Unplugged experience: How to host a kahoot without participant devices

Updated

The Unplugged experience lets you host a kahoot without participants using their own devices. Instead of joining the game on a phone, tablet, or computer, participants interact with the game in person while the host controls the experience from a shared screen.

You can choose between two Unplugged game modes:

  • Classic Unplugged: The whole group answers questions together while the host controls the pace and selects answers on the shared screen.
  • Team Tiles Unplugged: Participants play in teams, take turns answering questions, and compete to claim tiles and earn points.

Shorcuts

How to host an Unplugged experience

You can easily select the Unplugged experience right before you start your live game. Note that this experience requires a host to run the game on a shared screen.

  1. Log in to your Kahoot! account and select the specific kahoot you want to play.
  2. Click Host a live to open the game experience selection screen.
  3. Scroll to the Unplugged section.
  4. Select either Classic Unplugged or Team Tiles experience.
  5. Start the game.

Participants will now be able to follow the game and participate together by looking at the shared screen.

🔗 Want to explore more ways to play? Check out Kahoot! experiences to discover different optins for individual, competitive, and collaborative play.

How to play a Classic: Unplugged experience

Because participants don't use their own devices, the gameplay is highly interactive and driven by the room's energy:

  • Participants call out the answers: The audience reads the question and options on the shared screen. For each question, the host can choose a specific participant to answer aloud or let the room shout out the consensus.
  • The host rocks the screen: The host acts as the game master, listening to the answer and clicking it on the main screen to reveal the correct result.
  • Shared score: Instead of individual points, a single shared score keeps track of the total number of correct answers for the whole group.

How participants can answer in Classic Unplugged

The host can choose an answering method that works best for the group and setting.

For example, participants can:

  • say their answers out loud
  • agree on an answer as a group
  • use answer cards
  • show answers using fingers or hand signals
  • write answers on personal whiteboards
  • move to different areas of the room representing different answers

The host selects the corresponding answer on the shared screen to continue the game.

How to play the Team Tiles Unplugged experience

The Team Tiles Unplugged experience introduces a collaborative, turn-based approach to the device-free game. Here is a step-by-step guide on how to play:

  1. Choose the number of teams (minimum 2 teams, up to 6 teams) and customize them as needed (see Customizing teams below for more info)
  2. Choose the total amount of questions for the game. A suggested number of rounds will be shown based on the kahoot. When everything is ready, click Start. The main screen will display a board of up to 24 numbered tiles.
  3. Teams take turns picking a numbered tile from the board to reveal a question. You will always know whose turn it is because the active team's avatar is highlighted at the top of the screen.
  4. The team discusses the question quietly amongst themselves. On the host's cue, they reveal their answer using a shared signal like cards, hand signs, or whiteboards.
  5. The host listens to the team's answer and clicks the corresponding option on the main screen to validate whether it is correct or incorrect. If a team answers correctly, their avatar will claim that tile on the board. The host can also manually adjust team scores using the + and - buttons next to each team's score - this is great for correcting mistakes or awarding bonus points for exceptional teamwork!
  6. Teams earn points for each correct answer. To keep the game exciting, the points awarded per question increase as the rounds progress. To build suspense, the team scores will be hidden (blurred out with diagonal lines) right before the final round. Once all tiles are cleared, the game ends with a podium reveal to celebrate the winning team!
☝️ Team Tiles experience supports the following question types: Quiz, Multi-select, Puzzle, Slider, Open-ended, and Pin Answer. Any unsupported question types included in your kahoot will be automatically skipped.

Customizing teams

Just click the pencil icon on any team's card to personalize them before starting! You can easily:

  • Adjust the team names: Replace the default names (like "Team Woodchuck" or "Team Moose") with something unique and fun that represents each group of players.
  • Change the visible character avatars: Pick a different animated character for each team to make the experience more engaging and help participants easily spot their turn on the screen.

Key features and benefits

The Classic Unplugged experience is designed for content review and assessment without the pressure of competition.

  • Focus on participation: It offers a similar flow to the Learn self-study mode, emphasizing content review over speed. There is no timer for answers, allowing the group to discuss and decide at their own pace.
  • Collaborative effort: At the end of the game, there is no podium for individuals. Instead, the final screen celebrates the whole group's effort, showing the total score out of the total questions (e.g., 3/10).
  • Greater flexibility: It gives teachers and trainers the freedom to choose how their audience participates, removing device availability as a barrier to engagement.
  • Institution-wide adoption: It supports a broader range of teaching and training practices, making Kahoot! accessible in device-restricted schools and corporate training environments.

