Amid bleeps and bloops about Trump tweets, fantasy football, and cheap flights to far-off lands, I’ve been paying especially close attention to two notifications a day for the past few weeks. At 3pm and 9pm, HQ Trivia lights up my phone, letting me know it’s time to play along with some 400,000+ of my closest friends.
HQ Trivia, a live-streamed trivia show that’s played twice daily on your phone, has absolutely blown up over the past month or so. All that growth has made it hard for the game to keep up, leading to a ton of laggy video, unhappy players, and even canceled games.
That’s where The Q comes in. Founded by Will Jamieson, one of the creators of Yik Yak (R.I.P.), The Q hopes to draw players with a similar formula that performs better even under heavy traffic.
Jamieson told The Ringer that he thought his most recent venture, a live video streaming company named Stream, was a natural fit to remedy HQ Trivia’s frustratingly slow service, but found the company unresponsive to his appeals. So Jamieson sprung into action, starting development on The Q in late October and working in private beta over the past few weeks.
After squashing some bugs in its beta build, The Q reportedly plans to launch an updated, improved version of its app this week. And while HQ is iOS only for now, The Q already has iOS and Android versions.
The Q works similarly to HQ Trivia: Users launch the app at the designated start time and answer questions until they respond incorrectly. The last players standing after a dozen or so questions get a cash prize, but Jamieson says they may have a few riffs on that format. Normally, HQ Trivia’s purse is $1,000 split among winners. The Q’s winnings are substantially less, but winners can also choose to receive their payout in Bitcoin, which could mean you win a lot or absolutely nothing. And just like HQ Trivia has Scott Rogowsky as its “Quiz Daddy,” The Q has Joseph Monahan as its smiling host.
Conveniently timed to start 30 minutes after HQ’s twice-daily games, look for The Q push notifications at 3:30 and 9:30 p.m. Download the app in the iOS and Google Play stores. Follow The Q on Twitter at @theqtrivia.
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