The Vocabulary Jam is an interactive competition, where teams compete in real-time! You can start a Jam in your classroom, among friends, or with a whole auditorium. Here’s how it works:
How to create your own Jam
Start with any Vocabulary List. Search our list library, or create your own list.
*If using the Free version.* Click the LEARN tab. Under the flashcards switch from the TEACH tab to the LEARN tab.
Click Start a Jam! Look for the Start a Jam button in the Activities section on the List page. You can also find it in the Assign tab of any list.
Customize your Jam. Select from different options to tailor it just the way you want!
- First, choose how many questions you want. You can choose from 10, 20, 30, or 40 questions to start, but subscribers have additional length options while choosing their questions.
- Next, choose your level of difficulty. The scale ranges from very easy to very hard, with easier options providing more straightforward questions.
- If you are a teacher, you can check the classes you want to invite. This will allow students who are logged in to receive a notification with a link to instantly join your Jam.
- Game Speed options can change the overall experience of your Jam. Choosing slow, medium or fast will mean players have a set amount of time to answer each question. The timer starts at 100 points and tickets down as more time passes. The faster they answer the more points they can earn for a correct answer, but they'll lose half of those potential points if they answer incorrectly, so guessing is heavily penalized.
- Alternatively, the host can also select no time limit, to give players as much time as they need to answer each question. When playing a Jam with no time limit, the host will manually click a button to reveal answers and to move on to the next question. Questions in this mode are always worth 50 points and there are no additional bonuses for answering more quickly. Choose the Jam speed that's right for your players!
- You can assign teams randomly, or let students choose. Either way, you will be able to move players to a different team or remove them from the game entirely if necessary by clicking on their name and choosing the corresponding option.
Choose Your Questions. If you have a subscription, you will be able to select which questions your students will see, as well as change the order using the up and down arrows to the right of each one.
Invite some players. There are two ways to invite players. If you selected a class, students who are signed in will get an invitation to join. The other way is to provide players with the six-digit Jam Code. Tell players to go to https://vocab.com/jam and enter your Jam Code. If you’re the host, you can also join the game if you want – simply click the Join as Player button at the top of the Jam.
Start the Jam! When you are ready to kick things off, click “Start the Jam.” Players will get a 5 second warning and the first question will appear for everyone. Not sure of the answer? No problem – players don’t need to answer every question.
Rematch! At the end of the Jam, click the rematch button to automatically create a new Jam with the same vocabulary list, players and teams. You’ll just get different questions.
