Slam-In Online Help
Contents
1. set Ring In Time W setAnswerTime 5 In this way Slam In accommodates longer team deliberation time corresponding to the Ring In Timer setting and answer time if needed In fact during Bonus Questions the Ring In Timer is labeled the Deliberation Timer oo Deliberation lf your format does not use Bonus Questions at all or if you are playing a Speed Round where all the questions are Toss Ups use the dropdown menu in the Play Question menu to select to play a Toss Up Question instead Play Question Bonus If you change the first Bonus Question in a round to a Toss Up Question Slam In will assume that all the subsequent questions in the round are Toss Up Questions To reset Slam In to play Bonus Questions after correctly answered Toss Up Questions simply use this same dropdown menu to play a Bonus Question after the next correct Toss Up Bonus Question Reading Mode Bonus Questions are not ring in questions and slammers do not function when playing bonuses Instead the team that won the previous Toss Up question is given the opportunity to answer When you click the Play Bonus Question button Slam In enters Reading Mode which is indicated by the Done Reading button below teams scores Done Reading Question While Slam In is in Reading Mode the question s Ring In Timer does not count down Once the moderator finishes reading the question the Done Reading button should be clicked This st2. Play Question Bonus Use the Play Question dropdown menu to change the next question in the round to a Toss Up Question From this point on Slam In will assume that all subsequent questions in the round are Toss Up Questions To reset Slam In to play Bonus Questions after correctly answered Toss Up Questions simply use this same dropdown menu to play a Bonus Question after the next correct Toss Up Disabling Early Ring In Only a few competition formats reward early correct answers such as NAQT or penalize early incorrect answers such as Florida s Brain Brawl Slam In can be taught to ignore teams early ring in ringing in while the moderator is still reading a question When a team rings in early the Early Ring In checkbox is automatically checked A Right Answer To temporarily disable any early ring in awards or penalties uncheck the Early Ring In checkbox the first time an early ring in occurs in the round MELL Right Answer From this point on in the current round Slam In will not check the Early Ring In checkbox when a team rings in while the moderator is still reading To reset Slam In to recognize early ring in once again and to display the Award Penalize operator menu Award be Team 27 100 Point s Done All you need to do is check the Early Ring In checkbox again the next time that an early ring in occurs Ending a Game or Round Manually A Slam In game can be ended at any time betwee
3. To open a saved game use the File menu s Open option and select the game you want to play hy Recent Documents Desktop Ly My Documents 2L My Computer w File name Newberry Challenge Second Hall sic My Network Places Files of type Slam In Configuration Perform Ready Check To make sure that all slammers are working prior to beginning a game leave the Perform Ready Check option set to Yes Once you click the Play button the Ready Check operation displays a WAITING message within all the team s scoreboxes Ready Check Ring in to indicate you are ready f Skip f setup As each slammer is depressed their status is shown on screen in the form of color coded boxes Once all of a team s slammers are pressed and if the slammer hardware system is connected properly the team s scorebox shows a READY message Ready Check All players are ready press Play fo begin Team 1 meood Note If you are not using our slammer system hardware that is if you are using Slam In s Scoreboard software independently of a ring in system the Ready Check process does not function Perform your own buzzer hardware check then click Skip on the initial Ready Check screen Playing Toss Up Questions Once you ve completed the Ready Check process or skipped it Slam In s Scoreboard software displays the following screen at the beginning of a round or game X Round Time Welcome t
4. e Display capable of 800x600 resolution or better Our Scoreboard software runs both on Windows as well as Macintosh computers On Screen Help Each option on the Slam In Admin screen has a help bubble associated with it Place your cursor over an option and the bubble help will appear For example Round Setup Timer Setup Question Point Value 100 Timed Round no w Wrong Answer Penalty Question Value o Minutes Paints Timed Ring In o Wrong Answer Retry vec all E I at Fallow other teams to ring in after wron answers E Sound Mode Default E 7 ELT 2 ME 5 Wo gt Perform Ready Check vgs x I Seconds In the above example the cursor is placed on the Wrong Answer Retry option and the bubble help explains that if you want to allow other teams to be able to ring in after the first team gives a wrong answer this option should be set to Yes Slam In Scoreboard Software Setup Slam In s Scoreboard software setup options are grouped into three categories e Round Setup e Timer Setup e Team Setup Use the options that are relevant to the competition format you need to support Round Setup Round Setup options allow you to set point values for right and wrong answers or whether to have a wrong answer penalty at all as well as adjust or eliminate game sounds Round Setup is also where you indicate whether or not you want each round to start with a ring in system check procedure Round Setup Questi