Tips for teachers

If you're using the Unplugged experience in the classroom, these tips can help you manage pacing, encourage participation, and give students more opportunities to think and discuss before answering.

How to use Classic Unplugged in the classroom
  • Use teacher-controlled timing to your advantage. Classic Unplugged works particularly well for questions that benefit from extra thinking time, such as multi-step math problems, questions students need to work through with pen and paper, or questions with more than one defensible answer.
  • Give students dedicated thinking time. Consider setting a fixed period of silent thinking before asking students to answer. Keep this separate from the countdown used to reveal their answers.
    For example: “You have two minutes. Heads down and work it out.”
  • Keep the activity moving. No on-screen timer doesn't mean unlimited time. Set expectations for roughly how much thinking or discussion time students will have for each question.
  • Ask everyone to reveal their answers at the same time. A student who shouts out an answer can reveal the solution before others have finished thinking. Instead, use a countdown such as “3, 2, 1 — show” and ask the whole class to respond simultaneously.
    Students can reveal their answers using:
    - answer cards with Kahoot! symbols, numbers, or letters
    - one to four fingers
    - fingers raised while keeping their heads down for more privacy
    - ASL letters for A, B, C, and D
    - personal whiteboards
    - classroom corners or zones corresponding to each answer
    Choose an answering method before the game starts and use it consistently so students know what to expect.
  • Avoid focusing on who answers first. Activities such as “raise your hand if you know it” can shift the focus toward the fastest students. When you're checking understanding, a simultaneous whole-class response can give you information about more students at once.
  • Choose questions that benefit from the format. Classic Unplugged is most useful when students genuinely benefit from time to think. If most questions can be answered immediately from recall, the teacher-controlled pacing may be less useful.
How to use Classic Unplugged with student teams

Instead of answering individually, students can work in small teams, discuss each question, and agree on the response they will reveal. For effective team discussions:

  • Keep teams small enough for everyone to participate. Groups of around 4–6 students usually give everyone a better opportunity to contribute.
  • Decide before the game how teams will reach an answer. They can use a majority vote, full-team consensus, or nominate one student to answer after the discussion.
  • Choose questions that encourage reasoning, interpretation, or discussion rather than simply asking whether someone knows the answer.
  • Decide what happens after an incorrect answer. The team can explain its reasoning, another team can offer an explanation, or the class can move on.
  • Encourage students to listen to each other and respond respectfully to incorrect answers.
    If discussion or consensus-building is the learning goal, avoid rewarding teams simply for answering fastest.
How to use Team Tiles Unplugged in the classroom

Team Tiles Unplugged adds a stronger team-vs-team dynamic. Because teams take turns while the rest of the class watches, pacing and participation are especially important.

  • Keep turns short. Choose questions that can be answered in a reasonably consistent amount of time. A long question for one team can leave the rest of the class waiting.
  • Use questions with similar time requirements. Avoid mixing very quick recall questions with lengthy, multi-step problems. If questions are assigned randomly, large differences in the time needed to answer can make turns feel uneven and slow down the game.
  • Keep teams small enough for everyone to participate. Groups of around 4–6 students are generally more conducive to discussion than a few very large teams.
  • Rotate who gives the answer. Avoid having the same confident student answer every question. You can rotate the role by seat order or use another simple system so different students represent their team.
  • Decide how teams will reach their answers. Depending on the activity, teams can use majority voting, consensus, or let the current team representative choose an answer after listening to the discussion.
  • Choose questions that encourage team reasoning. Questions involving reasoning, interpretation, or multiple plausible options give students more to discuss than questions where the conversation simply becomes, “Does anyone know the answer?”
  • Set expectations around incorrect answers. Encourage respectful reactions when another team makes a mistake, especially when working with younger students.

FAQ

  1. Who can use the Unplugged experience? The Unplugged experience is available on all Kahoot! plans. You can host it from both the web platform and Kahoot! mobile apps.
     
  2. Do participants need the Kahoot! app or website to join? No. In an Unplugged experience, participants do not need an individual device to enter a PIN or submit answers. The entire experience is guided by the host on a shared screen.
     
  3. Do players earn points in Classic Unplugged? No, there are no points awarded, and there is no podium. This experience is designed purely for review and assessment.
     
  4. How many teams can play Team Tiles Unplugged? You can divide your room into up to 6 teams. The main screen will display a board of up to 24 numbered tiles for the teams to choose from.

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