How to Play Buzz

By Jaques of London · Est. 1795 · Updated 2026-08-17

Buzz is a spoken counting game for three to fifteen players. Seated in a circle, players count upward from one, but must say "Buzz" instead of any number that is a multiple of seven or contains the digit seven. It sounds straightforward for the first few turns and becomes genuinely difficult by the time the group reaches the forties and fifties.

Its appeal is its simplicity: no board, no cards, no equipment at all. It works equally well as a warm-up at a family gathering, a travel game, or a lively parlour game after dinner. The pressure of counting quickly while keeping track of the rules produces real tension and plenty of laughter.

A little history

Buzz is a traditional parlour and classroom game whose precise origins are unclear. Counting elimination games of this type were widely documented in British parlour game collections from the Victorian era onward, and Buzz in particular became a standard entry in twentieth-century books of parlour and party games. Its use as a mental arithmetic exercise in schools has also been noted across several decades, though no single inventor or date of origin is recorded.

Setting up

1. Gather three to fifteen players and seat them in a circle, either on chairs or on the floor.
2. Agree on a direction of play: clockwise or anticlockwise.
3. Agree on the target number (traditionally seven) before the round begins.
4. Decide whether you are playing for elimination or for points (see Winning).
5. Nominate a starting player. The youngest player traditionally goes first, though any method is fine.

How to play

1. The starting player says '1'. Play passes to the next player in the chosen direction, who says '2', and so on.
2. Any player whose turn falls on a multiple of seven (7, 14, 21, 28, 35...) must say 'Buzz' instead of the number.
3. Any player whose turn falls on a number containing the digit 7 (7, 17, 27, 37, 47, 57, 67, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79...) must also say 'Buzz' instead of the number.
4. Where a number is both a multiple of seven and contains the digit 7 (such as 77), the player still says 'Buzz' once only.
5. If a player says the number when they should have said 'Buzz', they are eliminated.
6. If a player says 'Buzz' when the number is neither a multiple of seven nor contains a seven, they are eliminated.
7. If a player hesitates for longer than an agreed time limit (typically three to five seconds), they are eliminated. Agree the limit before play begins.
8. Eliminated players leave the circle. The count does not restart: the next player continues from the number after the last correct call.
9. Play continues until only one player remains, who is declared the winner.

Winning and scoring

In the standard elimination version, the last player remaining in the circle wins the round. For a points-based version, deal out a set number of lives (typically three) to each player at the start. A player loses one life for each mistake. When all lives are gone that player is out, and the last player with lives remaining wins. For a quicker competitive session, play a fixed number of rounds and award one point to the winner of each round; the player with the most points overall wins.

The fine points

The most common dispute is over whether 77 requires 'Buzz' once or twice. The standard ruling is once: the word replaces the number, regardless of how many rules trigger on it. A related question arises at 70 through 79: every number in that range contains a seven, so every one of them is a Buzz, including 70 itself. Players often forget 70 and 71 in the heat of play. The group should agree before the round whether to count these as ordinary errors or give a warning on the first offence.

Hesitation calls can cause friction. The fairest approach is to appoint a non-playing adjudicator, or to have the group call 'out' by majority if no adjudicator is present. Avoid letting individual players make the hesitation call unilaterally. Where the count restarts after an elimination is another source of argument: the correct default is that the count continues from where it left off, not from one, unless the group has agreed otherwise before the round.

How to win more often

• Silently track the count in your head a few numbers ahead so you can identify your target number before your turn arrives.
• Stay alert through the seventies range: every single number from 70 to 79 is a Buzz, and players frequently relax after a run of safe numbers and walk straight into that block.
• Maintain a steady rhythm when it is your turn. Hesitation signals uncertainty to the group and invites a close call against you.
• If you are playing with younger or less experienced players, deliberately count at a pace that forces them to keep up rather than allowing comfortable pauses.
• When the group is large, use the turns of the players ahead of you to lock in your number. Count ahead quietly while others are speaking.

Variations

Fizz Buzz

A second rule is added alongside the Buzz rule. Players must say 'Fizz' for multiples of five, 'Buzz' for multiples of seven, and 'Fizz Buzz' for numbers that are multiples of both (35, 70, and so on). Numbers containing a five or a seven can also be brought in if the group wants a harder game. This is the most widely played variant and significantly raises the difficulty.

Buzz with a Different Base Number

Instead of seven, choose a different base number before the round begins. Three, five, or six work well for younger or newer players. Higher bases such as eight or nine suit experienced groups who find seven too easy. The Buzz rule applies in exactly the same way: replace multiples of the chosen number and any number containing that digit.

Reverse Buzz

On hearing 'Buzz', the direction of play reverses. If the count was running clockwise, it now runs anticlockwise, and the player who would have gone next must now wait while play moves the other way. This adds a spatial awareness challenge to the arithmetic one and is particularly chaotic in larger groups.

Countdown Buzz

Players count downward from a fixed starting number (100 is common) toward one, still replacing the relevant multiples and digit-containing numbers with 'Buzz'. Because players are less practised at counting backward and identifying multiples in descending order, errors come faster and rounds are shorter. Agree the starting number before play begins.

Buzz: frequently asked questions