Entertainment

HQ Trivia Hints To Help You Win That Final Prize

by Sophy Ziss

Are you an HQ Trivia obsessive? If you're reading this, chances are that's a yes, so you should definitely read up on these HQ Trivia cheats and hints that should help get you all the way through to the end. If you're just getting into the game, here's what you need to know: It's a multiplayer app and live quiz game available to smartphone users. There are two rounds daily, one in the afternoon and one at night, and users are able to compete in both. There are 12 questions asked in a session, and as many as 20,000 users compete against each other live for actual prize money. Since you only have 10 seconds to answer each question, it's essential to have a few HQ Trivia hints and cheats in your back pocket at any given time.

Now with most tests: Hydrate beforehand, stay seated, and make sure you're in a quiet, calm setting if that's at all possible. If you're playing solo, you're less likely to be distracted if you're by yourself. People yelling the answers at you will only serve to waste your time, especially if they're wrong. Plus, if you're right, then you kind of owe it to your pals to split the HQ Trivia jackpot with them. And really, who would want to do that?

Now, for the good stuff.

It's crucial that you check the HQ Trivia Twitter account. It's not "verified" by the social media service, but it is the official account. That's the quickest and most reliable way the app communicates with users. If you have a Twitter account and play HQ Trivia, it's worth it to turn on notifications. You can get text alerts, push notifications, and desktop notifications the moment HQ Trivia tweets. They don't just post jokes; they tweet cryptic messages, game hints, and announcements about any big jackpots. Unless you've developed some kind of bot to hack the game (which is against the game's terms of service), that's the most information you're going to get ahead of time. It's often really ahead of time; they'll will tweet as much as eight hours ahead of the next round of HQ Trivia. If you're competitive AF, that is the move.

Next: Forget about the comments. Don't read the comments, as they will just slow you down. For every person tweeting "Scott is daddy!" at the host, or something else, there's a person losing time on their round because they were distracted by nonsense. You're playing to win, so play to win. If you've been kicked out of a round, or you logged in late just to watch, then it's okay. Just try not to waste valuable playing time reading anything other than the questions and answers.

Also, be prepared for the categories that come up the most frequently, like literature, pop culture (television and movies from the last 20 years especially), math/science basics, and weird niche facts like animal names. You'll start to get the hang of them and be prepared for future rounds. Take time in between game sessions to refresh yourself. If anything confuses you, try to keep it in the back of your mind to look up for next time. And don't bother googling an HQ Trivia answer. They've literally designed the game to make comprehending a trivia question, reading the answers, searching for the right one, and answering correctly in 10 seconds or fewer impossible. And those bots that say they search Google for you? They are also against HQ Trivia's terms of service. Play fair, everyone.

If you're new to the game, or the timed rounds stress you out, it might be easy for you to lose HQ Trivia lives quickly, thus being ejected from the game. If you recruit friends to play, though, you get bonus lives for free! Just send them your referral code (accessible through the app) and as soon as they sign up, you get bonus lives. You may have a chance at gaining bonus lives if you continue watching the game once you've lost, but that isn't guaranteed.

According to Lifehacker, you can also occasionally earn extra lives by sticking around after quiz rounds and a prize box may just contain a free life — or it might be empty. But it's worth finding out, right?

So, to recap: Keep an eye on the Twitter account. They drop hints about upcoming quizzes and announce any jackpots of note. For instance: The final prize for the Dec. 3 evening game reached $8,500 for the first time since the game launched in August. Be prepared for the most significant topics. Don't get bogged down by reading the comments or listening to friends, no matter how loud they get and how confident they seem. And remember: No matter what you do, leave search engines and bots out of it.

You only have 10 seconds to answer any HQ Trivia question, so if you don't know it cold, go with your gut instinct. There's no time to ponder and wonder and look up the potential right answer. You got this. Good luck!