5. Question Play Question Toss Up 7 Calling Time Out Timeouts may only be called between questions in a game To activate a timeout click on the Time Out button in the lower righthand corner of the Play Mode screen When the Time Out button is clicked the Time Out menu displays and allows you to charge a specific team with a timeout or to call an official timeout eee so N OK Cancel The checkbox for Official indicates that this is the default timeout option but if you uncheck this box then you may use the team dropdown box to charge a timeout to a specific team raman 1 m R Team 1 60 RSE The length of a timeout defaults to 60 seconds but you may adjust its length by editing the value in the numeric field in the same way that you can adjust all the other Play Mode numeric fields during a game When a timeout is charged to a specific team that team s scorebox is highlighted on screen during the timeout Regardless of the kind of timeout a countdown timer box displays in the upper righthand corner of the Play Mode screen to keep track of the timeout s duration Time Out 50 When the countdown reaches zero a buzzer sounds It is then up to the moderator to click the End Timeout button End Time Out Note You may end a timeout at any time by clicking the End Timeout button Suspending a Game or Round Another way to stop a game in progress is to click the Setup button in the lowe
6. Slam In Online Help It is our goal to produce a system that is so easy to use that you don t need a detailed user s manual However we understand that you may need help configuring or setting up Slam In the first time you use it Think of this Help page as a starting point It provides you with general information on how to configure and play a Slam In game Refer to our Formats page to review the rules for standard academic competition formats This Help information is based on the most current version of Slam In which is Release 1 2 Build 39 Make sure you have this most current version For your convenience here are links to the program for both supported environments e Slam In for Windows e Slam in for Macintosh If the following does not address your needs or answer your question s about how to use Slam In please call us at 815 261 4586 or send your request via e mail to support slammersystems com A Slam In system has two main components 1 Slam In Scoreboard software 2 Aslammer hardware system The Slam In Scoreboard software component may be used without a slammer hardware system It can even be used with other manufacturers wired buzzer systems that have been retrofitted to work with Slam In s Scoreboard function However here we will assume that you are using the two Slam In components above together and even though it is trivial to connect a slammer system it s important to connect it correctly Slammer Hard
7. a Team Question In some competition formats such as Florida s National Tournament of Academic Excellence NTAE each round ends with a question that all teams play To playa Team Question in Slam In use the Play Question dropdown menu to change the question type to Bonus Play Question Bonus x Edit the Ring In Deliberation Timer to extend play for the desired length of time that teams have to come up with their answer s then click Play Question Once the Deliberation Timer has counted down award points to Team 1 using the Award Penalize operator menu Award x Team ivi 10 Point is Save Click on Save then click on Team 2 to bring them up to bat and award their points Click Save after each team playing the Team Question then click Done when you are finished Playing a Lightning Round In some competition formats such as those governed by the Louisiana Association for Academic Competition LAAC one or more rounds consist entirely of Toss Up Questions and other formats add the constraint that all the round s questions must be completed within a very short timeframe such as 60 seconds This last constraint is what gives this sort of round the name Lightning Round Slam In assumes that correctly answered Toss Up Questions are followed by Bonus Questions but Slam In can very easily be told to operate in Toss Up Questions Only mode When Slam In presents you with the first Bonus Question opportunity
8. arts the question s Deliberation Timer and displays an Award Penalize operator menu Award Team 2 x QO Point s Save Done The team that answered the preceding Toss Up Question correctly is automatically highlighted on screen and their name is automatically placed in the Award Penalize operator menu for you Note In some competition formats such as Illinois IHSA the team captain is required to signal or ring in on Bonus Questions Under these conditions the moderator or system operator should click on the captain s player number within that team s scorebox If the team s answer is correct enter the number of points they earn into the Award Penalize operator menu Award Team 27 10 Point s Save Done Click Done if this team won all the Bonus Question s points or answered all parts of the Bonus Question correctly lf they did not earn all the Bonus Question s points and your competition format calls the question or its incorrectly answered parts to bounce back to another team then click Save instead Then click on the other team s scorebox or on the team captain s player number within that team s scorebox to recognize the other team Slam In automatically updates the Award Penalize operator menu to allow you to award points to that team Award ha Team 17 1O Point s Save Click Done when you have completed the Bonus Question and Slam In automatically resets itself to play the next Toss Up
