5 live trivia apps that have India’s internet universe hooked

There is a new fad in town, and here are five apps driving the fad.

Live trivia apps (alternatively known as live quiz apps) have exploded on the Indian internet over the last six months.

It all started with Loco, an HQ Trivia-inspired app that launched late last year, and picked up great buzz almost instantly. The validation came earlier this year when Pocket Aces, a homegrown digital media and entertainment firm, acquired Loco for an undisclosed amount.

HQ Trivia, of course, is the viral sensation launched by Vine founders Rus Yusupov and Colin Kroll in August 2017. In less than a year, it counts over two million daily users vying for a cash prize between $100,000 and $250,000. HQ Trivia went on to raise $15 million in venture funding in March, reaffirming the potential and stickiness of the category it has created.

HQ’s ripple effects are being felt far and wide, including in India, where a bevy of live trivia apps have mushroomed lately. YourStory picks the top five (in no particular order).

Loco

Loco is sometimes referred to as the ‘HQ Trivia of India’ as it appears, what Android Central called, a “blatant ripoff” of the US app.

The format is simple: Loco invites users to play a quiz in real time and lets them earn “real cash” if they answer all 10 questions correctly. The quiz takes place twice (1:30 pm and 10 pm) on weekdays, and once (10 pm) on weekends. The amount you win is credited to your Paytm account on a weekly basis. If you have ‘lives’, you can use them when you get an answer wrong. Loco has roped in popular TV and internet host Gaurav Kapur to conduct the live quiz sessions that typically last 12-15 minutes. Loco has hit five million downloads (concurrent users peaked at half a million recently) on Play Store, and is available in English, Hindi, Bengali and Marathi.

BrainBaazi

Possibly Loco’s closest competitor is the Times Internet-backed BrainBaazi, which too has notched up five million downloads on Android in less than six months. At present, it occupies the third spot in Google Play Store’s ‘Top Free Trivia’ apps section. The BrainBaazi quiz takes place every weekday at 1 pm and 9 pm, and at 9 pm only on weekends. It involves 11 general knowledge questions, with users vying for a cash prize of Rs 1,00,000. The winning amount is debited to the users’ Paytm or Mobikwik accounts. BrainBaazi claims that concurrent users on its platform stood at over half a million in May, and is growing 10 percent on a daily basis. The app is available in English and Hindi.

Qureka

On Qureka, live quizzes are on at 2:30 pm and 8:30 pm, where users can win Rs 20,000 to Rs 40,000 on answering all 10 questions correctly. A ‘mega quiz’ takes place on the last day of every month where Rs 2,00,000 is up for grabs. Qureka runs themed quizzes like a ‘90s India’ or ‘IPL Finale’ or Bizwiz (the business quiz), and so on. The app has notched up a million downloads on Play Store, and is available in Hindi too. What separates it from the other live trivia apps is the unique referral feature, where if the person referred wins a game, the referrer gets 50 percent of the prize money. Also, there is no host in this live game. It is a text-based quiz app.

QuizBiz on Live.me

QuizBiz has been developed by Cheetah Mobiles (known for popular utility apps like Clean Master, CM Security and Battery Doctor) and is available for playing on Live.me (a live broadcasting app). The quiz is held daily at 9 pm and the cash prize ranges between $200 and $10,000; on weekends, the show is hosted by popular TV actor Gaurav Gera. Participants have to answer 12 questions correctly to win the prize. In case they are eliminated, they can rejoin the quiz by sending an invitation code to their friends via Facebook, WhatsApp or email. The prize money is credited to users’ PayPal accounts or in the form of Live.me coins, which can be utilised for consuming other entertainment on the Live.me app. (While Live.me has over 10 million downloads on Play Store, the exact number of QuizBiz players could not be ascertained.)

Zupee

Developed by IIT-Kanpur graduates, this text-based live quiz app has recorded over 100,000 downloads on Play Store. Zupee positions itself as an “India-specific” trivia app with questions related to Indian history, geography, current affairs and more. There are questions on Physics, Chemistry and Maths too. Every quiz lasts for 100 seconds and there are 10 questions to be answered. Unlike other apps, Zupee allows its users to stay in the game even after a wrong answer. The cash prize ranges from Rs 500 to Rs 5,000. The app also incentivises users for sign-ups and referrals.