Everyone answers at once on their phone. Fast and correct wins the most.
Lightning is a speed round played entirely on phones. A question appears, everyone answers at the same time, and the server scores you instantly on whether you're right and how fast you locked it in.
It runs on true/false and multiple-choice questions only, since those are the ones the system can grade the moment you tap.
Each question opens an answer window. Tap your answer before it closes. The sooner you lock in a correct answer, the more points you earn, up to 100 points for an instant correct tap. A wrong answer scores nothing, or docks you points if the host set a penalty.
String 3 correct answers together and you are on a hot streak: every correct answer from there is worth 1.5x until you miss. The final question of the round is worth 2x if you get it right.
When the round ends, the top three finishers earn bonus points for their teams, on top of the points everyone banked during the round.
| Option | What it controls |
|---|---|
| Question types Default: both on |
Lightning only uses true/false and multiple-choice questions.
Tick either or both; at least one must stay on. These are the only types the server can auto-score on speed, so short-answer isn't allowed.
|
| Answer window Default: 15s |
How long players have to lock in each answer.
Shorter windows raise the stakes and reward fast readers.
|
| Wrong-answer penalty Default: 0 (none) |
Points docked for a wrong tap.
A penalty discourages blind guessing. It docks the player's round total, which never drops below zero, and you can adjust it live mid-round.
|
| Auto-advance Default: 0 (range 0 to 15) |
Seconds before the next question fires on its own.
Zero means you advance by hand. Set 1 to 15 seconds and the round rolls itself, adjustable live mid-round.
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| Team bonuses (1st / 2nd / 3rd) Default: 50 / 25 / 10 |
Bonus points for the teams of the top three finishers at the end of the round.
Each place is configurable from 0 to 200.
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Lightning points decide the round, but they're separate from Glory Points (GP), the season-long score that ranks you across every game mode.
Lightning is a round inside a trivia game, so it doesn't pay GP on its own. Your result rolls into your game score, and GP is awarded once when the whole game finishes. See the Glory Points guide for the full breakdown.
Speed pays, but only when you're right. A wrong tap scores zero, so read fast and commit rather than guessing the instant the question appears.
Protect a streak. Once you're on a roll your answers are worth more, so don't throw it away on a question you'd normally skip.
Save something for the last question. It's worth double, so a single fast correct answer there can leapfrog you up the board.
Scoring is automatic from your response time, measured on the server, so there's no host judgment call on a Lightning answer.
Individual points go to you, and the end-of-round bonuses go to the teams of the top three finishers, so both your personal total and your team total can move.
Penalties can never take you negative: your round total is floored at zero no matter how many wrong taps you rack up.
Lightning is phone-only. There's no paper version, because scoring depends on measuring each answer's response time.