9. n questions by clicking End Game Slam In will then prompt you to confirm that you want to end the game Slam In a J re you sure you want to end the game now Clicking Yes highlights the game winner or the point leader Ending a Game or Round Using the Round Timer A game can also come to an end when the Round Timer expires When it does you are prompted to make a decision Slam In c The round time has expired a End the round now Ves i If you click Yes then the game ends as shown above under Ending a Game Manually If you click No then you are able to continue playing the round without a time limitation Saving Results When a game ends the End Game button is replaced by the Save Results button Save Results Clicking the Save Results button allows you to save results to a specific location on your computer Save in Slam In Results ce ea Fal Ey LS My Recent Documents B Desktop My Documents P My Computer i File name Newberry Challenge Second HalF cs My Network E 3 Places Files of type Slam In Report Files C5 w Slam In results are saved as csv files so that you can open them and manipulate them using a spreadsheet program While you can save your results anywhere as with game configurations it s a good idea to organize your results files In this example we ve created a My Documents directory called Slam In Results and sa
10. nds Custom Sound Setup Play Game Default End Game Default Play Question Defautt z Ring In Default v Right Answer Default Wrong Answer Default l Ring In Time Up Default Answer Time Up Default v Round Time Wp Default a There is also a tab for Teams not shown that displays all the sound options for teams in the Ready Check procedure Click the play sound icon LP to the right of an event sound to hear each sound individually All event sounds are customized in the same way For example to change the sound that Slam In plays when a team rings in on a Toss Up Question choose Custom from the dropdown menu for Ring In 1 Ring In Default Custom Mone Once you have selected Custom the Browse button allows you to browse your computer for a different WAV file to associate with ringing in Ring In Custom w Browse When you are finished customizing game sounds click the button at the bottom of the Custom Sound Setup screen Ring In System Check Procedure By default every round begins with a check procedure to make sure that everyone s slammer is working properly Perform Ready Check ve lf you don t want this procedure to take place before every round select No using the dropdown menu Perform Ready Check Yes v Mo Timer Setup Timer Setup options allo
11. ng Mode the question s Ring In Timer does not count down Early Ring In on Toss Up Questions On Toss Up Questions players can ring in while the moderator is reading the question lf they do their early ring in is designated as shown below R Right Answer The Early checkbox is checked for you automatically If you judge the team s answer to be correct by clicking Right you have the opportunity to award extra points for their having given an early right answer Award Team 27 100 Point s Done If you judge their answer to be incorrect by clicking Wrong you may penalize them AEA Team 27 100 Point s Done Note In some formats most notably NAQT competitions the early ring in feature can be used to indicate that a player rang in before the Power Mark and if they provide a correct answer they earn bonus points In another format Florida s Brain Brawl this feature can be used to penalize a team by awarding points to their opponent if they rang in early and answered incorrectly You can uncheck the Early checkbox prior to judging a question Right Wrong to remove the impact of the early ring in feature Standard Ring In on Toss Up Questions After Reading Complete Once the moderator finishes reading a question assuming that no one has rung in early the Done Reading button should be clicked This starts the question s Ring In Timer and displays the standard right wrong operator me
12. nu MELL Right Answer Click on Right if their answer is correct and on Wrong if it is incorrect Whatever point value you have assigned in Setup will be added to the ring in winner s score if they are correct In this case Slam In assumes that a Bonus Question will follow and automatically selects the Toss Up Question winner as the first or only team to play a bonus lf your format calls for a Wrong Answer Penalty then whatever penalty you specified in Setup will be assessed if they are incorrect If there is no Wrong Answer Penalty in your competition format then no points are deducted and the game proceeds to another Toss Up Question Note If your format allows a subsequent ring in and answer attempt by other teams after the first team to ring in answers incorrectly then Slam In accommodates this by allowing you to set the Wrong Answer Retry option in Setup to Yes Playing Bonus Questions In most formats a Bonus Question follows a correctly answered Toss Up Question and whenever this happens in a game Slam In automatically gets you ready to play a Bonus Question Play Question Bonus v As with Toss Up Questions the Ring In Timer amp Answer Timer contain the values you established for them in Setup However Slam In knows that Bonus Questions often take longer to play so it allows you to edit these values prior to initiating a bonus and it remembers them for all Bonus Questions that are subsequently played
