It’s 2 p.m. A group of seniors gathers around the orange corner booth in the café during a free period. They’re all looking at one student’s phone.

The voice of Scott, the HQ trivia host, emanates from the phone: “Hello HQties!” The game begins, and the students frantically debate over the questions, desperately trying to answer them within a 10-second time frame. A correct answer results in a cheer. A wrong answer equals a sigh. Then it’s back to chatting.

The HQ trivia app has recently spread through the school like wildfire, with students playing the game daily.

HQ was created by the co-founders of Vine and has gained more than 1 million users since its launch in late August 2017. It is a live trivia game, meaning that the game always starts at the same time, and all the players are competing against one another. One wrong answer eliminates a player from the game. Remaining winners split the cash prize, which is usually $2,000 total. The game is live at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Central Time. According to the terms of use, one must be 17 or older to play, yet many of the participants are under 17.   

Jessica Franks, senior, has been playing HQ for a few weeks, and she often plays during her free periods on Tuesdays. She said she usually plays it with her friends, or anyone else in the room who is playing, because they can help each other out, and if one of them loses they can laugh about it.

“I like it because the questions are fun, and I like trivia generally, but the possibility of winning money makes it much more exciting,” Jessica said.

Even if students at U-High have not talked much before, they can still connect over the quirky, fast-paced trivia game.

Although there are not many people in the cafeteria, it buzzes with excitement when the 2 p.m. game comes on. People start playing with the small groups that they are sitting with, their conversation filled with anticipation for each question.

Like Jessica, sophomore Kepler Boonstra plays with his friends, but he also plays with his family.

Kepler’s whole family shouted in celebration when he won $5.14 from a game he played with his family on Christmas Eve.

“When we won my whole family stood up and clapped in celebration for at least 15 minutes,” Kepler said.

He said his sister first introduced HQ to him during late November, and that he plays HQ trivia once or twice a day, depending on whether he has a free period during the 2 p.m. game.

Kepler said, “I think that we are very big on measuring intelligence, at least our generation is, so we find a lot of fun in working together and solving problems.”