Every team needs a buzzer system of some kind! There are several options for physical buzzers, websites you can use on your mobile phones, and the remote platforms Zoom and Discord. In this guide, we present the advantages and disadvantages of each method and the options that are available to you so that you can make the best choice for your team.
Physical Buzzer Systems
The traditional way to practice is, of course, to use a physical wired buzzer set consisting of eight to ten buzzers. Practice sessions using physical buzzers have the advantage of minimizing distractions and being most similar to the way in-person tournament games are played.
However, these buzzer sets often cost hundreds, sometimes thousands, of dollars. If your practices have more than ten players, you may have to buy multiple sets or spend a large sum for a large-capacity set. The fact that the sets are wired makes them highly accurate in determining who buzzed in first, but they require time to assemble and disassemble. Here are all the buzzer sets that are available at present, whether we recommend them, and if, historically, they could claim buzzer discounts at LIQBA tournaments.
Top Buzzers, As Recommended by the LIQBA
What buzzer you “should” buy depends on your exact needs, but here are our picks based on your situation.
NEW TEAMS
For a brand-new team, what’s best is what’s cheapest and actually works!
These options are in the sub-$300 range:
There are lots of other low-cost buzzers out there. Don’t buy any of them. In particular, never buy any buzzer off of Amazon, or any new buzzer off of eBay, no matter the cheapness. They’ll break instantly and are not worth it. If you see a buzzer that isn’t recommended, shoot us an email and we’ll take a look first, so you don’t waste your money.
These buzzers aren’t well-suited for tournament use for various reasons, but they’re perfect for new-team practices.
ENTRY LEVEL
For a team that’s not brand-new but just getting started, here’s what’s best. These buzzers tend to last a very long time and are solid pieces of equipment.
These options are in the $300-$400 price range:
These buzzers are low-cost, professionally built systems. They are very commonly used in Quizbowl, and are the most popular buzzers today.
MID LEVEL
When it comes to mid-level buzzers, you generally want ones with many more features, especially ones that suit your team specifically; or greater convenience in some way; or use for semi-specialized applications, like stage games.
These options are in the $500-800 range:
- High-Visibility Buzzer System
- Line-Up Chain Link Quiz System
- Slam-In (requires additional for software)
- Lower-end models by ZeeCraft
These buzzers usually have more features: larger lights, easier setup, built-in timers, or computer control.
WHEN IT’S NOT YOUR MONEY THAT’S BEING SPENT
When the school district says “Go get the best buzzer”, there’s a few models that are perfect for this purpose.
These options range in price from $750 to over $2,000:
These are full-featured systems with a huge amount of options and little things to make life easier. For the NED LIQBA Special (which Joe designed), you have to contact them directly and ask for it as a custom order; it combines the features of the Line-Up and High-Visibility systems for use in large auditoriums and ease of setup, along with a few other neat additions.
Manufacturer Websites
List of Major Manufacturers
List of Minor Manufacturers
- Aisling Skeet
- Sho-Me
- Electramatic
- Edapi
- QuizSystems
- Trebisky [DO NOT BUY!]
- Others [DO NOT BUY!]
List of Obsolete Manufacturers
- Creative Electronic Designs
- Educational Technologies
- Logitek Buzzer Company
- JEM
- Pitsco
- QuizCo
- SVBZ
- University Research Company
- Boling
- Rolls
- UniAsia
Common Buzzer Models
Here’s the buzzer models that are widely used in Quizbowl today. “Recommended?” refers solely to tournament, not practice, use, with ratings of “Highly”, “Yes”, “Neutral”, “No”, and “Do Not Buy”. “Cost” is for the minimum viable variant of that model, usually an 8 or 10 player system with the lowest-cost handhelds, and ignoring accessories such as cases.
Prices were last updated in July 2026, and are scheduled for an update in July 2027.
| System | Recommended? | Could claim buzzer discounts? | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Officiator™ Table-top | Yes | Yes | $320 |
| Officiator™ Hand-held | No | Yes | $352 |
| Kitsune | No | No | £175 |
| Zeecraft Challenger I | No | No | $755 |
| Zeecraft Challenger II | Neutral | No | $925 |
| Zeecraft Challenger III | Highly | No | $990 |
| Zeecraft Discover | No | No | $580 |
| Zeecraft Wireless | No | No | $1135 |
| QuikPro Basic | No | Yes | $332 |
| QuikPro Deluxe | No | Yes | $538 |
| QuikPro Combo | No | No | $395 |
| NED 10-Player | Highly | Yes | $395 |
| NED Traditional: Basic | Highly | Yes | $439 |
| NED Traditional: Handheld | Yes | Yes | $529 |
| NED High-Visibility | Neutral | Yes | $589 |
| NED Line-Up | Highly | Yes | $695 |
| The Judge | Neutral | Yes | Unknown |
| Basic Quizbox | No | No | $250 |
| Slam-In | Neutral | No | $799 + $399 |
| Sho-Me Smart Light | No | No | $450 |
| QS2000A | Neutral | No | $260 |
| Any buzzer by Trebisky | DO NOT BUY! | No | Variable Low |
| Any buzzer on Amazon | DO NOT BUY! | No | Variable Low |
| Any used buzzer | No unless refurb | Yes, if of good model | Variable Low |
| Any discontinued system (unless buying as a collector) | DO NOT BUY! | No | Variable |
Web-based Buzzers, Zoom, and Discord
An alternative to physical systems is to use a website on your mobile phone. Two options that will work on both Android and iOS devices are JustBuzz.in and BuzzIn.live. In both of these sites, the reader/moderator hits “Create” (on BuzzIn.live) or “Create room” (on JustBuzz.in) to receive an access code. The players can join the room using the access code and then use their phones as buzzers. The reader will be able to see who buzzed first. Note that the free tier of BuzzIn.live only allows for eight players to join a game at one time. JustBuzz.in has no restriction on the number of players.
This is a free alternative to physical buzzers for in-person practices where every team member has a mobile phone with an Internet connection. For remote practices, though, it requires the additional setup of a platform in which the players can hear the moderator read the questions over an online voice chat. Many have taken this a step further and use Zoom or Discord to integrate the reading and buzzing functions into one platform. Players can hear the questions over the Zoom call or over a Discord voice channel and they can buzz in the chat channel.
This has the downside of introducing network latency, the speed of each player’s Internet connection, as a factor in determining whose buzz appears first when multiple players know the answer at the same time. For many teams, though, the benefits of having one platform that can be used to run a fully integrated practice session outweigh the disadvantages.