This article was written by Sloane Kapit, class of 2019.
At about 8:57 p.m. last night, I received a notification that read “where r u? HQ is live. Come play!” from the newest highly trending app, HQ Trivia. Since its origination, this app has taken the intensity of household trivia to an entirely new level. The masterminds behind this app are co-creators of Vine, Rus Yusupov and Colin Kroll.
This app has attracted an enormous number of players for many reasons. Essentially, you can win free money, but it isn’t as easy as it sounds. HQ Trivia is a live-gaming app in which players answer 12 trivia-style questions in a row, ranging from easy to hard. In order to win, all 12 must be answered correctly. When a player gets a question wrong, that player is eliminated. In a typical game, winners can earn up to $2,000 but this is subject to change, as there have been games offering $12,000 and $18,000 in prize money. This value is ultimately split up between all winners. If it is a $2,000 game and there are 100 winners, each leaves with $20 a piece. The creators are hoping that one day, a $1 million prize can be rewarded.
Referring to players as “HQ-ties,” Scott Rogowsky hosts this fun-filled, fast-paced and nerve-racking trivia game, using his animated virtual presence to create an entertaining environment for players and viewers. HQ has earned a particularly challenging reputation, as players only have 10 seconds to choose 1 of 3 answer choices from the time the host begins reading the question. This comes in an effort to minimize cheating, as the app allots little time to Google an answer. Questions eliminating a large margin of players are typically deemed “savage questions” by Rogowsky.
“I originally started to play HQ to try and win money, but it isn’t really about that anymore. Now the goal is just to get all 12 questions right,” senior Noah Brenner said.
As of now, the app is not profitable and receives funding from venture capital. The company has a team of researchers, writers, and fact-checkers to create the abundance of questions. Rounds take place at 3 p.m. on weekdays and 9 p.m. every day (on eastern time). Players can see how many other people are watching the game, and recently HQ hit a landmark number of players: over 1 million.
HQ live trivia is now free to download on both iPhones and Androids.
