This Woman Won $11.30 Playing HQ And Her Reaction Is Giving The Internet Life

People are going nuts over HQ Trivia, the trending new app that's basically Jeopardy for your smartphone. There are a lot of reasons to love HQ — the tough questions, host Scott Rogowsky, the thrill of watching everyone in the bar collectively groan when the game starts buffering in the middle of the 9th question — but one of the best things about it are the cash prizes. One woman who won just $11.30 playing HQ was so filled with joy about it, her reaction went viral, and it pretty much made our day. $11 might not be much, but, hey, it's more than zero!

If you don't know the rules to HQ, it might be a little confusing why anyone would get so emotional over winning literally $11. To get the cash prize, HQ players have to make it through all 12 questions, which get increasingly harder as the game wears on. (Sometimes you get free lives, but the questions do get really hard) Winners get a piece of the jackpot, which is a standard $1000 but rolls over from game to game if there are no winners, and is split among all the final contestants if there are. Usually, the winnings are pretty small (though some people are extra lucky), but it's really the thrill of the win that tides you over.

Indeed, such was the sentiment illustrated by one Lauren May, a San Francisco resident who experienced a "rollercoaster of emotions" after winning the game on New Year's Day. May's friends caught her on camera right before, during, and after the win, and it is a thing to behold:

May's big win actually caught host Rogowsky's attention, and he dubbed her "HQtie of the year." May, naturally, was even more thrilled, if that could even be possible.

In the video, May is seen initially with tears in her eyes (as her "friends" laugh) because she isn't sure whether her last answer went through, then abruptly switches over to unabashed joy when she realizes she's won. Her elation continues for at least a minute, which is more emotion than I've expressed in a very long time.

Considering $11.30 can barely cover you two beers in San Francisco, May's winnings weren't particularly life-changing (plus, she can't even cash it out until she hits $20). Still, the internet is relating hard to her dramatic response, if just because it's so difficult to nail all 12 questions in HQ. "Please get her and Chewbacca mask lady together screaming and rolling on floor," one person tweeted. "This would be me winning HQ even if I won 11 cents," another tweeted.

May, who initially hails from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, told Yahoo she only started playing HQ about a month ago, and got into it with her family over Christmas. She's a little stunned by her newfound viral fame, she said. "I think once my friends saw me crying when they thought I lost, they knew it would be a good idea to film," she told Yahoo. "Though always genuine, my reactions to most things are ridiculous. We only got one life to live — gotta enjoy it and ham it up! But yes, I’m obviously mortified this video is going viral."

Indeed, though May initially jokingly tweeted yesterday, "How come people at work don’t know I’m viral? They like expect me to do my job or something..." it appears her coworkers have caught on to the fact that there's a meme in their midst:

May's passionate response to winning pennies may be joke fodder, but in a world as cynical as ours, it's important to take solace in small pleasures. I myself undergo a rollercoaster of emotions every time I eat a particularly good piece of chocolate or nail a plot twist on Riverdale, so I can definitely see where May is coming from.