Harrisites can now de-stress after a long day and put their knowledge to the test at the same time through a new game that puts a new twist to your typical trivia. HQ Trivia, an app released in November 2017, takes trivia to a whole new level. A series of twelve questions are presented live and each correct answer takes the player a step closer to a cash reward.
HQ goes live every day at 3 PM and 9 PM EST on weekdays and 9 PM on weekends, hosted by comedian Scott Rogowsky. Each question progressively gets harder and features everything from basic knowledge of geography, to arbitrary facts and meticulous details about pop culture, literature and history. Some examples are“Which of these songs does not feature whistling?” and “Which of these describes a board used in logistics and transportation?” Even the host thinks these are “savage questions” that have caused massive eliminations from the game. These savage questions appear around the fourth round as more and more players start to fall out. The players only have ten seconds to answer each question which prevents cheating by looking up answers online.
“I like the feeling of adrenaline rush as your ten seconds starts running out and the game gets more intense,” said sophomore Tasnimul Taher.
As the number of players increase, the cash incentive of winning also increases from $100 to $150 and eventually a grand prize of $1000. However, the money isn’t exclusively for one winner as the prize is split between everyone who wins. Sunday’s trivias usually offer the biggest prizes, even spiking to a $15,000 jackpot.
HQ trivia thrives because of its nostalgic feel to more international games like Jeopardy and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? along with its easy access. “I like how this game is for everyone as it’s just a random trivia and it’s nice to see how much you think you know and how many strange facts you can learn,” said sophomore Dino Mulani, who won a trivia back in August.
HQ provides players with a platform to gather together and put their knowledge about the real world to test in a more upbeat way than traditional trivias. This fun but competitive nature of the game is key to drawing a huge teenage population to the app.
“I usually Skype with friends to try winning since the more the people, the better the chances,” said Dino.
