Count Dracula — TV help

The TV faces the street and cheers every kid your phones count. Here's the setup that works best, and what to do if something's off.

What works best

A computer (any laptop or mini PC) plugged into the TV by HDMI, running Chrome or Edge full-screen. Plug the computer in to power for the night.

1. Put it on the TV

On the TV's computer, open Chrome or Edge and go to /tv.
The TV shows a short code and a QR. Scan the QR with your phone's camera, or on your phone go to and enter the code under Got a code? (or in Setup → Pair a TV). You sign in first if you aren't already.
Make it full-screen: press F11 on Windows or Linux, or Ctrl+Cmd+F on a Mac.

The TV remembers its pairing, so next time /tv goes straight to your board.

2. Keep it awake all night

The computer must not sleep, dim, lock or blank the screen while it's showing the board.

Windows: Settings → System → Power: Screen and sleep (when plugged in) → Never for both. Control Panel → Power Options → Choose what closing the lid does (plugged in) → Do nothing. Pause Windows Update for a week before Oct 31.
macOS: System Settings → Lock Screen: "Turn display off when inactive" (on power adapter) → Never; "Start Screen Saver when inactive" → Never. System Settings → Battery → Options: turn on Prevent automatic sleeping when the display is off. Keep the lid open.
Linux: in your desktop's power settings (on AC power): suspend → never, screen off and dimming → never, lid closed → do nothing; screen locking → never. Hold off updates that afternoon.

3. Sound through the TV

Choose the TV (HDMI) as the computer's sound output: the speaker icon on Windows and Linux, or System Settings → Sound → Output on a Mac.
Set the computer's volume on your Test night: it's the ceiling. The ☰ menu on any phone turns the TV down from there, or mutes it.
A reload needs a click or a key press for sound. Browsers only play sound after someone touches the page, so after a reload the board shows a 🔇 reminder until you click, tap or press a key (a TV remote's OK button works).
If you unplug and replug the HDMI cable: check the picture size, choose the TV as the sound output again, and reload the page.

4. Check the picture fits

Open /tv?border. You should see all four red edges and the white corner frame. If they're cut off, set the TV's picture size to Just Scan, Screen Fit or Full Pixel (the name depends on the TV), and use 1920×1080 on the computer.

Smart TVs and other devices

A smart TV's browser, a tablet in landscape, or a browser tab cast to the TV may work too. They're best effort: open the browser, go to /tv, pair it like above, and test it on your Test night (or Go live on any night). If the sound or the screen misbehaves, use a laptop instead.

Test it on your Test night

Your household starts with a Test night, already live (unless you signed up on Halloween evening: then "Halloween 2026" is). Count a test kid on your phone and watch the TV pop and hear it. There's nothing to reset: the Test night ends by itself at 3 am, and your TV switches to "Halloween 2026" when it goes live by itself on Oct 31 at 4:00 pm. To test again later, Go live on any night in Setup.

Advanced: a launcher for the TV computer

Optional. A launcher opens /tv in its own Chrome window, full-screen, and lets the page play sound after a reload without a click. Pair the TV once as above; the launcher then goes straight to your board.

Windows: download count-dracula-tv.bat to the desktop and double-click it. To start it at sign-in, put a shortcut to it in shell:startup.
Linux: download count-dracula-tv.sh, then run bash count-dracula-tv.sh. It needs Chrome or Chromium, and keeps the computer from idling or sleeping while it runs.

Leave the full-screen window with Alt+F4. There's no Mac launcher yet: use Chrome full-screen.

📺 Putting Count Dracula on your TV