News: This HQ Trivia Replacement Is Just What You Need During Quarantine

With all this time spent stuck at home because of the COVID-19 pandemic, HQ Trivia would be a prime way to beat the boredom. Unfortunately, HQ went belly up in February, just before everyone had stay-at-home orders. While HQ has teased a potential comeback, there are other trivia games out there that are live right now. One of those brings the spirit of HQ Trivia back to our phones.

The game is called Swagbucks LIVE, and it's among the last of the trivia games where you can still win money. That might be the most significant distinction since you'll find plenty of trivia games crowding the App Store, but Swagbucks LIVE is one of the few results that will get you paid, just like HQ Trivia used to.

• Install Swagbucks LIVE: Android (free) | iOS (free)

If you played HQ Trivia, you've played Swagbucks LIVE. Twice a day on Mondays and once a day Tuesday through Thursday, a Swagbucks host asks the audience ten trivia questions. You have ten seconds to answer correctly. If you do, you advance to the next question. If you don't, you're out of the running. If you make it to the end, congratulations! You're the winner. If you're the only one, the entire pot belongs you to. If multiple winners make it through, you all split the cash evenly.

There is one small caveat to the game, though. While you do earn money, it's given to you in the form of Swagbucks' digital currency, SB. Why? Because of Swagbucks, Swagbucks LIVE's parent site. Swagbucks' business model involves turning SB into PayPal cash or gift cards to various outlets. Just keep in mind that one SB is really one US cent, so it takes 100 SB to earn one dollar. It's not as convenient as HQ's genuine cash winnings, but hey, money's money.

If you don't make it through a round, it's not a complete loss, however. Every correct answer you give still earns you some SB. Over time, you can earn enough SBs to purchase a second chance, which allows you to rejoin a game even after answering a question incorrectly. Even if you win, you can buy these second chances for any future wrong answers.

Swagbucks LIVE doesn't post an official schedule anywhere. You need to open the app to check when the next game is, and you could get notifications before they happen. That said, the schedule below is based on the last known days and times, so you can follow that until there's something more concrete.

• Monday: 7 p.m. EDT (easier trivia) and 8 p.m. EDT (harder trivia)
• Tuesday: 8 p.m. EDT
• Wednesday: 8 p.m. EDT
• Thursday: 8 p.m. EDT
• Friday: No games
• Saturday: No games
• Sunday: No games

Swagbucks LIVE isn't the only trivia game out there, of course. The Q (which has recently called itself "The Quarantine" on Twitter) also offers live trivia for cash, although recent reviews suggest it isn't a reliable host for payouts. That said, the app, plus HQ Trivia's vague and mysterious messages, indicates that live trivia apps might be on the rise again. If we're all going to stay inside anyway, it won't hurt to make a little money along the way.