protocol, not a claim that Quiz App Guide ran a controlled cross-platform reliability benchmark.
Worked example: the projector fails at a conference
A speaker has a five-question knowledge check after a product demonstration. The audience has joined on phones, but the projector goes black before question three. The host pauses the timer, announces that rankings are suspended for the interrupted round, and publishes the exact question and choices through the prepared text channel. Participants answer without speed scoring.
When the projector returns, the host does not silently resume the leaderboard. They explain whether the platform recorded the interrupted responses and either void the question or continue unranked. The learning objective survives even though the competitive artifact does not.
Classify the failure before fixing it
- Participant-local: one device, browser, battery, keyboard or connection fails. Avoid interrupting the whole room unless fairness or accessibility is affected.
- Host-local: presenter browser, login, laptop, audio or control fails. Use the co-host and local question copy.
- Venue-wide: Wi-Fi, power, projector or room audio fails. Stop timed scoring and use the announced fallback.
- Configuration: identity, anonymity, timer, answer reveal, capacity or plan gate is wrong. Do not patch around a privacy or fairness error while collecting real responses.
- Content: a question is ambiguous, wrong, inappropriate or inaccessible. Void it and record the correction instead of forcing the software to produce a winner.
Method and limitations
We separated join, identity, host, display, network, scoring, accessibility and fallback risks, then checked platform statements against current official join, hosting, participant-view, polling, quiz and mode documentation on 20 September 2026. The checklist favors recoverability over feature count and does not rerank overall quiz apps. WCAG 2.2 informs the accessible fallback principles; it is not evidence that any vendor interface passed an accessibility audit. W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.2.
No venue load test, network benchmark, subscription purchase, authenticated multi-host test, device lab or controlled accessibility conformance audit is claimed. Browser, plan, region, workspace and product-release differences can change recovery behavior. Offline behavior is not assumed. A local question copy must not contain confidential participant data or violate policy.
The checklist cannot guarantee fairness after an interruption. If scores affect grades, certification, employment, prizes or another high-stakes outcome, use an assessment process with documented identity, integrity, accommodation, appeal and incident procedures.
Practical next step
Select five harmless questions, invite two test devices, and run the 15-minute drill. If identity, score continuity or fallback behavior remains unknown, remove rankings and use an unscored response path until the workflow is verified.
Correction path: report a changed join path, reconnect rule, mode, capacity, participant view or accessibility statement through the corrections process with the exact claim and current first-party source. Verification date: 20 September 2026.