You may try to run away, but you just can’t escape the Trivia Crack craze.
The app has taken Schreiber by storm. Students are constantly asking their peers and teachers for help answering trivia questions, and exclaiming disappointedly when their answers are incorrect. Unlike many other app fads, this one is not specific to the student population; teachers have joined the Trivia Crack craze too. But how does this addicting game even work? And why are so many people unable to part with it?
The concept of Trivia Crack is quite simple. The goal of the game is to gain six cartoon icons representing various trivia categories before your opponent does. This is done by answering questions about science, entertainment, history, art, geography, and sports. A Trivia Crack user can choose to either play against a Facebook friend or a complete stranger. Throughout the game, the players take turns spinning the trivia wheel: a jeopardy-like wheel consisting of seven slots, each representing a trivia category. You gain icons by answering four multiple-choice questions correctly in a row. But here is the catch: you have only twenty-five seconds to answer the question. If the player answers a question incorrectly or if he or she runs out of time, he or she hands over the game to the opponent. Thus, players are forced to wait in agony until their opponents lose and it is their turn again.
The name, “Trivia Crack” perfectly describes this game, as it is highly addictive. But what is the source of this addiction?
Many people enjoy the game’s competitive aspect. I mean, who does not enjoy beating friends and family? Trivia Crack has raced past Candy Crush Saga and Instagram to reside at the top of the free apps chart in the United States for more than a month. Now, merchandise, from iPhone cases to rulers, is being sold with the games’ colorful, cartoonish icons.
“I like it because it’s a game where you not only get to compete against your friends, but you are also learning new things too,” said Trivia Crack player and junior Shannon Rybecky. “Also, the game requires the user to be extremely social since you automatically lose games if you do not play them for a certain number of days, and the app has a messaging feature where you can talk to your opponent.”
This game not only helps people through their day, but also helps bring people together at a time when smartphones isolate them.
“I tend to become extremely competitive while playing this game since I want to beat all of my friends,” said junior Chiara Lewis.
Trivia Crack has not just taken over our school, but the entire world. This international hit game has 85 million users world wide with only 13 million of them being from the United States. This highly addicting game has caused students and teachers to cling to their phones more than they had before.
But sadly, all good things must come to an end, especially when it comes to app crazes. Like many other of these fads, users eventually get bored of playing the same game over and over again. This once super addictive game is dying off as students are no longer glued to their phones, swiping away 24/7.