From empty room to full floor
Hosting takes about five minutes the first time and thirty seconds after that. Watch the videos or follow the steps below. Either way, you'll be handing out the aux before the ice melts.
Watch it happen
Step by step
Create the room.
Go to Start a Riot. Name the party, pick a vibe (the theme every guest's phone and the big screen will wear), choose a plan, and set how long the doors stay open.
Two dials matter for the economy: starting coins (how many songs each DJ can queue before they have to earn more) and the jump cost (what it takes to cut the line). The defaults work for most parties.
Connect the host plugin.
The room's setup screen shows a Room API Key. Install the plugin on a computer on the same network as your Roon Core, enable it under Settings → Extensions in Roon, and paste the key into its settings. The setup screen flips to "connected" when it's talking.
Pick a zone and open the doors.
Your Roon zones appear on the setup screen. Choose the one the party will hear, then press Open the Room. Optionally point Riot-Bot at one of your Roon playlists so the music keeps going whenever the guest queue runs dry.
Share the code.
Every room has a three-word code and a QR code. Put the big screen view on a TV and guests can scan straight from the couch, or just say the code out loud. Guests land on Join a Riot, pick a DJ name, and they're in. No app, no account.
Run the night.
Guests search your library and spend coins to queue. Everyone cheers or throws tomatoes at what's playing. When enough tomatoes land, the room skips the track. As host you also get play, pause and skip controls on your own phone, plus the DJ list and the coin ledger.
- Coins come back when a DJ's song plays and as their picks collect cheers
- Tomatoes refill when one of a DJ's own songs plays all the way through
- Sticking around pays: every DJ earns a bonus coin for each half hour in the room
Last call.
When the room's time runs out, the queue drains but nobody can add more. Once the last song ends, everyone gets the set list: every track that played, who queued it, and how the crowd voted. The host can reopen the room while time remains, or start a fresh one for the after-party.
Tips from the booth
- Use a wired or strong Wi-Fi zone. Roon does the playback, so the usual Roon advice applies.
- Seed the queue. Queue two or three songs yourself before guests arrive so the first scan lands on a party, not silence.
- Riot-Bot is your safety net. A playlist of crowd-pleasers keeps the room alive through the dinner lull.
- Keep the big screen up. Seeing your name climb the leaderboard is what turns guests into DJs.