Buzz

For several years now one of the most versatile game I’ve used in the language centers at Pomona College and Rhodes College is a PS3 game called Buzz. Here’s how it works: up to 8 players each take a wireless controller, which sports 4 brightly colored buttons and a large “Buzz” button. Players choose their own avatars and buzzing sounds and then compete in a quiz game show, somewhere along the lines of “Who wants to be a Millionaire” and “Jeopardy”. It’s so simple, you give someone a buzzer and he/she knows what to do.

It’s available in a number of languages, depending on where you buy it. The version purchased in Germany, for example, also features French and English. They work on a PS3 purchased in the U.S. There are also localized versions available, for example Buzz – Deutschlands Superquiz. And some theme-oriented ones, for example a Buzz music quiz.
The best feature is that you can create your own sets of questions. Better yet, have your students write their own quizzes. For example, last fall semester my German 301 students submitted their own questions (along with one correct and three wrong answers), which I corrected before submitting them to the online form. The questions covered what we had done during the semester: cultural aspects, grammar points, vocab, etc. I also added some questions myself. So our final class was spent playing a quiz based on the whole semester. The students who had learned the most won the game…

We also use the Buzz games during game evenings that the language learning center organizes, in addition to more traditional board games. Buzz is a versatile game, easy to set up,adaptable, social, and multi-language capable. More games like this one, please. Oh, and most students like it. “Noch eine Runde, bitte!”

Link to the game: http://www.buzzthegame.com