Watch a Woman Lose Her Mind After Winning $11.30 on HQ Trivia
Winning $11.30 never looked so thrilling.
Lauren May, a brand manager at Clorox Company from San Francisco, jumped up and down, fell to her knees and screamed with excitement when she became one of several winners splitting the cash prize on HQ Trivia’s Jan. 1 game.
“Oh my god,” she screamed, as friends around her laughed. “I won $11!”
Her reaction went viral, eliciting a response from Scott Rogowsky, the most recognizable host of the trivia game. Rogowsky dubbed May the “HQtie” — a common pet name he uses for the trivia players — of the year.
Of course, that only made the news better for May. "I'm HQtie of the year," she said, sobbing, in a separate video. "I love 2018 so much."
Money has reached out to May for an interview.
Certainly winning $11.30 won’t change her life the way larger cash prizes could, but May’s reaction is relatable for other winners of the daily trivia game. Created by the founders of Vine, HQ Trivia is a daily game show on a smartphone app. Everyday at 9 p.m. and every weekday at 3 p.m., players have 10 seconds to respond to each multiple choice question. If they get all 12 questions, they win a portion of the jackpot.
Since launching late last year, the game has gained a significant following, with hundreds of thousands of people playing each round. The cash prizes vary, and everyone who wins a round splits the money.
In May's case, her small cash prize likely came as a result of multiple winners and a low jackpot. For others, like Cesar Paolini of Miami, the prizes have been a bit bigger. He won $1,500 — the entire jackpot — in a December game after becoming the only winner of that round.
And on special occasions, HQ Trivia will make the jackpot upwards of $10,000.
As for May, winning HQ Trivia despite the small cash prize — and getting a Twitter shoutout from Rogowsky — was a successful start to a new year. "Good thing I'm not an emotional person or I'd be overwhelmed," she tweeted.