Why Americans are losing their minds over a new trivia app that offers cash prizes

THERE’S a new trivia app which gives people who answer all 12 questions correctly the chance to share in a daily prize pool. But it’s pretty difficult.

HAVE a look at the questions below and see how many you can guess correctly. If you can get them all right, you could have just won your share of $A2500.

QUESTIONS

1. Which of these is a US state?
Chihuahua
Saskatchewan
Louisiana

2. Which of these movies is about baseball?
Kingpin
Caddyshack
Mr Baseball

3. Who wrote the poem “O Captain! My Captain!”?
William Shakespeare
Walt Whitman
Sarah Palin

4. Wallace & Gromit are movie characters in which style of animation?
Cel animation
Claymation
3D CGI

5. Which city has two of the four longest suspension bridges in the US?
San Fransisco
New York City
Tacoma

6. Which of these is a common material used in 3D printers?
Durocarbon filament
Polyabsorbic styrene
Polyactic acid

7. Which of these songs does not feature whistling?
Graveyard Whistling
Young Folks
Pumped Up Kicks

8. Which of these describes a board used in logistics and transportation?
Pallet
Palette
Palate

9. Who wrote the most #1 hit singles after Paul McCartney and Lennon?
Michael Jackon
Max Martin
Taylor Swift

10. Which one of these Japanese alcoholic drinks is made from rice, yams and wear or brown sugar?
Umeshu
Shochu
Chubai

11. Which NFL great started his pro career with 10 straight losses?
Brett Favre
Dan Marino
Troy Aikman

12. In a 1961 speech, JFK announced his moon ambitions, but also acknowledged which other strategy?
Navy SEAL training
Dismantling the CIA
Cambodia opium trade

Answers down the page.

These questions are from a new trivia app taking the world by storm, which gives the chance to win instant cash.

HQ Trivia launched just a few months ago and has since gone viral, already managing to attract a large daily audiences.

This round of trivia attracted 601,000 people, with only 44 getting all 12 questions correct — seeing them take home their share of $A2500.

WHAT ARE YOU EVEN TALKING ABOUT?

HQ Trivia is a new app offering prized and was created by Rus Yusupov and Colin Kroll - Both co-founders of the short-video sharing app Vine.

The app airs a live trivia contest twice a day and each game has a prize pool ranging from $A1,300 to $A9,500 with the money equally split among the players who managed to answer all questions correctly.

And even better is the fact the 15-minute game is free to play.

HOW DO YOU PLAY?

Players are required to download the iOS or Android app and then create a username, which allows them to play any of the daily live trivia games.

Hosted by comedian Scott Rogowsky, games can be played at 7.00am and 1.00pm AEST during the week and at 1.00pm AEST on the weekend.

The rapid-fire questions do not fit any particular theme, cover a wide range of topics and give players 10 seconds to answer.

If you answer all the 12 questions correctly you will take your share in the prize pool, however as soon as you miss one question it’s game over — unless you have an extra life credit from referring a friend.

WHAT ABOUT THE MONEY?

The creators of the app have previously gone on record saying they one day hope to offer prize pools of $1 million, but sadly this is still a little way off.

In saying that, the payout pool has climbed from $A130 to $A9,500, which suggests the app is making good progress.

Winnings are delivered to players’ PayPal accounts and be withdrawn when they win more than $A25.

HOW DOES THE APP MAKE MONEY?

Mr Yusupov said monetisation is not currently the company’s focus, but said they had been approached by numerous brands and agencies looking to get on board the project.

“If we do any brand integrations or sponsors, the focus will be on making it enhance the gameplay,” he told Variety.

“For a user, the worst thing is feeling like, ‘I’m being optimised — I’m the product now.’ We want to make a great game, and make it grow and become something really special.”

ANSWERS:

1. Lousiana
2. Mr Baseball
3. Walt Whitman
4. Claymation
5. New York City
6. Polyactic acid
7. Graveyard Whistling
8. Pallet
9. Max Martin
10. Shochu
11. Troy Aikman
12. Navy SEAL

IS IT REALLY WORTH YOUR TIME?

If the game sounds like fun, it’s probably because it actually is. Here is what the internet has had to say so far:

True Life: @hqtrivia is taking over my life.

— Breana Bacon (@breanajbacon) December 13, 2017

ok so HQ is actually straight outta an episode of BLACK MIRROR. but im still obsessed. (and i think thats the point)

— pricer (@hailey_lauryn) December 11, 2017

When the most important part of New Year’s Eve is #HQ ❤️❤️@hqtrivia @ScottRogowsky pic.twitter.com/aWCAZA1mON

— Janice (@jrpxoxo) January 1, 2018

When you're two miles up on the slopes but it's @hqtrivia time @ScottRogowsky pic.twitter.com/eG8SLVhfUY

— Ro (@rosiecatanoso) January 1, 2018