At 2 p.m., calculus teacher Christy Moellering stops her class to engage in the new trivia app, HQ Trivia.
“One day, when I saw the notification for a 2 p.m. game, I just put my phone under the document camera and we tried it as a class,” Moellering said. “It was fun and gave us a much-needed break from reviewing for the calculus final.”
Unlike other trivia games, answering the questions correctly in HQ Trivia earns the player money.
“There’s always a money prize, but you have to get all 12 right to get any money, and once you get any wrong you’re out of the game,” sophomore Caroline Briscoe said.
HQ Trivia is a live game, run by host Scott Rogowsky.
“I find the hosts kind of annoying,” Moellering said. “But I really liked Jimmy Kimmel because he cut right to the chase and was very funny.”
According to students, winning the game is difficult.
“It can be frustrating because you can come so close to winning then you get one question wrong and you’re out,” freshman Irene Yannakakis said. “The easiest way to win is to get extra lives, so you can stay in the game longer.”
Because conquering HQ Trivia questions is a challenge to players, some opt to play together.
“One game I played with Ale [Calvo],” Yannakakis said. “We tried to help each other out so we could stay in longer and we both did better when we had each other.”
Although sophomore Jenna Mercer has never won any money, she finds the app fun.
“It’s a cool game because it’s just a fun way to make money,” Mercer said. “It’s really fun to play and some of the questions they ask you are actually pretty cool and interesting facts.”
In spite of not answering every question right, Moellering’s students enjoyed the chance of winning money, along with getting a break from school.
“It’s really fun and almost addicting, because each game you’ll think ‘maybe this will be the one where I actually win,’ and then it never ends up happening,” senior Jessica Schlueter said. “The best part is when you have no idea what the answer to a question is and you guess and then get it right so you can move on.”