Watching is free and anonymous
Open the app, or the web player, and you are in the audience. There is no sign-up wall. Home shows what is live now, what is up next and the full catalogue. On the watch screen you see the same stage the cast sees: podiums, the puzzle board, the host, the live video tiles. Tap a tile to send hearts; they are counted live and land on that performer's profile.
Everything beyond watching, queueing, performing, chatting and voting, needs an account. Accounts are email and password; sign-up asks you to accept the terms, which include a plain-language broadcast release, because if you are cast your face and voice become part of a show.
The queue
Every scheduled show has a queue. Join it and you see your position and which roles you are eligible for. Eligibility comes from your tier: a brand-new member can be any contestant, panellist or cast member; co-host and lead roles need Featured; the main host needs Talent. You must verify your email before you can be cast.
Joining the queue is the moment you agree to appear on camera. If you only want to watch, don't join; watching never puts you on stage.
Casting is random, fair and auditable
At showtime the server casts the queue. It fills the strictest roles first (the host), then the rest, picking at random from everyone eligible. The random pick is seeded, so a producer can replay and audit exactly why each person got each role. Whoever is not picked becomes standby in queue order, and the first eligible standby steps in if a cast member drops.
Casting also looks at your band, which is current form rather than rank. A show has a band target, and players are drawn from people near that target. The window widens the longer you have waited, so nobody waits forever and nobody is thrown into a Marquee show on their first night.
The green room
Cast members get a push and a role card: "You are Contestant 2 at Podium 2." The green room checks your camera and microphone, previews your script and shows who else is in the cast. When everyone is ready, or the producer says go, the show goes live.
Performing
On stage you see the whole set with your own tile in its slot, plus a teleprompter strip that is yours alone. It highlights your next line word by word, karaoke-style, and shows the current stage direction ("Smile and wave when your name is called"). Game roles get their controls when it is their turn: spin, buzz, choose, accuse. Improvised beats are timed so nobody can hijack a scene.
The host has the same view plus Next. The host runs the floor: when they say next, it's next. Hosts can mute a microphone; producers can remove someone and void votes. Those rules, together with the community guidelines, are what let a stranger be cast next to you and both of you have a good time.
After the show
The show ends with an audience vote for the standout, then a wrap window of 24 hours in which anyone who watched or performed can upvote (and, with a few restrictions, downvote) each cast member. Votes are weighted by who gives them: a fellow cast member's vote counts more than an audience member's, the host's counts most. Hearts, votes and approval all show on your profile, your tier may step up, and your band moves with how you did relative to the rest of the cast. The details are on the ranking page.
Broadcast
A producer can push the show to Twitch, YouTube, Kick and Facebook Gaming, all at once. What goes out is the same stage you see in the app, rendered once on the server and streamed as video, so the broadcast and the app always agree. A recording badge appears when a producer records. You can ask for a show to be withdrawn from future rebroadcast at any time; the terms explain how.
AI understudies and fill policies
Sometimes the queue can't fill every seat, or nobody of the right tier shows up, or someone's connection dies mid-scene. An AI understudy can take the role: it occupies the stage slot, speaks its lines, plays the mechanics and appears in the credits, always with an AI badge on its tile. Some roles, like the announcer or a narrator, are simply always AI.
Whether a show uses understudies is up to its producer, per show:
| Policy | At showtime with empty seats |
|---|---|
| Wait (default) | Hold the curtain for a grace period, show a countdown and "N seats still need people", cast anyone who joins meanwhile. When the grace runs out, AI fills what is left, as long as the format's minimum number of humans is met. |
| Air | AI fills immediately and the show starts on time. Used for rehearsals and demos. |
| Strict | Never AI. Keep waiting, optionally cancel. Used for Marquee shows and plays. |
Understudies only ever produce text for their own role, see only the format, the current state and a short transcript, and are limited to short outputs. They never impersonate real people. Producers can mute or recast one at any time, and if the human comes back the producer can hand the role back.
One app, four platforms
ShowX is one application for iPhone, Android, Mac and Windows, with a browser player for watching. The same build renders the stage for the broadcast, which is why what you see on your phone is pixel-for-pixel what goes out on Twitch. Download it here.