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The whole class climbs one ladder together. One student answers each question. Miss it and the room takes over. Reach the top for the prize.
Order matters here. Questions are played top to bottom in the order they appear in your file, because the ladder is supposed to get harder as it climbs. Put your easiest question first and your hardest last. This is the one game that does not shuffle.
In Google Sheets use File, then Share, then Publish to the web, and choose CSV. Keep your rows in easiest to hardest order.
Copy your rows out of a spreadsheet, click the first cell below, and press Ctrl+V. Leave the three wrong answers blank on any row you want as a plain question with no choices.
| Question? | Answer? | Wrong 1? | Wrong 2? | Wrong 3? | Topic? | Image? |
|---|
When a student misses, an Ask the class charge is spent and the room takes the question on whiteboards. If the class gets it, you climb anyway. Once the lifelines are gone, a miss that the class also gets wrong costs you a rung.
One file holds everything you have set up on this screen: your questions and their order, the class list, which lifelines and how many, the rung values, the timer, the sound settings, and the text sizes. Build it at home, bring the one file in, and there is nothing to set up again.
There is also a Save all button in the top bar once you are playing, for saving part way through a lesson. Reopening that file puts you back on the same rung.
Any AI tool can write these for you. Three steps.
You are writing a question set for a classroom "ladder" review game.
The whole class climbs one ladder together. One student answers each question.
The rungs are worth more as they go up, ending at 1,000,000 points.
THE MOST IMPORTANT RULE
The questions are played in the order you write them, from top to bottom. They
must go from EASIEST TO HARDEST. The first question should be one almost every
student can do. The last should be a genuine challenge. This game does not
shuffle, so the order you give me is the difficulty curve.
OUTPUT
Give me exactly one CSV code block and nothing else. No commentary above or
below it. The first line must be this header, unchanged:
question,answer,wrong1,wrong2,wrong3,topic,image
COLUMNS
question What students see.
answer The correct answer. The game shuffles where it appears on screen,
so it will not always show first.
wrong1-3 Wrong choices. Fill them in for a multiple choice question. Leave
ALL THREE BLANK for a plain question with no choices, which the
teacher judges themselves. You can mix both kinds in one file.
topic Optional short label. Blank is fine.
image A web address of a picture, or blank. Usually blank.
WRITING GOOD WRONG ANSWERS
This is the part that matters. Each wrong choice should be the result of a
specific, common mistake, not a random number. For $8 + 3 \times 4$ the wrong
choices should include 44, which is what you get multiplying before adding.
For a fraction sum, include the answer you get adding denominators. A student
who picks a distractor should be able to see exactly which step they got wrong.
Never make the correct answer the longest or most detailed choice.
HOW MANY
Fifteen makes a full ladder. Fewer is fine. Ask me if unsure.
CSV RULES THAT MATTER
Wrap any field containing a comma in double quotes.
Write a double quote inside a quoted field as two double quotes.
Do not add extra columns or reorder them.
MATH
Math is rendered by KaTeX. Write LaTeX between dollar signs, with SINGLE
backslashes. CSV needs no escaping of backslashes.
Inline: Simplify: $8 + 3 \times 4$ answer: $20$
Centered: Add: $$\frac{1}{3} + \frac{1}{4}$$ answer: $$\frac{7}{12}$$
Escape a literal dollar sign as \$ and a percent sign as \%, for example
$\$42$ and $35\%$.
Stick to \frac \times \div \le \ge \ne \pm \pi \approx \sqrt{} \text{} and
superscripts and subscripts. No align environments, no \newcommand.
EXAMPLE OF THE EXPECTED SHAPE
question,answer,wrong1,wrong2,wrong3,topic,image
Simplify: $8 + 3 \times 4$,$20$,$44$,$15$,$24$,Order of operations,
What is $25\%$ of $84$?,$21$,$16.8$,$33.6$,$2100$,Percent,
This one has no choices. Simplify: $(6+2)^2 \div 4$,$16$,,,,Order of operations,
"A shirt costs $\$24$ after a $20\%$ discount. Find the original price.",$\$30$,$\$28.80$,$\$19.20$,$\$44$,Percent,
Wait for my next message before writing anything.
Check the difficulty order before class. The builder tab has arrows to move questions up and down, and it shows a live preview of the math.
| Order matters | Questions play in the order they sit in your file, easiest first, hardest last. This is the only game here that does not shuffle, because the ladder is meant to get harder as it climbs. |
| CSV columns | question, answer, wrong1, wrong2, wrong3, topic, image. Only question and answer are required. |
| Multiple choice | Fill in the wrong answers and the question shows as multiple choice. One wrong gives two choices, two gives three, three gives four. The game shuffles which position the correct answer sits in, so students cannot learn that it is always first. |
| Plain questions | Leave all three wrong columns blank and it shows as an ordinary question. You reveal the answer and judge it yourself. You can mix both kinds freely in one file. |
| How many | Fifteen makes a full ladder. Fewer is fine and the ladder shortens to match, still ending at 1,000,000. |
| Good distractors | The best wrong answers are the results of specific mistakes, like forgetting to distribute a negative or adding denominators. Random numbers teach nothing. |
$ ... $ | Inline math. Simplify $3 + 4 \times 5$ |
$$ ... $$ | Math on its own centered line, good for fractions. |
| Backslashes | Strict JSON needs every backslash doubled. Leave the box in the Paste text tab checked and you can type them singly. |
| Class list | Turn it on in Setup, then upload a CSV from your gradebook or type the names in. It reads a single column of names, a Name column, or separate First and Last columns, and skips duplicates. |
| A question | If the class list is on, tap the student who is answering. Then press Next question. |
| Multiple choice | Tap the choice the student gave. The board marks it right or wrong for you. |
| Plain question | Press Show answer, then Correct or Missed it. |
| A miss | Spends an Ask the class charge and hands the question to the room on whiteboards. Get it and you climb anyway. The board never shows who missed. |
| Out of lifelines | A miss still goes to the class. If the class gets it you hold your rung. If the class misses too you drop one. |
| Second chance | Spend it and the same student tries again alone, before the question goes to the room. |
| Ask the class as a lifeline | Spend it before the student commits and the question opens to the room straight away. Useful when they are plainly stuck rather than wrong. |
| The answer stays hidden | When someone misses, the board marks their choice wrong but does not show which one was right. The class gets a real attempt. The correct answer only appears once the question is settled. |
| Save all | Downloads one file holding your questions, class list, lifeline settings, rung values, sound settings, and where you are in the run. Nothing else is needed. |
| Building at home | Set everything up, press Save all, and bring the one file in. Drop it on the same spot you would drop a question file and it restores the lot. |
| Reusing between classes | Open the file, then press New run to reset the ladder and free everyone on the class list, keeping your questions and settings. |
| Mid-run saves | The file is named ladder-in-progress if you were part way through, or ladder-setup if you had not started. Worth saving at a natural break, since a refresh clears everything. |
| + - | Resize whatever is on screen. On the board that grows the point values, on a question it grows the question. There are sliders for both as well. |
| Space | Reveal the answer on a plain question |
| 1 to 4 | Pick that choice on a multiple choice question |
| T | Start or stop the timer, which also starts and stops the music |
| M | Start or stop the music by hand |
| F | Full screen on or off |
| Esc | Cancel the question with nothing spent |