Yes, You Can Win Money Playing 'Beat Shazam' From Home

Jamie Foxx is arguably the most charismatic game show host on television, which is only the second-best thing about Beat Shazam. The first? We get to actually play along with Beat Shazam at home… for money! While we can’t play for the true $1 million jackpot, it’s still fun to tune in and feel like a contestant for a game show from our couches.

The problem is, Jamie doesn’t always explain how to play Beat Shazam from home. So we’ve outlined exactly how to play along with the television show. But now that we can play ourselves, many of us are wondering if anyone has ever beat Shazam since it’s actually pretty difficult to do consistently.

Luckily for us, Jamie Foxx makes videos for us each season with directions on how to play at home. First, we’ll need a smartphone so that we can download the Shazam app. Then, as long as we tune into FOX live at 9 p.m. EST on Mondays, we can play along with the contestants!

We just need to open the Shazam app while we’re watching the show. The app will automatically start listening to the TV, as long as we hold our phone close enough to the TV to hear Beat Shazam. Then a screen will pop up with the prompt to "Play Game," so we click that and Shazam! We’re in.

While we’re not playing for the full jackpot, every week, one lucky winner from home is entered to win $10,000. That’s not too shabby! Basically, once we’re done playing and watching Beat Shazam, we’ll be prompted to enter our email address for the chance to win $10,000.

So it really is worth watching Beat Shazam — it could be the easiest $10,000 we ever make.

It’s actually not that easy to beat Shazam normally, but especially on Beat Shazam. Under all the lights and the pressure, the contestants have to be able to remember an entire catalog of songs off the top of our head. Not only that, but they have to get the song title exactly right — they can’t have any little mistakes.

But three teams have actually beat Shazam! The first team was Christina Porcelli and Steve Lester in Season 1. They really did win $1 million, but how? To win, not only do they have to be the last remaining team in Beat Shazam, but they also have to beat the actual Shazam in a speed round. 

In the speed round, they try to beat Shazam for five songs, in which they can add $25,000 per song to their winnings. After those five songs, the team has the option to keep their winnings or try to beat Shazam on a sixth song.

For this, only one team member can compete, but if they win, they win $1 million. Christina and Steve aren’t the only ones who have won either. In Season 2, Donna Natosi and Ryan Walton won the grand prize. In Season 3, brothers Aaron and Martin Smith beat Shazam.

Who is going to win in Season 5? We’re crossing our fingers for the contestants (and for ourselves at home) at this point.

Tune into Beat Shazam Mondays at 9 p.m. EST on FOX.