Set up your screen

TriviaBot runs in a web browser, so it plays on almost anything you can plug into a TV — a mini PC, a Raspberry Pi, even a spare laptop. There is no app to install and nothing to buy from us. If you already have a device, start it up and point it here:

The screen will show a six-character code. Sign in at triviabot.tv/portal, open your venue, click Pair a screen and type the code in. That is the whole connection — after that the TV runs on its own.

1. What to run it on

Anything with a reasonably current web browser and an HDMI output. Here is the honest ranking, including the things we would rather you did not waste money on.

Whatever you choose, it needs to stay on wifi and stay awake. Those two things cause almost every problem we ever see.

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3. Getting it on the TV

1. Plug the device into the TV and switch the TV to that HDMI input. Get it on your wifi.
2. Open triviabot.tv/screen in the browser. Give it a few seconds — it will show a six-character pairing code and a QR code.
3. Scan the QR with your phone, or go to triviabot.tv/portal on any device and sign in.
4. Open your venue, click Pair a screen, type the code from the TV and give the screen a name — "Patio TV", "Bar left". The name is only for you, so make it something you would recognise at 6pm on a Friday.
5. Done. Within a second or two the TV switches to your game and stays there. You never need to touch the pairing code again.

Each venue can pair up to five screens, all showing the same game in sync. Pair each one separately, with its own code.

4. Making it start itself

Pairing gets trivia on the TV today. This section is what makes it still be there next Tuesday after a power cut, with nobody touching a keyboard. Three things matter: open the browser at startup, go straight to the page, fullscreen, and never sleep.

Windows mini PC

Set the machine to log in automatically, then add a startup shortcut:

1. Press Win + R, type shell:startup, press Enter.
2. Right-click in that folder → New → Shortcut, and use this as the location:

"C:\Program Files\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe" --kiosk --noerrdialogs --disable-session-crashed-bubble --disable-infobars https://triviabot.tv/screen

Then in Settings → System → Power, set screen and sleep to Never — on both battery and mains if it is a laptop. In Settings → Accounts → Sign-in options, turn off the requirement to sign in after sleep.

Raspberry Pi or a Linux mini PC

On Raspberry Pi OS Desktop, create an autostart entry:

mkdir -p ~/.config/autostart
cat > ~/.config/autostart/triviabot.desktop <<'EOF'
[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Name=TriviaBot
Exec=chromium-browser --kiosk --noerrdialogs --disable-infobars \
     --disable-session-crashed-bubble https://triviabot.tv/screen
X-GNOME-Autostart-enabled=true
EOF

Then stop the screen blanking, which is the usual culprit for a black TV:

sudo raspi-config          # Display Options → Screen Blanking → No

Set the Pi to boot to desktop with auto-login (raspi-config → System Options → Boot / Auto Login → Desktop Autologin), and reboot to check it comes back by itself. Pull the power out once on purpose — better to find out now than on a Friday.

A note on kiosk mode

--kiosk hides the address bar and tabs, so a guest with a keyboard cannot wander off to another site. It also stops the "Chrome didn't shut down correctly" bar appearing after a power cut and covering your game, which is what the other flags are for.

5. TV settings that matter

• Turn off the TV's own screensaver and auto-power-off. Most sets switch themselves off after a few hours with "no activity" — and a page that changes on its own does not always count as activity.
• Turn on HDMI-CEC if your device supports it. Samsung calls it Anynet+, LG calls it SimpLink, Sony BRAVIA Sync. With it on, the TV can wake to the right input when the device starts.
• Set the TV to remember its last input, so a power cut does not leave it on a blank channel with trivia running invisibly behind it.
• Check overscan. If the edges of the game are cut off, look for a picture-size setting called Screen Fit, Just Scan or 1:1.

On a Raspberry Pi 5, HDMI-CEC only works on the micro-HDMI port nearest the power connector. If the TV will not respond, try the other port before assuming it is broken.

6. When something is wrong

The TV is showing a pairing code again

The screen has lost its identity — usually because the browser's data was cleared, it opened a different profile, or somebody opened the page in a private window. Pair it again with a fresh code. If it keeps happening, the browser is wiping itself on exit; turn off "clear browsing data on close".

The screen is dark, or says the venue is asleep

Check your opening hours in the portal — outside them, screens deliberately sleep. If the hours look right, check the Subscription panel; a lapsed subscription stops the game rather than the screen.

One screen went off on its own

We switch a screen off when the same identity turns up from two places at once, because that is what a copied device looks like. Almost always it means a device was cloned or a browser profile was duplicated. Open the venue in the portal, re-enable the screen, and set the second one up from scratch with its own code.

Everything looks right but nothing is playing

Reboot the device. If it comes back on its own and plays, you have your answer about whether the autostart is working. If it comes back to a desktop, the startup entry did not take.