@BarnOwlLive · Live wildlife cams from the Peak District
Barn Owl Live chat games: how to play
Barn Owl Live streams wildlife cameras from the Peak District on YouTube, 24 hours a day: barn owls in their nest box, badgers and foxes in the woods, and lots more besides. Our live chat is a friendly place to watch together, and Buster, our resident barn owl, hosts fun chat games and quizzes that anyone watching can join. All you need is a YouTube account to chat.
Coming soon to our live cams. Buster is still practising his hosting, so the games are only switched on in our test stream for now. Keep an eye on chat for the big launch!
🏆 League table
Points from every chat game: Quizzy, Wordy, Word Jumble, Count the Critters, Name It! and Emoji Riddles.
Quizzy
!quizzyA 10-question multiple-choice quiz. Answer quickly to grab the bonus points.
How to play
- Type !quizzy in chat to start a quiz.
- If you started it, choose a category within 15 seconds by typing a letter: A Wildlife, B Barn Owls, C Trivia (true or false), D General Knowledge or E Random. If you don't choose, it's Wildlife.
- Buster counts down 20 seconds so everyone can join in.
- For each question, type a, b, c or d (just a or b for true or false). You have 25 seconds.
- Buster reveals the answer after each question, the leader at halfway, and the winner at the end.
Points
- Right answer10 points
- Fastest right answer+5 bonus
What it looks like in chat
Wordy
!wordyGuess the hidden wildlife word from a clue. The sooner you guess, the more points you get.
How to play
- Type !wordy in chat to start a game.
- Buster shows a clue and the word as blanks, like _ _ _ _ _ _.
- Every 15 seconds he reveals another letter.
- Type the word in chat. The first person to get it right wins that word. Capitals and spaces don't matter.
- There are 5 words per game, then Buster announces the winner.
Points
- Guessed before any letters show50 points
- Each new letter takes off10 points
- Lowest score for a right guess10 points
What it looks like in chat
Word Jumble
!jumbleMake as many words as you can from a jumble of letters. Longer words score more, and there's a big bonus for the word that uses every letter.
How to play
- Type !jumble in chat to start a game.
- Buster posts a jumble of letters, like R T E S L E K.
- Type words made from those letters, one word per message, 3 letters or longer. Each letter can only be used as many times as it appears.
- Every word can only be claimed once, by the first person to type it.
- Every 30 seconds Buster posts the letters again, the scores and the latest words found. If nobody has found the big word by halfway, he gives a hint.
- There are 3 rounds of 90 seconds, then Buster announces the winner.
Points
- Every word1 point per letter
- The big word that uses every letter+25 bonus
What it looks like in chat
Count the Critters
!crittersBuster shows a row of animals. Count the ones he asks for and type the number. That's it!
How to play
- Type !critters in chat to start a game.
- Buster posts a row of animals and asks how many there are of one kind, like “How many OWLS?”
- Count them and type the number. Only your first answer counts, so count carefully!
- After 20 seconds, Buster reveals the answer and who got it right.
- There are 8 rounds, with longer rows and more kinds of animal as you go, then Buster announces the winner.
Points
- Right answer10 points
- Fastest right answer+5 bonus
What it looks like in chat
Name It!
!nameitBuster gives a category and a letter. Name as many as you can: every different right answer scores!
How to play
- Type !nameit in chat to start a game.
- Buster gives a category and a letter, like “Name a UK bird beginning with S!”
- Type your answers, one per message. Each answer can only be claimed once, by the first person to say it.
- Every 15 seconds, Buster shows what’s been found so far, so you can think of something different.
- After 40 seconds, he gives the scores and a few answers nobody thought of.
- There are 5 rounds, each with a new category, then Buster announces the winner.
Categories include UK birds, animals, trees, flowers, creepy-crawlies, sea creatures, fruit and veg, and countries. Plurals and spaces don’t matter, so “blue tits” counts for BLUE TIT.
Points
- Every different right answer10 points
- Most answers you can score per round3
What it looks like in chat
Emoji Riddles
!riddlesBuster posts a few emojis. Work out what they mean! There are over 650 riddles, from wildlife and the Peak District to films, food and famous sayings.
How to play
- Type !riddles in chat to start a game.
- Buster posts the emojis, the category and how many letters are in each word, like (4, 3).
- Type your answer. The first person to get it right wins the riddle.
- Stuck? After 45 seconds Buster gives a clue: the first letter of each word. Then you have another 45 seconds.
- There are 6 riddles per game, then Buster announces the winner.
Capitals, spaces and “the” don't matter, and a small typo in a long answer is fine.
Points
- Right answer before the clue20 points
- Right answer after the clue10 points
What it looks like in chat
Good to know
- Type your answer on its own. Buster only counts a message that's just the answer, so type “b”, “badger”, “trek”, “5”, “sparrow” or “barn owl”, not “I think it's b”.
- Your first answer counts in Quizzy and Count the Critters, so there's no changing your mind.
- One game at a time. If a game is already running, jump in and play.
- Buster needs a quick rest after each game: 15 seconds after Wordy, Word Jumble, Count the Critters, Name It! or Emoji Riddles, and 5 minutes after Quizzy.
- Be kind and don't spam. Our moderators can stop a game at any time.
- Want more? Try our full wildlife quiz, with thousands of questions, at barnowl.live/quiz.
Questions about the chat games
What is Barn Owl Live?
Barn Owl Live is a wildlife live streaming channel from the Peak District in England. Our cameras watch barn owls, badgers, foxes and other wildlife 24/7 on YouTube at @BarnOwlLive, with a friendly chat full of regulars from around the world.
How do I join a chat game?
Open one of our live streams on YouTube and type a game command in the chat, such as !quizzy, !wordy or !riddles. If a game is already running, just jump in and start answering. Everyone watching can play.
Do the games cost anything?
No, all the chat games are completely free. You just need a YouTube account so you can type in the live chat.
Can I play on my phone?
Yes. The games work anywhere you can use YouTube's live chat, including the YouTube app on phones and tablets.
Why didn't my answer count?
Make sure your answer is the only thing in your message, so type “b” rather than “I think it's b”. In Quizzy and Count the Critters only your first answer counts, and in Wordy and Emoji Riddles the first right answer wins. Games also run on one stream at a time, so check you're on the stream Buster is playing on.
Where can I see the scores?
The league table at the top of this page shows this month's top players and the all-time champions, across every chat game. It starts afresh on the 1st of each month.