HQ Trivia prize pots are about to get a lot bigger as the live trivia show brings on its first corporate sponsors and advertisers.

HQ Trivia Nike
To celebrate Nike's Air Max Day today, for example, HQ will be hosting a surprise 15-question game with a shared $100,000 prize. It appears this will be a bonus round in addition to the regular games at 3 p.m. and 9 p.m. Eastern Time, so players will need to keep an eye on their iPhones for a notification at any time.

A spokesperson for HQ told MacRumors that the game will also feature "a prize that money can't buy" for 100 winners. Based on promotional tweets from HQ and Nike, the prize could be limited edition pairs of Air Max shoes.


Then, on Wednesday at 9 p.m. Eastern Time, HQ will be hosting its biggest game yet -- a $250,000 prize pot -- sponsored by the upcoming Steven Spielberg film Ready Player One. Over the weekend, Ad Age reported that HQ inked a $3 million deal with studio Warner Bros. to promote three films in total.


HQ's largest jackpot to date has been $50,000, won by a single player on Sunday night. The game's record high for players is nearly 2.2 million, set on the evening of Sunday, March 4, during the 90th Academy Awards.

HQ's standard prize amount was recently raised to $5,000, which is often split by tens if not hundreds of players, in which cases each winner ends up with a small prize like $5 or $10. It's unclear if every round of HQ will eventually be sponsored, or if the larger jackpots will only take place periodically.

For those unaware, HQ is a live trivia show that launched on iPhone in August, and on Android around New Year's Day. In a standard game, players attempt to answer a series of 12 questions correctly to win a cash prize. To reduce cheating, players have less than 10 seconds to choose one of three answers.

The show is hosted every day at 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time, and at 3:00 p.m. every weekday, most often by comedian Scott Rogowsky. A valuable tip: you can swipe right on the chat to hide the endless flow of comments.

If you haven't played HQ yet, you can download the game from the App Store and sign up for free. The app is also available on Google Play.

Top Rated Comments

SigurTom Avatar
83 months ago
Better get rid of SCOTT first. All potential new players who might hear about this and sit through one round on SCOTT'S non-stop chitter chatter talk fests will leave FAST. He tries too hard to be super cool, super hip, and super funny and fails at all three... consistently. Get a new host who talks 95% less and they'll be on the right track.
You're insane, Scott is the best. None of the guest hosts even come close.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ckelley Avatar
83 months ago
Better get rid of SCOTT first. All potential new players who might hear about this and sit through one round on SCOTT'S non-stop chitter chatter talk fests will leave FAST. He tries too hard to be super cool, super hip, and super funny and fails at all three... consistently. Get a new host who talks 95% less and they'll be on the right track.
Scott is the best, I keep watching just for Scott even after I've been eliminated. Quiz Khalifa all day.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
CIA Avatar
83 months ago
Don't lose heart, I'm sure someone will come up with a "grandpa edition" with Wilford Brimley or something.
With Werther's Original as prizes instead of cash.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Swampthing Avatar
83 months ago
Better get rid of SCOTT first. All potential new players who might hear about this and sit through one round on SCOTT'S non-stop chitter chatter talk fests will leave FAST. He tries too hard to be super cool, super hip, and super funny and fails at all three... consistently. Get a new host who talks 95% less and they'll be on the right track.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ignatius345 Avatar
83 months ago
Completely agree, I put the thing on mute in the beginning because I know for 5-10 minutes before the game is supposed to start he will be droning on and on about stupid ****, with some "super kewl" Millennial references peppered in nonsensically. I find him really annoying.
Don't lose heart, I'm sure someone will come up with a "grandpa edition" with Wilford Brimley or something.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ArtOfWarfare Avatar
83 months ago
Better get rid of SCOTT first. All potential new players who might hear about this and sit through one round on SCOTT'S non-stop chitter chatter talk fests will leave FAST. He tries too hard to be super cool, super hip, and super funny and fails at all three... consistently. Get a new host who talks 95% less and they'll be on the right track.
Any other host would be #NotMyQuizDaddy.

Anyways, I don't like the winner-take-all that they've started doing Sundays. I never win anyways, but I've made it to round 10 or so before... that was close and felt close. Making it winner take all dramatically reduces my odds of actually winning anything, so I don't like playing those games. Will this special $100K game be winner take all? I'll give it a shot if not. Otherwise, eh, won't bother.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

iPhone SE 4 Vertical Camera Feature

iPhone SE 4 Production Will Reportedly Begin Ramping Up in October

Tuesday July 23, 2024 2:00 pm PDT by
Following nearly two years of rumors about a fourth-generation iPhone SE, The Information today reported that Apple suppliers are finally planning to begin ramping up mass production of the device in October of this year. If accurate, that timeframe would mean that the next iPhone SE would not be announced alongside the iPhone 16 series in September, as expected. Instead, the report...
iPhone 17 Plus Feature

iPhone 17 Lineup Specs Detail Display Upgrade and New High-End Model

Monday July 22, 2024 4:33 am PDT by
Key details about the overall specifications of the iPhone 17 lineup have been shared by the leaker known as "Ice Universe," clarifying several important aspects of next year's devices. Reports in recent months have converged in agreement that Apple will discontinue the "Plus" iPhone model in 2025 while introducing an all-new iPhone 17 "Slim" model as an even more high-end option sitting...
Generic iPhone 17 Feature With Full Width Dynamic Island

Kuo: Ultra-Thin iPhone 17 to Feature A19 Chip, Single Rear Camera, Semi-Titanium Frame, and More

Wednesday July 24, 2024 9:06 am PDT by
Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo today shared alleged specifications for a new ultra-thin iPhone 17 model rumored to launch next year. Kuo expects the device to be equipped with a 6.6-inch display with a current-size Dynamic Island, a standard A19 chip rather than an A19 Pro chip, a single rear camera, and an Apple-designed 5G chip. He also expects the device to have a...
iPhone 16 Pro Sizes Feature

iPhone 16 Series Is Less Than Two Months Away: Everything We Know

Thursday July 25, 2024 5:43 am PDT by
Apple typically releases its new iPhone series around mid-September, which means we are about two months out from the launch of the iPhone 16. Like the iPhone 15 series, this year's lineup is expected to stick with four models – iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max – although there are plenty of design differences and new features to take into account. To bring ...
icloud private relay outage

iCloud Private Relay Experiencing Outage

Thursday July 25, 2024 3:18 pm PDT by
Apple’s iCloud Private Relay service is down for some users, according to Apple’s System Status page. Apple says that the iCloud Private Relay service may be slow or unavailable. The outage started at 2:34 p.m. Eastern Time, but it does not appear to be affecting all iCloud users. Some impacted users are unable to browse the web without turning iCloud Private Relay off, while others are...
iPhone 17 Plus Feature Purple

iPhone 17 Rumored to Feature Mechanical Aperture

Tuesday July 23, 2024 9:32 am PDT by
Apple is planning to release at least one iPhone 17 model next year with mechanical aperture, according to a report published today by The Information. The mechanical system would allow users to adjust the size of the iPhone 17's aperture, which refers to the opening of the camera lens through which light enters. All existing iPhone camera lenses have fixed apertures, but some Android...