New record for HQ Trivia as 1.6 million vied to win $15,000 on Sunday

HQ Trivia is hotter than ever. The live trivia game show has been available for both iOS and Android users since late last month. The app has been updated in an attempt to prevent it from freezing, like it was wont to do. HQ also has apparently scaled up its servers to handle a larger number of game players. On January 1st, we told you that the 9pm game that evening drew 1 million people for the first time, but only 750,000 were allowed to play.

The cap is now higher. Sunday evenings' trivia battle attracted an HQ record 1.6 million users to a special game that offered a higher than usual $15,000 cash prize. With more money than normal on the line, and a record number of HQ subscribers seeking to win it, the number of questions was expanded for Sunday night's contest to 15 from the usual 12.

With HQ seeking financing, we wonder if we might see the larger pots and increased number of questions become a  regular thing for the trivia contest. There are two games played on weekdays, at 3pm and 9pm EST. On weekends, there is just one contest, played at 9pm EDT. Each question comes with three possible answers, and you have ten seconds to click on the one that you think is correct. Get a question right and you move on. Get it wrong, and you're eliminated until the next game.

The main question that HQ's developers and backers want answered is whether this early success is sustainable, or if HQ will suffer the same fate as Pokemon GO, Angry Birds and Super Mario Run to name a trio. Those games got off to hot starts when first launched, but soon suffered from declining numbers of daily active users. But as far as we can tell, HQ Trivia has plenty of time left before the number of players showing up at each game peaks, and starts to tumble downward.

If you haven't tried your hand at playing HQ Trivia, install the app on your phone by clicking on the appropriate link: (iOS|Android).