Intermedia Labs, creator of HQ Trivia, is working on a new game that apes Wheel of Fortune, called HQ Words. The game will be played live online with multiple players, who will each be guessing letters in a word or phrase. Each player only has three strikes, meaning that they’ll be kicked out of the round if they guess wrong three times. There doesn’t seem to be any option for players to stop the match and make a guess, so getting those letters in fast will be key. Whoever has the most letters on the board at the end of the match will win. The game will reportedly be out sometime in October.
Those who are familiar with HQ Trivia will know that it’s not just a mobile game, but also a game show of sorts. There are live games at certain times that have hosts, additional play procedures, and other quirks, along with cash prizes that players can compete for. HQ Words is reportedly going to be along the same lines, and there will be new hosts and other new elements involved. It looks to be a much more intense and rapid-fire twist on Wheel of Fortune, but without the titular wheel; players will be presented with a blank slate, and they’ll have at it and rack up points until either it’s solved or everybody playing has used up their strikes and been kicked out.
The game, along with previous game HQ Trivia, is the brainchild of Colin Kroll and Rus Yusupov, the Vine co-founders who moved on from the service they started after Twitter bought it up and then shut it down. Reportedly, Intermedia Labs is going to be managed on a day-to-day and business basis by Kroll going forward, while Yusupov thinks up fresh product ideas and new concepts and campaigns for existing products. Thus far, HQ Trivia is all that the company has to its name. Since the game is a runaway success, however, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. The fan base has seemingly dropped off just a bit since the game’s heyday not long after its release back in August of 2017, but the company is hoping to recapture that magic with HQ Words, and by expanding and doubling down on HQ Trivia.
