The live trivia game show HQ Trivia is rising in popularity, appealing to players because of monetary prizes– assuming they make it through all twelve questions.
Vine creators Rus Yusupov and Colin Kroll released HQ Trivia on the iOS App Store in August 2017, and, according to Google Trends, it grew in popularity in December 2017 when HQ was released for Android. Broadcasting from New York City, the primary face of HQ Trivia is lively American comedian Scott Rogowsky.
“My friends and I play HQ because its fun competition. Is it stupid? Yes. Is it just a trend that will dissolve soon? Definitely. But it’s a fun little distraction to get that ‘ready to play?’ push notification and play during class, or at lunch,” freshman Joe Untrecht shares.
According to a Woodside Paw Print survey, 50 percent of Woodside’s community plays HQ, and approximately 72 percent actually know what it is. In the same survey, The Paw Print discovered only about 15 percent of Woodside’s HQ competitors have won.
Woodside freshman Yasmin Valencia sheds light on why the game might be so addicting: “At first I thought HQ was a dumb game cause it’s so hard to win, but I just downloaded it to see what it’s like and now I see the appeal. It’s a fun game with an entertaining host, and I think the difficulty to win is what keeps everyone playing. If everyone won all the time, the game would get boring really quickly.”
HQ Trivia also poses as a threat to students’ attention span in class. The game usually airs everyday at around 6:00 PM Pacific Time and noon on weekdays.
Untrecht explains that “everyone’s on their phone in class, whether they are playing HQ, Fortnite, or just texting. So I guess the two minutes it takes to play isn’t that big of a deal.”
Ultimately, HQ Trivia differentiates itself from other trends with its live aspect; however, it still falls into the category of a current teenage fad that will likely fall out of popularity soon, similar to Super Monkey Ball or Tap Tap Revenge.
Freshman Gabby Melamed concludes, “Although HQ is currently a fun and popular game, its life will probably be short and quick. By 2019, I don’t think anyone will be playing this anymore.”
