Trivium Arena

The idea

Most trivia games on phones are turn-based: one player answers, the rival answers hours later. In Trivium Arena up to 4 players see the same question at the same moment, and the fastest correct answer wins. Jokers add a second layer: you can help yourself, or freeze, paint and mine your rival's answers.

Questions come from 6 categories (science, geography, history, sports, arts, entertainment), with more than 2,700 approved questions. An Arena match is 10 questions, about 4 minutes.

Modes

• Arena: 4-player matchmaking, 10 questions, 15 seconds each. Players win or lose trophies by rank.
• Duel: one on one, 10 questions; the last question counts double.
• Private Game: 2–4 friends with a 5-letter room code. The host picks the number of questions (5/10/15), the time (10/15/20 s), the category and whether jokers are on.
• Daily Quiz: the same 10 questions for everyone, one attempt a day, no jokers.
• Solo: practice that lasts until the first wrong answer.

Everyone at once: timing

The server picks the question order when the match is created and stamps the start of every question. Phones only move to the question the server announces. If a player drops or closes the app, the match keeps going on the server, which moves stalled matches forward every few seconds, so nobody waits. A returning player rejoins with "back to match". When everyone has answered, the question ends early.

Fair scoring

The correct answer is never sent to the phone before the reveal, so even someone poking inside the app can't see it early. Answer time is measured on the server, with a small allowance for network lag, and the server writes the score.

A correct answer is worth 100 points plus 10 for every second left. The 2x joker, the last question in Duels and Private Games, and answer streaks multiply on top.

Jokers

• For yourself (Duel, Private Game, Solo; 3 per match): 50:50 removes two wrong answers; +10 s extends only your own time; Audience shows a spread of votes; 2x Points doubles that question's score.
• Against rivals (thrown between questions): Ice freezes the answers and is broken by tapping. Bomb plants mines with burning fuses; an answer that blows up is locked for 5 seconds. Ink paints the answers and is wiped off with a finger.
• Protection: the Shield blocks attacks on your next question; rivals can't see it.

Decisions we made

• Attacks are chosen between questions

  If jokers were thrown during a question, answering and attacking would compete with each other. An attack is picked in the short break between two questions and lands on the next one. A player can receive at most two attacks per round.

• No free text in match chat

  Players greet each other only with preset phrases ("Hi!", "Good luck!", "Ready!"). In a game where you meet strangers, insults and harassment are ruled out from the start.

• Start without signing up

  On first launch you can play as a guest; anyone who wants to signs in with email or Google. There is no form between installing and the first match.

• One rule set for the daily race

  In the Daily Quiz everyone answers the same 10 questions, with no jokers and the same timers. It is the one place where the daily ranking is directly comparable, so no advantages are allowed.

Under the hood

iPhone and Android come from a single codebase (React Native). The server side uses a Postgres database with row-level access rules, real-time channels and scheduled jobs. Every part of the game logic that has to be fair (question order, timing, score, result) runs on the server; the phone only displays and sends the answer.

Status

The game is being prepared for store release; the first version will be in Turkish. To hear when it launches, leave your email on the game's website, where you can also play a short demo in the browser.