HQ Trivia

I enjoy a trivia quiz as much as the next person, but I don't really like watching the televised ones anymore or would bother going to a trivia night event (if there was any in KL). With live trivia quiz show apps being a thing now (especially when actual money is involved), sign me up! 

The biggest one in America for the last year or so is HQ Trivia (on Play Store as a beta app and on App Store), which has a game on every day, even on weekends and holidays. For the sports fan, they also have HQ Sports. They will let you know when the game's about to start through push notifications.

I only got on the bandwagon so late because until some months ago it was App Store only. I jumped on that bandwagon as soon as I heard it was available on the Play Store. It's still beta, but very much playable. 

When? Usually 3 p.m., and 8 or 9 p.m. in America, which means for me here in Malaysia it's about 3 a.m. and 9 a.m. Yes, the games are LIVE and you're playing with several hundred thousand people (sometimes half a million) who are also playing at the same time, some where in the world. I'm not crazy enough for the 3 o' clock games because I'm (thankfully) still asleep. 

Hosts - The face of HQ Trivia is primary host Scott Rogowsky, who's known for his Running Late show and viral videos like the Fake Book Covers videos you can find on YouTube. 

There's also several hosts who are only there to step in when Rogowsky has other gigs going on - Sarah Pribis, Sharon Carpenter, Matt Richards, David Magidoff... I don't know how I'm stuck playing the American version of the game, but oh wells. Some of the hosts tend to vamp and ramble on (Rogowsky), others tend to get to the questions without too much banter (Magidoff). Personally, I kinda enjoy Matt Richards's Savage Question song and dance. And yes, he knows he kinda looks like Alfonso Ribeiro and has done the Carlton dance during a game occasionally. 

Extra Lives - Lifelines to get you back in the game when you mess up. You get these by inviting friends to sign up with your referral code or by logging on 5 days in a row ("streak"). You can only use these once per game. Yes, you can use my username (synicalrules) as a referral code. They've also started selling them as in-app purchases, if you so desire. 

Game - 12 multiple choice questions, which starts easy but gets harder. You only get one chance (and 10 seconds) to lock in an answer cos you're not allowed to change answers afters. So if you fat-fingered a wrong answer... *whomp whomp* (Yes you could technically Google, but only if you can do it in under 10 seconds, so just tikam je)

Savage Questions - Deceptively easy questions designed to take out as many people as possible before the final round. So if you got it wrong on one or more of these, either use your extra life to get back in or move on. 

Prize - These days, it's $5,000 from Monday to Saturday; except on Sundays, then it's $25,000. Yes,  this is USD we're talking about. If you survive to the end, the pot is split among the winners. You cash out via PayPal. 

My thoughts: I've been playing for several months now, but the furthest I ever got was actually the final round in one game, but so far no wins. I think the American one is the designated global version for any country that doesn't have its own version (there's UK and German versions), but I normally fail because of the more obscure Americana questions, which you wouldn't know unless you grew up there. And instead of wasting what extra lives I have, only to fail the next question, I would rather just not bother going back in and keep watching the game, if I could. 

I don't know if there are any other Malaysians playing, but if you are, let me know.