What’s That Trivia Game Everyone’s Playing on Their Phones?

Have you noticed the world stopping lately at 3 and 9pm?

It's all because of a trivia game that goes live on an App that gives away cash prizes to people who answer all of the day's questions correctly.

HQ Trivia premiered last summer on iPhones, and became available on Android phones early this year.

The premise is simple: a live host asks a series of multiple choice questions, and once you get one wrong, you're eliminated. If you get through all the questions (usually 12) unscathed, you share the cash jackpot. Each game (twice on weekdays, only 9pm Saturday and Sunday) has a jackpot of $2,500. Last night, Oscar night, there was a $50,000 prize at stake!

On Oscar night, there were over 2.1 million players (a record), but more that half were eliminated on the 3rd question. In the end, there were 6 winners, each receiving over $8,000!

The cash prizes are coming from an unnamed sponsor or underwriter - and it sounds like the creators are hoping to spin the game and app into a multi-million dollar enterprise.

As I mentioned, the game is hosted by a live host, Scott Rogowsky. Part of the charm in the game and the app is that there are some occasional glitches that cause the contest to be delayed, sometimes for long periods of time.

So far, I've played the game three times, and have yet to make it past the third question. (Ask anyone today about "Bird Nests" and they'll probably chuckle and admit they missed that one too.)