The host advertises the game using Apple's "Bonjour" service discovery protocol. The advertisements are only present on the network subnet that the host is advertising in. So if the device the Companion is running on is on a different network subnet than where the host is, this advertisement won't be seen. In version 1.1 this is the only way to find the game, because it's the easiest for the host and players when the network is accommodating. Starting in version 1.2 we also advertise the game over Bluetooth if you have that turned on (Settings -> Bluetooth). In case discovery just doesn't work, Guess & Know will show you the address of the game after about 20 seconds on the Gather Players screen, which you can share with Guess & Know Companion players, as they can now enter the address into an entry box that shows up after 20 seconds on the Join Game screen.

The list shows available players. They aren't automatically joined in to the game until you tap once on them, at which time the app places a check mark to the right of their name signifying they are a contestant in the game. In version 1.2 a local player (you tap the + button and type in their name) is added automatically, with the reasoning being that you entered their name so you must be okay with the name given!

Network players are not automatically joined into the game: We want the game host to have final say over who joins the game, and, because their names will appear on any attached TV set, we wanted the host to ensure the names were appropriate for the intended audience.

As of the release of version 1.1 this delay is probably because you haven't updated to version 1.1 yet! We figured out what was causing the delay and have fixed it. If you are using version 1.1 of both Guess & Know and Guess & Know Companion and you are still seeing a delay, please contact our support team with details.

The biggest challenge for a game host is to know who buzzed in first, and Guess & Know Companion provides the answer. But the other challenge for the host is to prevent contestants from buzzing in before the question even appears on the screen. That's just no fun for the other contestants or for the person who buzzed in too early.

So how we decided to handle the situation is to have all contestants touch and hold the buzzer in the Companion app prior to the question being revealed (doing so changes the buzzer from red (ready) to yellow (ready to buzz in)). An orange buzzer means the contestant did not have their finger on their buzzer when the host selected the question to display. Explain this to the contestants: Finger on buzzer, question called, finger off if you know the answer. Any the time the buzzer is red it got there because Guess & Know has told the Companions to be ready to buzz in.

We decided to enforce these maximums because if a game creator gets carried away with their wit and knowledge the game can drag on and lose the essential fun that's likely to result in you giving it a five-star review!

We thought that might happen occasionally, so we built in a way to restore. Use the "Settings" app that is built in to your iPad to access the settings for Guess & Know. The setting you are looking for is "Restore Sample Game" as shown here: