The days of watching Jeopardy or the Wheel of Fortune, meaninglessly shouting answers at the screen with no hopes of winning the sparkling prizes are over.  HQ Trivia brings the ordinary game show enthusiast into the game and even offers a real, cash prize.

HQ Trivia is a free app that arrived in the Apple app store in August of 2017 and became available to Android users in January that hosts a live game show open to any users twice a day on weekdays at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. CT and once a day on weekends at 8 p.m.  The show even boasts a lively host Scott Rogowsky who presents each question and the answer choices.  The show typically includes 12 multiple-choice questions that must each be answered within 10 seconds.  Users are eligible to play until they get a question wrong, at which point they are locked out of the game.  The cash prize, which ranges from $2,500 to $18,000 is split between any users who answer all questions correctly.

The show is lively and entertaining with fascinating questions and a busy chat room.  It is fast-paced and typically takes just 10 or 15 minutes.  Playing HQ for the possibility of winning a prize may be a step up from yelling answers at a pre-recorded episode of Deal or No Deal, but not by a lot.  Although there is a possibility to win cash through HQ, it isn’t something to bank on.  Many of the questions are wildly unusual and require utter luck to answer correctly.  Additionally, HQ has a tendency to lag and occasionally lock users out without them answering a question incorrectly.  

HQ Trivia is still on the rise, with reported expectations of upping the typical cash prize to nearly 100 million dollars.  Until then, HQ Trivia is no replacement for another source of income by any means but is an entertaining distraction from homework with added intensity from the possibility of winning a dollar or two against hundreds-of-thousands of strangers.