First, I have posted an online tutorial (Still need to add the zip files) on my website on how to make a movie trivia game using PHP, jQuery (JavaScript), and Ajax. The reason I have done this is that it’s extremely long and I was able to do it offline (Write the Tutorial that is). Like I stated in the tutorial I’m am assuming you have at least basic knowledge of HTML5/CSS3 and you have a bare minimum of PHP and JQuery. I’m still refining the tutorial and I know it still has some rough edges, but it should get you up an running in writing games or what have you. Let me state I’m no expert when it comes to using Ajax, but I would consider myself at the intermediate level in this department. I do believe I have enough to get you started in Ajax. If you happen to see an error in the code or even a way to improve upon the code feel free to post the code here or send me a private message.
Here’s the link to the tutorial: http://www.jrpepp.com/tutorialTrivia.php and here’s a link to the demo: https://www.pepster.com.
I at least thought while you might not be interested in writing an online game, it will give some ideas to liven up your plain old php code. 