13. o Slam In Ring In Time Press the Play Question button to begin Team 2 Play Question Toss U prl Set Ring In Time 0 Set Answer Time 5 The numeric fields shown Round Timer Set Ring In Timer amp Set Answer Timer as well as team scores and the answer timer values shown within teams scoreboxes display the values you established for them in Setup Note All numeric fields shown on the Play screen are editable prior to beginning a question So if this game is the 2 Half of a match you would enter the results from the 1 Half before clicking Play Question x Round Time Ring In Time 332 fi Play Question Toss Up 100 Set Ring In Time 1D Set Answer Time 5 Toss Up questions inherit the values you established in Setup Any changes you make to a Toss Up question s point value or Ring In Timer or Answer Timer are assumed to be for the upcoming question only In this way you can stretch out the ring in time for a computational question for example Or you could make the final question in a round worth a larger number of points than the previous questions The lone exception to this general rule of going back to Setup s defaults has to do with Bonus Questions described below Toss Up Question Reading Mode When you click the Play Toss Up Question button Slam In enters Reading Mode which is indicated by the Done Reading button below teams scores Done Reading Question While Slam In is in Readi
14. on Point Value 100 Wrong Answer Penalty Question value ua o Points Wrong Answer Retry vec pE Sound Mode Default Perform Ready Check wee Enter the Question Point Value for Toss Up Questions by typing the value directly into the field provided Question Point Value 100 The default setting for Wrong Answer Penalty is an implied Yes since it is set to the Question Value If ateam gets an answer wrong the question s point value will be subtracted from their score Other settings for this option are Wrong Answer Penalty Question Value Question Value Point Custom alde Hone If you don t want any Wrong Answer Penalty choose None If you need to set a specific value for the Wrong Answer Penalty choose Custom Value then edit the numeric field that displays below this option when Custom Value is selected Points Sound Mode By default every event in a round starting a round displaying a question ringing in etc has a sound associated with it and these sounds are set to play during a game Sound Mode Default cell You can eliminate all game sounds by choosing None from the dropdown menu Alternatively you can customize all your game s sounds and or selectively turn them on or off by selecting the Custom option Sound Mode tan aye When you select Custom a small play sound icon appears to the right of this option Click this icon to view all game sou
15. r righthand corner of the Play Mode screen If you need to go back to Setup to modify a game setting such as a default Toss Up Question point value or a Wrong Answer Penalty you don t have to start the game over from scratch Just confirm that you want to suspend the game by clicking Yes in the dialog box Slam In There is currently a round in progress P d Do you want to suspend the round and return to setup Yes No Cancel When a game is suspended all game timers are frozen That can be both a benefit as well as a disadvantage of a game suspension as compared to a timeout The disadvantage is obvious there is no on screen indication of time passing However you may edit most game settings while a game is suspended Note Many competition formats involve multiple rounds of play between which players are often substituted Instead of running two independent Slam In games for the first and second halves and then having to enter all player names from scratch at the outset of the second half as well as manually enter the results from the first half you could instead Play the first half Suspend the game Edit player names Resume the game Adjust Reset the Round Timer on screen Click Play Question re a This of course assumes that the point value penalty and timer settings are the same in both halves The point is that Slam In offers you several different ways to achieve your objective Playing
16. s Team Setup Slam In accommodates up to 10 teams in any game and each team can have up to 5 players a total of 50 slammers in a game Number of Teams Select the number of teams that will play in your game using the dropdown menu Number of Teams Slam In will activate a Team tab for each of the teams in your game All the other tabs will be greyed out and inactive Team Names Enter team names in the Name text field on each team s tab Name Slammers Per Team Select the number of slammers 1 5 you would like to distribute to each team using the Number of Slammers dropdown menu for each team Number of Slammers 1 Note Slam In does not require you to have the same number of slammers on each team Distributing Slammers to Teams Contestants Slam In accommodates the use of up to 50 slammers in any match It numbers them automatically from 1 5 on screen in the Player Names area of Team Setup Team Setup Number of Teams gt Team 1 Team 2 Lean Name Team 1 Number of Slammers g i Player Mames Slammer 1 f Slammer 2 In the example above we ve indicated that Team 1 will play with 2 slammers so Slammer 1 and Slammer 2 are indicated by default in the Player names area They are also color coordinated to help you know which team should receive them These labels match the labels printed on the front of each slammer Not shown is that Team 2 in this example will receive a set of
