Five minutes, and you almost certainly already own everything you need.
First: you do not need a TV
A laptop propped on the kitchen bench works perfectly. So does an iPad against the fruit bowl. The big screen makes it feel like an event, but the game runs fine without one, and nobody has ever complained about a party for having the wrong screen.
Pick whichever sounds like your lounge room
They all end in the same place. Start at the top: the further down you go, the more fiddly it gets.
A cable from your laptop
Easiest
The one that always works, has no wifi involved, and cannot buffer.
Plug an HDMI cable from your laptop into the TV.
Press the Source or Input button on the TV remote until you see your laptop.
Open your browser and go to partyplay.com.au/tv, then enter your party code.
Press F11 for full screen. On a Mac, the green dot, top left.
Need: an HDMI cable. If your laptop has no HDMI socket, a USB-C to HDMI adapter, about $15.
Your TV's own browser
No cable
Most Samsung, LG and Android TVs have a web browser hidden in the apps menu. Fine once it is open, but typing with a remote is genuinely annoying, so do it well before your guests arrive.
Find Internet, Web Browser or Browser in the TV's apps.
Go to partyplay.com.au/tv and enter your party code.
Bookmark it, so next year is one click.
Need: a smart TV with a browser. Older TVs and most Sony sets do not have one.
Chromecast or Google TV
Wireless
Open partyplay.com.au/tv in Chrome on your laptop and enter your code.
Click the three dots, top right, then Cast.
Choose your TV, then choose Cast tab.
Cast the tab, not the screen. Casting the whole screen means everyone watches your notifications arrive.
Need: laptop and Chromecast on the same wifi.
Apple TV or AirPlay
Wireless
Open partyplay.com.au/tv on your Mac or iPad and enter your code.
Click the Screen Mirroring icon in the menu bar, or swipe down on an iPad.
Pick your Apple TV. Many newer Samsung and LG TVs also take AirPlay with no Apple TV at all.
Need: an Apple device and an Apple TV, or an AirPlay-capable TV.
No TV at all
Perfectly fine
Put a laptop or tablet somewhere everyone can see it, open partyplay.com.au/tv, and run the party from your phone. For fewer than about fifteen people this is genuinely all you need.
Need: nothing you do not already have.
How the three screens fit together
Your phone is the remote. You start each game, move it along and see who is winning. Keep it in your hand.
The TV is the show. It shows the party code, the numbers as they are called, and the scores. It needs no input from anyone.
Everyone else's phone is their ticket. They scan the code on the TV, or type in the address. No app, no sign up, no password. They put in a name and they are playing.
Guests who arrive late can join mid-game. They will not have missed their chance.
There is a camera button on every guest's phone. Anything they take goes into your party album, and you can download the lot afterwards. Worth mentioning when you read out the code, because nobody goes looking for a button they do not know about.
If something is not right
The TV browser will not load the pageOlder smart TV browsers struggle. Do not fight it: use the HDMI cable instead. It takes two minutes and always works.
Guests say the code does not workCheck they are on the right screen, and that they typed the letters exactly as shown. The code is only live while your party window is open.
Someone's phone dropped outThey reload the page and put in the same name. They pick up exactly where they were, with their card and score intact.
The house wifi is strugglingGuests can use their own mobile data, it barely uses any. If the TV is on a cable rather than casting, a wobbly wifi will not stop the show.
The TV went to sleep mid-gameTurn off the screen saver in the TV settings before you start, or on a laptop set it to never sleep while plugged in.
It looks small on the TVFull screen the browser. F11 on Windows, the green dot on a Mac.
Twenty minutes before people arrive
Get the screen working with nobody watching. This is the only part worth doing early.
Run one game with yourself as the only player, so the first one in front of people is not your first ever.
Plug the laptop in. A dead battery halfway through the bingo is a sad way to end a game.
Turn off the screen saver on the TV or the laptop.
Decide what they are playing for and put it somewhere everyone can see it.