$25,000 HQ Trivia Game Ends With No Winner

If there's an opportunity to win real life money by playing a video game, you can bet your bottom dollar countless gamers will jump onto the opportunity in hopes of winning some cash. Well, one trivia game promised $25,000 but the game ended with no real winner.

Business Insider is reporting that, originally, the final two contestants vying for the $25,000 prize in the HQ Trivia mobile game were kicked out of the game by the moderators seconds before there was a chance to answer the final question. Many of the people witnessing the final showdown were shocked that the final players were kicked out of the game before finishing up and winning the $25,000 prize.

The HQ Trivia team took to social media to explain that the users were kicked for violating the terms of service of the mobile app. So, what do the terms of service say? Well, over on the HQ Trivia terms of service page, it does state that users are not allowed to infringe on any patent, trademark, copyright or participate in false, misleading, threatening, fraudulent, invasive, or offensive conduct. Additionally, any user who utilizes third-party software, programs or viruses to disrupt the game or attempt to obtain unauthorized information of the game would be in violation of the terms of service.

There's also a section that explains that reverse engineering, deciphering, or disassembling the code or content of the app is prohibited.

So, what does all this have to do with the moderators kicking the users out of HQ Trivia right before they won the $25,000? Well, some users claimed that the final contestant was cheating.

What was the proof? The contestant's Twitter account.

On the Twitter thread announcing that the contestant, Jeric Brual, was kicked from the game for violating the terms of service, one user links to a screen-cap from Brual's Twitter account, which clearly shows him saying that he uses bots to cheat at HQ Trivia. In fact, he had five bots ready to use on the game.

Some questioned how this was possible, but it was explained by a few other users that Brual's screenshots from his phone show the time in seconds, which is only possible through a jailbroken phone. Using a jailbroken phone would then allow him to run third-party software and bots to help aid him.

The reports indicated that Brual wasn't working alone, but had help from the other contestants in the room, all of whom were allegedly using Discord to work together to answer the questions and progress toward the finale of the mobile game. If each individual was using bots to game the system then it would make sense why the moderators decided to kick out the last few contestants.

Given the controversy surrounding this most recent incident, HQ Trivia will host a second tournament worth $50,000 to make up for no one winning the $25,000 the first time around. Maybe this time the botters and cheaters can be weeded out before making it into the finals? It would probably spare a lot of people the heartache that comes with dealing with a lot of the drama.