Big Web Quiz
- Brand
- Year
- 2014
- Objective
- Engagement
- Industry
- Tech & Telecom
- Mechanic
- Quiz & Trivia
- Platform
- App
- Agency
- This Also
- With
- Plan8
- With
- Hook
Objective
Google wanted to prove Chromecast wasn't just a streaming stick but a living-room entertainment hub — a cheap alternative to buying a console like the Wii for group games. The app launched alongside Chromecast 1.0 specifically to show outside developers what the platform could do. Using players' own phones as controllers, instead of requiring extra hardware, kept the barrier to joining a game as low as possible.
Solution
Cast the free app from your phone and the TV becomes the game board and scoreboard, while your phone turns into a personal buzzer. Up to six players join a round, each picking an avatar that shows up next to their name on screen. Trivia questions appear on the TV — oddball, internet-flavored prompts like "How many Rottweilers tall is Shia LaBeouf?", pulled automatically from Google's Knowledge Graph and trending searches out of a pool of roughly 5,000, so the questions rarely repeat. Everyone taps their answer on their own phone as fast as they can, and the leaderboard on the TV updates after every question, ranking players by speed and accuracy until one winner comes out on top.
Results
500,000+ games played, with an average session lasting 12 minutes.
- 1
The player installs the free Big Web Quiz app on a phone or tablet, but it only works alongside a Chromecast dongle plugged into a television.
- 2
The app finds the Chromecast on the same network and casts the game to the TV, which becomes the shared game board and scoreboard while the phone serves as a personal controller.
- 3
Up to five friends join the host on their own phones or tablets, for up to six players total, with no extra controllers needed; each picks a comic avatar from a gallery, and the full lineup of avatars appears on the TV so the room can see who's playing.
- 4
The TV displays a deliberately absurd comparison question, such as how many Rottweilers tall a celebrity is; questions are pulled automatically from Google's Knowledge Graph and search trends, so the set never repeats.
- 5
Each player answers on their own phone rather than the TV, and answering quickly is the main skill the game rewards.
- 6
After each question, the TV scoreboard updates next to the avatars, showing who has climbed and who has slipped.
- 7
The game runs through further questions for an average session of about 12 minutes, and whoever tops the scoreboard at the end "rules the room."
