You can win real, actual cash with game shows straight from your phone, but make sure you're picking the right ones. Some game show apps might be scams that make you pay before you can win something, but that's not how a true game show should work.
Below are free quiz apps that put you through a series of timed, multiple choice questions as you compete with other players to win real money. All of them are legitimate quiz show games that are 100% free to use, do not charge any fees, and pay you online through PayPal.
Tip: All of these game shows ask you to sign up for push reminders so that you'll be notified when they start a new game. I highly recommended doing this because they sometimes release games out of the scheduled time slots.
Tip: All of these game shows ask you to sign up for push reminders so that you'll be notified when they start a new game. I highly recommended doing this because they sometimes release games out of the scheduled time slots.
HQ Trivia
HQ Trivia is one of the most popular online game shows today because it has lots of players, has a fun and energetic live host, and offers monstrous cash prizes. However, it's not very easy to win.
The way it works is you get 12 questions (sometimes up to 15 on special days) that range from easy to hard as the game progresses.
The first three or four are generally common sense questions and should be easy to get right. Question four, five, and beyond get increasingly more difficult, and sometimes so outlandish that you're definitely guessing your way through it.
The cash prize varies, too, throughout the week. It's normally $5,000 during the week and then a lot more on Sundays and other random, odd times throughout the week.
You can play HQ Trivia twice a week during weekdays and once on Saturdays and once again on Sundays.
Free lives are available with this game if you share your referral code and somebody uses it when they sign up and play the game, but only one free live can be used per game.
Schedule: 2:00 PM CST every weekday, and 8:00 PM CST every day
CashShow
CashShow is an interesting HQ Trivia alternative because it's really easy to win smaller prizes. Plus, the amount of money they give away each day is relatively large compared to Genius.
This game show app gives you 12 questions, but after just the first several, you start splitting prizes. They start off small and get larger toward the last question, and as the game progresses, the questions get a bit harder, too.
For example, let's say the first prize question is $100. If 100 people get it right, everyone gets $1 even if they don't finish the rest of the game. They could get all the other answers wrong but they'd still keep their $1 because they won that during the game.
Of course, you could keep winning smaller prizes and your overall cash would increase throughout the game.
Because of how this works, there isn't a jackpot prize but instead just a bunch of small prizes. They regularly give away $3,000 every day.
The CashShow app has two ways to help you out when you don't know the answer. An "Extra Life" lets you stay in the game even when you get the answer wrong - you can get more by sharing your referral code. The other is called "Wrong Gone" which will remove a wrong answer from the choices.
Schedule: 2:30 PM, 7:00 PM, and 8:30 PM CST every day, plus 12:30 PM and 5:30 PM on weekends
Download: Android and iOS
My Referral Code: VP9HMR (you'll get an extra life, too)
This game show app gives you 12 questions, but after just the first several, you start splitting prizes. They start off small and get larger toward the last question, and as the game progresses, the questions get a bit harder, too.
For example, let's say the first prize question is $100. If 100 people get it right, everyone gets $1 even if they don't finish the rest of the game. They could get all the other answers wrong but they'd still keep their $1 because they won that during the game.
Of course, you could keep winning smaller prizes and your overall cash would increase throughout the game.
Because of how this works, there isn't a jackpot prize but instead just a bunch of small prizes. They regularly give away $3,000 every day.
The CashShow app has two ways to help you out when you don't know the answer. An "Extra Life" lets you stay in the game even when you get the answer wrong - you can get more by sharing your referral code. The other is called "Wrong Gone" which will remove a wrong answer from the choices.
Schedule: 2:30 PM, 7:00 PM, and 8:30 PM CST every day, plus 12:30 PM and 5:30 PM on weekends
Download: Android and iOS
My Referral Code: VP9HMR (you'll get an extra life, too)
Beat the Q (BuzzVideo)
The BuzzVideo app has a feature within it called Beat the Q, which is a free quiz game show that gives out thousands of dollars each day. Answer all 12 questions correctly and you can split or win the whole jackpot prize.
I found this game to be exceptionally easier than all the other quiz game shows I listed above. As you can see here, I split the jackpot prize the first time I played.
Like the other game shows above, you can get extra lives that save you on wrong answers. You can do this by sharing your referral code.
Schedule: 7:00 PM and 9:00 PM CST every day
Download: Android and iOS
My Referral Code: 0946 5689
I found this game to be exceptionally easier than all the other quiz game shows I listed above. As you can see here, I split the jackpot prize the first time I played.
Like the other game shows above, you can get extra lives that save you on wrong answers. You can do this by sharing your referral code.
Schedule: 7:00 PM and 9:00 PM CST every day
Download: Android and iOS
My Referral Code: 0946 5689