COBA is the Conventional Online Buzzer Application.

I wrote it while self-isolating during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic as a way of being able to play Quiz Bowl with my friends while the world slowly descends into chaos recovers from the virus. It is designed to make Skype-Bowl, a tried-and-true method of playing Quiz Bowl remotely, feel a little more normal.

You can find COBA at https://coba.slapbowl.com

Using it is very simple! All you need to do is:

1. Register with your email

2. Check the list of active game rooms

3. Join a game room as a player, or

4. Create a new game room to be a moderator

5. Join your friends on Skype, Google Hangouts, Facetime, or any other video-chat application and play some Quiz Bowl!

Am I going to need to pay for it?

The short answer is eventually. Hosting the website isn’t free, and at some point I’m going to need to financially justify the time I spend working on this thing. That time has not yet come, and my feeling is that the community could use a tool like this, free of charge, to have the chance to keep playing, keep practicing, and keep the game alive.

My plans are to release COBA as a service that schools/teams/organizations can license to have managed buzzers. Things like:

• Having a dedicated “practice buzzer” for your team to practice on

• Having an emergency “backup” buzzer for a tournament

• Even potentially hosting all-online tournaments!

If I can make enough money to justify keeping the service, I’ll continue to have things like scrimmage rooms available for free, or possibly ad-supported. I haven’t figured it out yet.

In the meantime, I hope that COBA can keep Quiz Bowl alive in these trying times.