New Trivia App Puts Your Knowledge To The Test For A Chance To Win Big Bucks

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- First it was Candy Crush, then it was Pokémon GO. Now, a new app has people talking and playing together.

It's called HQ Trivia, and it's described as a game show on your phone -- but in this game, people can win cash.

Most apps cost you money, but this one will earn you some if you answer all the questions correctly. HQ Trivia is a live game show that happens on your smart phone twice each weekday and once on weekends.

A comic host poses 12 multiple-choice questions ranging from simple to extremely difficult.

People seem to love it.

"It's unique and fun," FiDi resident Meghan Crown tells CBS2's Elise Finch.

"Everyone wants to win free money," a man named Peter said.

Rus Yusupov is the co-founder of HQ Live Trivia. It's the Queens native's second wildly successful app.

"My co-founder and I, Colin, we had previously created the Vine video app, six second looping videos, and since then we've been experimenting with other formats and other video apps," Yusupov said.

He says they were inspired by television shows they watched growing up.

"We grew up watching Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune, and we knew that if we built a trivia game that we could play ourselves it just might work," Yusupov said. "So we set out to create a really fun, fast-paced experience on mobile phones.

The app is becoming so popular, people are scheduling their break times at work around game time so they can get in on the action.

Crown stepped out of her office to play, although she admits she doesn't usually make it far in the game.

Another group who spoke with CBS2 said they play together at work each day.

"The questions cover such a variety of topics," MariAnn said. "It honestly feels like it was meant to be played with other people."

"Everyone kind of grouping together doing this for the fun of it," Carlos said.

The app is free and there are no advertisements, so right now the jackpots are sponsored by the app backers. They range from $1,000 to $9,000. The plan is to change that business model eventually so each game will pay $1 million.

Hundreds of thousands of people play each game, so when there are multiple winners they split the jackpot.