QuizUp is an extremely enjoyable and addictive iPhone game that lets you challenge your friends to quizzes on a plethora of topics. There are an astounding 150,000 questions with over 250 topics ranging from Science and Business to your favourite TV Shows. The colours used throughout the app are vivid and the sounds add to the thrill of the game. I love the music that plays during the quiz; It keeps me at the edge of my seat and supplements the competitive multiplayer experience very well.
The app prompts you to create an account before you can begin playing, but you can choose to login using Facebook if you don’t want to create an account. Connecting to Facebook might be a good idea for QuizUp though, since you can challenge your Facebook friends within the app. That’s when the game really gets exciting. Once you’ve logged in, you can choose a ‘Topic’ from the huge list offered by QuizUp. You then have a choice to either challenge a friend on that topic or play with someone at random. The idea of playing against a friend online has been successful since Loren Brichter’s Letterpress and Plain Vanilla maintains the excitement levels with QuizUp. The game uses online multiplayer and is fully integrated with Game Center, so you can play in real time with your friends from anywhere as long as you have a decent internet connection.
During the game, you and your opponent are asked 7 questions on the topic you choose and are scored according to how fast you answer each question correctly. The last question is worth double the points and adds that extra bit of exhilaration. On completing a match you can level up on a topic and also view match details, statistics and Game Center rankings. With Game Center, you can view your position and top rankings for a particular topic in the world, your country or even your current location. Since the game is social, you can chat with your opponents and participate in discussion rooms within the app. You can also share your victories or achievements via Twitter, Facebook, Email or SMS. Every little aspect of QuizUp, right from the colours and sounds to the topic and quiz UI has been carefully crafted and makes for a thrilling experience. As you keep playing, your favourite topics are automatically added to your personalised ‘Home Page’, enabling you to start a game almost instantly.
One issue I faced with the app was that if you constantly play within one topic, the questions start repeating. However, the developers are constantly adding new questions to all topics so this problem should be fixed as time goes on. QuizUp is so much fun that you’d be crazy to miss out on it. If you feel that the questions offered by the app are not sufficient, you can submit your own topics and questions through the app’s website. I’ve already spent several hours in the app, challenging friends from all over the world, levelling up and improving my rank. Plus, it’s available Free on the App Store. The app offers in-app purchases for boosting your XP and levelling up faster. There’s really no reason for you not to download QuizUp. The app is coming soon to Android as well.
Ed’s Note: I love the little details in QuizUp. When you initiate a game with an opponent, you can start playing your turn before he becomes available. While this happens, there’s a small analog clock that appears on screen showing that it’s ‘waiting for opponent’. The time displayed in the clock is the system time of your phone.