'HQ Trivia' disappears from Apple's App Store following contested $25,000 game
- "HQ Trivia" is suddenly missing from Apple's App Store, and it's not clear why.
- On Sunday evening, there was no winner of a big $25,000 prize game.
- As the game was finishing out, the last few players were kicked from the game for reportedly violating the game's terms of service.
On Sunday night, as a $25,000 prize game of "HQ Trivia" came to a close, the winner-to-be was kicked from the game. There was no winner - no happy story of a young teacher suddenly flush with cash.
There was just this relatively bland statement on the "HQ Trivia" Twitter feed soon afterward, which explained to players what happened. "HQ moderators kick players that violate HQ's Terms of Service and Contest Rules. For more information, please refer to our Terms of Service here: https://hqtrivia.com/legal/," the game's account tweeted.
Though "HQ Trivia" reps didn't explain what rules were broken, players on Twitter claim the winner-to-be was using a "jailbroken" iPhone. Using such a device could mean a player was using software on their phone to correctly guess answers that they couldn't answer themselves.
Next Sunday the prize pool will grow to $50,000. "Tonight we did not find The 1," the "HQ Trivia" Twitter account said. "The $25k prize rolls over to next Sunday. That means the winner will get $50,000!"
That is, of course, if players are able to download the game. In a bizarre twist, "HQ Trivia" has disappeared from Apple's App Store as of Monday morning. (It remains available on Google Play.) It's unclear if the game was removed by its developers or by Apple.
An "HQ Trivia" representative didn't get back to us as of publishing.