There's ANOTHER Live Trivia App Like HQ Out There — And It Pays You, Too

When an app takes off like HQ Trivia Live has, you're bound to see some imitators crop up in short order. The Q is HQ Trivia's newest competition, and the new app seems to have taken a lot of ideas from the original. But they've come in with some new ideas and improvements of their own, so it will be up to the consumers to decide where their loyalties will lie. Since both apps are giving away free money, that's a pretty sweet position to be in as a user, so no complaints here. So what exactly is the deal with the trivia app called The Q?

Well, in addition to the shared letter in their names, The Q is similar to HQ Trivia Live in that it's a live-streaming app that offers its users trivia questions in exchange for cash. (Paid out in Paypal or Bitcoin, in The Q's case.) Last all the way to the final question, and you'll be rewarded, either with the full pot if you're the sole winner or a split between yourself and your surviving competitors. Finally, The Q is also hosted by a living, breathing human being: a man named Joseph Monahan. Just like HQ's host Scott Rogowsky, he reads the questions for users to answer and brings a fun-loving vibe to the trivia app.

But there are a great many ways that the two platforms differ, as well, and the two most major contrasts come down to obstacles encountered by HQ that The Q is hoping to hurdle. For one, this new app is offered on both iPhone and Android, something that HQ users have been pleading for since day one. (The app has promised an Android edition slated to go live this Christmas, roughly five months after HQ Live's initial debut.)

The Q is also eager to avoid the lag issues that have dogged its predecessor and will be collaborating with the video streaming company Stream in hopes of a smoother experience. In fact, the app's creator Will Jamieson shared with The Ringer that the connection issues were what spurred The Q's creation in the first place:

"They [HQ Trivia Live] were having video scale issues at 9,000 concurrent viewers. Thought they would be a perfect fit for our enterprise video offering at Stream. Tried to get in touch with the CEO and had no success and decided we were primed to compete in the space if we innovated quickly."

So compete they did, debuting their own very similar app with a few tweaks. Instead of the standard 12-question rounds of HQ Trivia Live, The Q ranges between 11 and 13 questions to keep their audience guessing. They also make big wins a little more feasible, with some games played in "survivor mode." In that sudden death format, the game keeps going until only one player remains, and that player wins the entire pot.

Speaking of the entire pot, that's another difference between the two apps. While HQ's daily offering is $1,000 or more, The Q's daily prize is typically just $150. But don't be too hard on the newcomer; when HQ first started out, it was offering just $250, and it's only been over time that they've eased up to their current totals.

If you're interested in tuning in, The Q has a similar daily schedule to HQ Trivia Live, at 3:30pm and 9:30pm ET. It's likely intended so that the apps won't be in direct competition, but it leaves users sitting pretty once again, because they can play both.

Overall, there seem to be a lot of similarities between the two games, which makes sense. HQ Trivia is having a monumental amount of success, and they don't have a patent on the format. But, for now, even with a competitor, the original still seems to reign supreme. Stay tuned to see if that lasts, and you might even win some money out of it.