Introducing COBA
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:
Register with your email
Check the list of active game rooms
Join a game room as a player, or
Create a new game room to be a moderator
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.
