HQ Trivia. Earlier this year, it was ubiquitous. Innumerable players worldwide took part in the daily challenges at work, after school, and home. They were hooked on the idea of winning fabulous cash prizes. But the HQ player base has been declining since June, and the company has continued to commit questionable actions.

On October 21st, HQ debuted a new game mode in which the game would continue until there were, at most, 100 players remaining. Sixteen intense questions later, 59 winners were awarded $423 each! Or were they?

Immediately after the game ended, the winners found that they had been blocked from claiming their winnings, and a day later 18 of the 59 winners had all money drained from their accounts. HQ sometimes blocks suspected cheaters from cashing out, but very rarely do they block all of the winners at once without explanation. An avid player of HQ created a chart of player statistics of all the winners, which revealed some odd trends. Most of the players that were banned had either played very few games or won very frequently. One player and Cresskill Junior Zachary Boyd has actively played the game for “about 8 and a half months,” a career marked by $600 in HQ winnings. Despite his active participation, Zachary did not receive his prize.

The HQ Official Rules includes a clause that allows them to ban anyone who they perceive to be cheating. However, revoking the prizes of winners while also not providing them with a line of communication is extremely discouraging, especially to frequent winners.

Robert Bleckman, an HQ player who played casually during its heyday, stopped because “he had other things to do.” One question remains, however: will other apps succeed at stealing HQ’s spotlight, or is the entire mobile trivia genre simply a passing fad?

As Zachary explains it, “I don’t think I’ll be playing HQ anymore,” reasoning that if “I get banned when I win big and win only a couple bucks most of the time, what’s the point in playing?”