We’ve got so much time for
SAUSAGE! SHAAAZAAAAA! SAVAGE! When it comes to the three Ss of HQ, if you know, you know.
And if you don’t know, here’s the lowdown: HQ is an app-based game show – at 3pm and 9pm every day you can join a live multiple-choice quiz with a jackpot of £550. There’s a mad live comments feed and you get extra lifelines by referring friends ( pro tip: you can only use one life per game). You have 10 seconds to answer each question (an ungoogleable timeframe, apparently) and, if you successfully answer 12 questions, you split the pot with whoever else has managed it.
Everyone is playing it – stars like Mandy Moore, Jimmy Kimmel… And it’s the real reason why everyone keeps denying your request for a 3pm meeting.
The app was launched last year in the US by the guys behind Vine, but, after months of playing the American game, in January a UK version finally launched and, even more recently, became available on Android. In recent weeks, love of the app has gone mainstream and around 80,000 people now log on to play. However, the game went gargantuan last week, when The Rock hosted a special session across the US and UK with a jackpot of $300,000.
But it’s not really about the big money prizes: it’s all about those Ss. ‘Shazza’ is Sharon Carpenter, a New York-based Brit presenter who is everyone’s fave – and is constantly requested in the comments feed if anyone else dares host. There are also ‘savage’ questions – the ones that knock out more than half of players in one fell swoop. Then there are lots of random shouty mentions of ‘sausage’ in the comments, perhaps derived from savage, but also, probably, a bit rude.
But our main takeaway is that HQ has provided us with a new type of syndicate, a mid-afternoon and evening pick-me-up to unify friends and colleagues in the hope that one of you will make it to the end – and share out the prize pot.
Meet you at HQ…