Hey all you HQuties out there we are back. I'm your host Scott Rogowsky aka Host Malone aka Walt Quizney.
Trivia has been changed for forever. At least for now.
The days of trivia on Thursday nights in a stale bar with cheap bar are going by the wayside. Just Kidding. But seriously, for those of you who have not heard about or played the game HQ Trivia you are about to get an overview of how the game works.
Who is behind HQ Trivia
The creators of Vine built this live trivia game show. They are looking for some VC funding valuing the company upwards of $100 million. How a live game show makes money by not charging any one to play is beyond me at this time.
You might be asking how does this app work?
Basically, twice per day (3pm EST and 9pm EST) there is a live trivia game with a prize pool, currently $2,000 per time except on Sundays, that gets split between the winners. To share in the winnings, you must answer ALL 12 questions correct. When the host starts to read the question, you have only 10 seconds to select your answer. Once your answer is selected you cannot change it. If you miss the question, you are eliminated from the contest. Once you get out, you can remain watching, but are not eligible for the prize.
The app is available for both iOS and Android devices.
Increasing Difficulty of Questions
The first few questions are generally no-brainers where most of the people will get the questions right. Around the 4th question, they begin to get harder, much harder. Every game, there is a question or two that they call "Savage Questions" where over half of the people guess the question incorrectly. Usually by the end of the game there are sometimes only a handful of people left.
Does Google or Wikipedia Help
If you are quick on the keyboard you may be able to Google or Wikipedia the answer or some degree of it, but some questions involve some thinking out of the box so you may have to google the answers or the question or some combination of the two. For this reason, it seems to be difficult to successfully do this for an entire round.
Subjects of Questions
The subjects vary widely, but generally are pretty consistent every single contest. There is usually a question about entertainment, sports, history, art, television, etc. There have been a few questions on cryptocurrencies!!
Extra Lives
In order to bring more people to the platform, HQ Trivia gives users who refer others to the platform a free life that can be used if you get one of the 11 questions incorrect. You cannot choose if you want to use your life or not as it automatically uses it (from what I have seen) if you get a question incorrect.
Cashing Out Your Winnings
In order to cash out your winnings, you must have won at least $20 during the contest. Once you have at least $20, you can withdraw using PayPal.
Guest Hosts of the Show
The main host is Scott Rogowsky, but frequently there have been other hosts including:
- Jimmy Kimmel
- Sharon Carpenter
- Sarah Pribis
Chat Box
By far my favorite part of the entire game is the Chat Box. There are hundreds of comments from other users before and during the game. Some users blurt out the answers trying to trick others, while others are commenting on the host or promoting their cryptocurrency flavor of the day. If someone says something inappropriate, you will often see that they have been booted from the game!
Initial Scaling Issues
In the beginning, HQ Trivia was having some serious issues with lagging. Many users got frustrated and abandoned the app, but the possibility of winning thousands of dollars keeps them coming back. Multiple times there has been over 1 million users playing for the grand prize, most of the time on the Sunday night event.
My Review
Overall, the game is pretty fun to play! I have never gotten past question 8 as I know far too little about entertainment, art, and history. I do not play religiously, but if I am not doing anything, I will break out my phone and play. The very first time I played and every time since, I feel like it is a trivia version of the Hunger Games where the entire nation is captivated.