Sure, you watch quiz shows and get a lot of the questions right, but how would you really do in a head-to-head challenge against the one and only Ken Jennings?
You can find out first-hand in a new app called “Trivia Death Match With Ken Jennings,” released by Seattle-based FilmWise LLC and OtherWise Games in cooperation with the 74-time Jeopardy champion. The app features 1,000 questions, delivered in a series of 20 rounds that let the user race against Jennings, competing for speed and accuracy.
Yes, our friend Ken is way smarter than most of the rest of us — or at least much faster and more accurate when it comes to trivia questions — but losing has never been this much fun. For me, playing the game ended up being more about trying to improve my score (with Jennings as a benchmark) without having any hope of winning.
The app, released today for iPad and iPhone, costs $2.99. Future themed “Quiz Packs” will add new sets of questions for an additional 99 cents.
The app makers gathered the data directly from Jennings by giving him a special version of the app that recorded all his times and answers. (See video from the “secret testing facility” below.)
The app is the branchild of Brian Kirk and Jessica Aceti, the husband-and-wife team behind the FilmWise movie trivia site. Kirk, a Screenlife Games veteran, also is a co-founder of OtherWise Games, maker of the MovieCat trivia app and Word Monster word puzzle game.
Aceti and Kirk run a monthly MovieCat Trivia Night at Seattle’s Central Cinema (their next event is March 26) and that’s how they connected with Jennings: The trivia champ competed on a team at one of the MovieCat Trivia nights in late 2011. (Yes, his team won.)
Afterward, Aceti had the idea of doing a “Beat Ken Jennings” app, and Jennings loved the concept of a Trivia Death Match. The app is being released in partnership with OtherWise.
The app is available now, and here’s that “behind the scenes” video.
