← Hedge

How to host a Hedge Party

A trivia night where everyone bets how sure they are.

Hedge Party turns one big screen into the stage and every phone in the room into a controller. You don't need a quizmaster, a scoresheet, or anyone reading questions out loud. The stage does all of that. Your job as host is mostly getting people in the door, and this page is the setup that makes that easy. (The short version lives on the support page.)

Before anyone arrives

Send this to your guests

Everyone plays from their own iPhone or iPad with the free Hedge app. The slowest part of any party is someone installing an app at the door, so send them this ahead of time:

There are no accounts to make. The first time someone joins a party, they pick a name and, if they like, a photo.

Check your Wi-Fi

A party runs entirely over your own Wi-Fi. The stage and the phones talk to each other directly, never through the internet, so they all need to be on the same network and allowed to see each other.

That works on almost every home network. The exception is guest Wi-Fi. Many routers keep the devices on a guest network from seeing each other. That's a good security feature, and it's exactly what stops a party. Hotels, dorms, offices, and some vacation rentals often do the same. At home, put everyone on your main network, not the guest one. Somewhere else, if the party never shows up on anyone's phone, the network is the likely reason, and no setting in Hedge can get around it.

Pick the stage

The stage is the screen everyone watches, so use the biggest one you have.

• Apple TV: open the Hedge Party app and choose Start the party. You pick a pack with the Siri Remote.
• Mac: open Hedge, choose Party, then Start a party, and make the window full screen. A Mac plugged into a TV is the next best thing to an Apple TV.
• iPad: the same steps. Great for a small group around a table.
• iPhone: works too, for a few people huddled close.

Plug the stage in. It keeps its screen awake for the whole party, which runs a battery down.

Want to see one before your guests do? Watch a demo party plays a full party with five demo players, no phones needed. It's on the Party screen on iPhone and iPad, and on the Apple TV's start screen.

Choose a pack

A party is three rounds of ten questions from one pack. There are nine, all free: the Sixties through the Nineties, sports, the things everyone "knows" that turn out not to be true, and packs for wizards, starships, and superheroes. The picker shows which packs people in the room have already played, so a regular crowd can always find fresh questions.

Pick one your crowd will argue about. A topic the room half knows beats one they know cold, because that's where the bets get interesting.

Getting everyone in

Once the stage is in its lobby, guests open Hedge, tap Party, and tap your party in the Nearby parties list. Anyone who has visited the Party screen before also gets a banner on their home screen while your party is live.

The first phone to join becomes the host's phone, so make it yours.

If a phone can't find the party, the stage shows its address in the lobby. Tap Don't see your party? and type it in. If that fails too, check that the phone lets Hedge use the local network: Settings, then Privacy & Security, then Local Network. Guests who still don't have the app can scan the QR code in the corner of the stage.

When everyone's in, start the game from the stage or from your phone.

Explaining it in one breath

Every question is a true or false statement. Pick an answer and bet how sure you are, from 50% to 99%. Right and sure scores big, wrong and sure scores nothing, and a 50% hedge always earns 15 of the 20 points. Bets stay secret until everyone locks in, then the stage reveals the truth and every bet at once.

That last part is the fun. You find out who was sure, who was bluffing, and who knew all along.

Your phone is the remote

As host you play like everyone else, plus you get a Host button in the corner of your screen. It opens your controls:

• Auto advance questions. On (the default), the stage moves on by itself after each reveal, with a pause to read the answer. Off, it waits after every answer until you tap to continue. Turn it off for a crowd that likes to argue about the answers. You can switch it any time, even mid-game.
• Reveal early. With auto advance off, a Reveal button shows how many players have locked in. Tap it when you're done waiting, and anyone who hasn't bet gets the 50% hedge.
• Audio. Music and sound effects for the stage, each with its own volume, without leaving your seat.
• Players. Remove someone who has left for good, so the room stops counting them.
• The stage's address, for anyone who shows up late.

If your phone locks or you take a call, another player's phone quietly takes over the host controls, and they come back to you as soon as you're back.

Things that come up mid-game

• Someone wanders off. The room doesn't wait on a phone that's gone. Their answer counts as a 50% hedge, 15 points, and they're back in the game the moment they return.
• Someone's still deciding. With auto advance on, the stage waits for everyone who's still there, and it starts to tease whoever is holding out.
• Someone arrives late. They can join any time before the finale. They sit out the rest of the current round and start playing at the next one.
• You need to stop. Closing the stage mid-game asks you to confirm first, so a stray tap from a kid or a dog can't end the night.

After the finale

The finale crowns a winner and hands out the night's awards, and an award only shows up when someone actually earned it. Want a rematch? Choose New party on the finale screen and every phone rejoins on its own.

Party games never count toward anyone's daily streak, badges, or calibration chart, so play as many as you like.

Something not working? Email hedge@stiles.one and you'll get a real human reply.