# Your phone as a classroom remote: run the game from anywhere in the room > Run classroom games from your phone: join with a PIN or QR code, see the answer first, mark answers, pick for teams, pause and walk the room. Source: https://olyclass.com/blog/phone-as-classroom-remote/ · Published 2026-10-30 Picture the usual setup: the laptop is plugged into the projector in the front corner of the room, and the teacher is next to it. Every question means a click. Every answer means a look at the laptop screen. Meanwhile, the back rows have worked out that the teacher can't see them, and the quiet team by the window hasn't said a word in ten minutes. The fix is simple: **leave the laptop where it is and take the game with you.** With Oly, your phone becomes the remote for the game on the big screen. Here is how it works, and why it changes how a lesson feels. ![The big screen shows a question while the teacher's phone shows the answer and the Correct / Not yet buttons](https://olyclass.com/blog/meet-oly/remote-question.webp "The class sees the question. Your phone sees the answer.") ## Joining takes ten seconds 1. Start a game on the computer that is connected to the big screen. The stage opens on a lobby with a QR code and a 6-digit PIN. 2. Scan the QR code with your phone's camera, or open olyclass.com/pin and type the PIN. 3. That's it. Your phone shows a Start button; tap it when the class is ready. There is no app to install and no sign-in on the phone. The phone and the computer don't need to be on the same Wi-Fi, so it works on a strict school network with the phone on mobile data. If the phone locks or the page reloads, it reconnects to the same game. Once you are in, you can tuck the QR code away with the × in its corner, so it doesn't sit on the screen all lesson. The ⚙︎ button on the big screen shows the PIN again whenever you need it. **Only you get in.** The first phone to join is let in. Any other phone that tries the same PIN has to wait until you let it in, from your phone or from the big screen. That is useful when a co-teacher or a teaching assistant wants to help run the game, and it means a student who copies the PIN can't take over. ## What you can do from the phone ### See the answer first The phone shows the question and its answer, before the class sees it. You can check a spoken answer, a mini whiteboard or a shouted guess without giving anything away, and without turning round to read the screen. ### Correct or Not yet Two big buttons mark the team's answer. The points, sounds and reactions happen on the big screen, where the class is looking. "Not yet" is a deliberate choice of words: it tells students they will get there. ### Pick for the team In games with a choice, the choices appear on your phone as big buttons after a right answer: the tile in [Tile Grab](https://olyclass.com/classroom-games/tile-grab/), the shot in [Hoop Shot](https://olyclass.com/classroom-games/hoop-shot/), the column in [Line of Four](https://olyclass.com/classroom-games/line-of-four/), the buoy in [Fishing Pond](https://olyclass.com/classroom-games/fishing-pond/). The team calls out its choice, and you tap it. Students don't need to come to the front, which saves time and avoids the crowd round the laptop. ### Steal If you switched on steal, the phone asks which team answered right after a miss, with a button for each team and one for Nobody. Tap the team that got it, and it takes the turn's reward. ### Lifelines In [Prize Climb](https://olyclass.com/classroom-games/prize-climb/), each team has three lifelines: 50:50, Swap and Ask the class. They appear on your phone while the question is open, so the team can ask you for one and you tap it. ### Show the answer, say the word, skip - **Show answer** puts the answer on the big screen when the whole class is stuck. - **Say the word** (or **Read aloud** for subject sets) has Oly read it again, for listening and pronunciation. - **Skip** moves past a question that isn't working, for example one you haven't taught yet. - **Next question** moves the game on when you are ready, not before. ### Pause and end **Pause** stops the game on the big screen: nothing moves until you tap Keep playing. **End** finishes the game (the phone asks you to confirm, so a pocket tap can't end it by accident). ![The big screen shows a board of numbered tiles while the phone shows the same tiles to pick for the team](https://olyclass.com/blog/meet-oly/remote-pick.webp "After a right answer, the team calls out a tile and you tap it on your phone.") ## Why it helps with classroom management ### You can stand anywhere This is the big one. When you are not tied to the laptop, you can stand next to the team that is getting loud, crouch beside the student who never speaks, or stay at the back so the whole class faces the screen. Your presence in the room does more for behaviour than any rule on the board. ### Answers stay secret The class never sees the answer on the screen before you decide. Nobody can read it off your laptop, and you can quietly check a team's whiteboard without the others hearing. ### Fewer dead minutes No walking back to the keyboard after every question, no waiting while you find the right button. A game of 15 questions has dozens of these moments; removing them keeps the pace up, and a good pace keeps the class focused. ### You control the rhythm Nothing happens on the big screen until you tap. You decide when the reaction is over and the next question appears. If the room needs a moment, you wait; if it needs a reset, you pause. More on this in [how to keep a class calm during classroom games](https://olyclass.com/blog/calm-class-during-games/). ### A student can be the host Once a class knows the game, hand your phone to a student for a round: they mark the answers and pick for the teams while you sit with the team that needs help. Students take the job very seriously. ## A routine for your first game with the remote 1. Before class, open a game from the [library](https://olyclass.com/library/), or [make one](https://olyclass.com/create) from today's textbook page. 2. Start it on the classroom computer and scan the QR code. Leave your phone on the Start screen. 3. Explain the rules while standing in the middle of the room, not at the front. 4. Tap Start. For each question: read the answer on your phone, listen to the team, tap Correct or Not yet. 5. After each right answer, let the team call its choice and tap it. 6. Walk a slow lap of the room during the game. Stop near the teams that need you. 7. When it's over, look at the summary on the big screen together: the podium, and the words the class missed. ## No phone? It still works The phone is optional. On a touch screen, tap the buttons on the big screen. From the keyboard: **C** for correct, **X** for not yet, **R** to show the answer, **Space** for the next question, **P** to pause. A presenter clicker works too. But once you have run a game from your phone, it is hard to go back. Games that work especially well from the remote are the ones with a choice after each answer, like [Tile Grab](https://olyclass.com/classroom-games/tile-grab/) and [Fishing Pond](https://olyclass.com/classroom-games/fishing-pond/), and the ones where you check boards around the room, like [Ring the Bell](https://olyclass.com/classroom-games/ring-the-bell/). For the other routines (teams, calm, review, rewards), see the guide to [classroom management games](https://olyclass.com/classroom-management-games/), or read about [classroom games without student devices](https://olyclass.com/no-device-classroom-games/).