Knowing how to kick bots from a Gimkit game is a two-part skill: the thirty seconds of triage while thirty students watch you, and the setup change that means it never happens again. This page covers both, in the order you actually need them.
If you are not sure whether what you are seeing is a bot at all, our Gimkit bots page has the identification table.
First: Decide Whether to Kick or Restart
This is the decision that costs teachers the most time, and it comes down to one number.
- Fewer than about ten fake players: kick them. Faster than restarting, and the class keeps its momentum.
- More than about ten: end and restart with a new code. Kicking a flood is unwinnable — an automated joiner adds players faster than you can remove them.
Teachers lose lessons by trying to kick their way out of a flood. If the count is still climbing while you are kicking, stop and restart.
Kicking Individual Players
- Hide the game code first. Every second it stays projected undoes your work.
- Open the player list in the host view.
- Remove the fakes. Work from the bottom of the list — the most recent joins are almost always the problem.
- Check the count against your register before starting the round.
- Start the game. Joins are much less disruptive once a round is underway.
Restarting With a Clean Code
- End the current game. Do not try to salvage it.
- Host again from the same kit. This produces a fresh code; the old one is dead.
- Do not read the new code aloud, and do not project it. This is the whole point — if the code leaked once it will leak again.
- Distribute privately. Push through your class roster, or send it in your usual class channel where you can see who has access.
- Start as soon as your count matches your register. Do not wait for stragglers with the lobby open.
The Best Fix: Do Not Use a Public Code
Kicking is treatment. Rosters are the cure.
A game hosted through a saved class does not generate a public join code. Students see the game in their own dashboard and click in. There is no code to type, so there is nothing for an automated joiner to use, and nothing to leak in a group chat.
Setting up a class takes about ten minutes once per group and then removes this entire problem for the year. It also fixes the second-biggest annoyance — reports that show made-up display names instead of real students. Setup detail is in the Gimkit dashboard guide.
Reducing Damage When You Must Use a Code
Sometimes a code is unavoidable — a cover lesson, a mixed group, a one-off. In that case:
- Show the code on your own screen, not the projector, and read it out once.
- Hide it the moment your count matches.
- Do not put it in a chat channel or a shared doc. Persistent copies get forwarded.
- Set a display-name rule so anything fake stands out immediately.
- Start promptly. A lobby left open for five minutes is an invitation.
What Not to Do
- Do not make it a spectacle. Disruption is the goal; a visibly rattled teacher is the reward.
- Do not interrogate the class mid-lesson. Handle it afterwards with the device logs, which are far more reliable than a room full of denials.
- Do not abandon Gimkit over it. Every code-based classroom tool has this issue, and rosters solve it.
- Do not reuse the compromised code later. Old codes get retried.
Afterwards: The Five-Minute Follow-Up
- Check the report to see how many players never answered — that is your fake count.
- Ask IT for the device log if it was disruptive enough to pursue. School networks record this.
- Have the account-safety conversation with the class rather than a rules lecture. The fact that bot sites harvest school logins lands harder. See are Gimkit bots safe.
- Build the roster before the next lesson so it does not repeat.
Frequently asked questions
How do I kick a player from a Gimkit game?
Open the player list in the host view and remove them. Work from the most recent joins at the bottom, since those are usually the fake ones.
Should I kick bots or restart the game?
Kick if there are only a few. If dozens are joining, end the game and restart with a fresh code — a flooder adds players faster than you can remove them.
Does restarting a Gimkit game change the code?
Yes. Hosting again generates a new code, and the old one stops working.
Can kicked players rejoin a Gimkit game?
If the code is still live and still visible, yes. That is why hiding the code matters more than the kicking itself.
How do I stop this happening again?
Host through a saved class roster. Roster games have no public join code, so there is nothing for an automated joiner to use.
Will kicking players lose my class’s progress?
No. Removing a player does not affect anyone else’s balance or the game state. Ending and restarting does reset the round, which is why you only do it for a genuine flood.