17. slammer assignments beginning with 3 Once you change a player s name this numeric sequence will disappear so it might be a good idea at least at the beginning of your use of Slam In to distribute the slammers one by one to each of the teams before naming each player Player Names You can customize Player Names by highlighting the Slammer 1 Slammer 2 etc text in the player name text fields Player Mames i Jammer 1 Slammer 2 The text that you enter in the player name fields is the text that will appear on screen to identify who rang in first In the example below Player Names Gene Rob The text Gene will appear inside Team 1 s scorebox when he wins a ring in sequence Saving Retrieving Game Configurations If you plan to use a specific set of option settings again use the File menu to Save your game configuration Help New Ctrl n te Challenge Second Half Save s Fiz Exit Timer Setup Slam In configurations are saved as sic files While you can save your games anywhere it s a good idea to organize them In this example we ve created a My Documents directory called Slam In Configurations and saved the game there Save in ic Slam In Configurations My Recent Documents mm Desktop My Documents Filename Newberry Challenge Second Half My Network J Places Files of type Slam In Configuration L
18. ved them there Using the Keyboard to Host a Game You may operate the Slam In Scoreboard software in Play Mode using either a host remote control your mouse or the keyboard From a single host moderator standpoint a host remote control is best since it frees you to move around the room while leading the game Lock Out Swap Proceed Next Question spaco oSAaxapls ASN f Pa i a a REE A S n aai The second easiest way to operate the Slam In Scoreboard software in our opinion is to use its built in keyboard shortcuts e Play Question spacebar e Right answer b key e Wrong answer backspace e End Game w key
19. w you to set time limits for playing a round game for the time players have to decide whether or not to ring in and for the amount of time they have to answer once they ring in Timer Setup Timed Round No Minutes Timed Ring In No Ea Seconds Timed Answer pe Seconds Round Time If your competition format has a time limit for rounds select Yes from the Timed Round dropdown menu Timed Round Then edit the numeric field that displays below this option when Yes is selected i Minutes Ring In Deliberation Time To limit the amount of time in seconds that players have to ring in on Toss Up Questions select Yes from the Timed Ring In dropdown menu Timed Ring In yo Seconds Then edit the numeric field that displays below this option when Yes is selected 10 Seconds Note This will also be the default deliberation time on Bonus Questions In Play Mode you can edit this value on screen to adjust it for all subsequent Bonus Questions Answer Time To limit the amount of time in seconds that players have to answer Toss Up Questions once they have rung in select Yes from the Timed Answer dropdown menu Timed Answer Seconds Then edit the numeric field that displays below this option when Yes is selected 10 Seconds Note This will also be the default answer time on Bonus Questions In Play Mode you can edit this value on screen to adjust it for all subsequent Bonus Question
20. ware System Troubleshooting A slammer system consists of a receiver a cable connecting the receiver to your computer s USB port and a number of slammers USE SiteKeya Receiver F A 1 If you have connected the receiver to your computer s USB port using the USB cable then you should see a red LED light on the face of the receiver If you do not see a red LED light on the face of the receiver check to make sure that each end of the cable is properly inserted into the receiver and your computer The receiver draws its power from your computer so make sure that your computer is turned ON 2 If you have installed the batteries into a team s slammer properly then you will see a red LED light on the top of the slammer when you press the top down If you do not see a red LED light on the top of a slammer when you press its top down remove the cover of the battery compartment on the back of the slammer and re seat the battery 3 Use the Ready Check process described below to check that each slammer is communicating properly with Slam In For further information about your slammer system hardware refer to the SideSlammer User s Manual included with your system Slam In Scoreboard Software The software that your slammer hardware system talks to is a general purpose program that manages the ring in process operates timers and keeps score for you System Requirements e 128 megabytes of RAM e 70 megabytes of hard disk space
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